Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams has been a huge part of the team’s offensive success in what has been a breakout third season.

A big attribute he has at his disposal is blazing speed. Williams is regarded as one of the fastest players in the game, and believes thoroughly in his abilities. He’s so confident, in fact, that he believes he could run a 4.1-second 40-yard dash.

“I think I can. I probably could run faster. I saw bro said he don’t believe it’s a 4.1,” Williams stated. “I believe in it. People who know me know I can do that, though.”

There’s little evidence on either side, as Williams did not run the 40-yard dash as a prospect ahead of the 2022 Draft due to a knee injury suffered in the national championship game during his final year at Alabama.

“I never ran a 40. That’s what I’m saying. I never had to do that,” Williams said. “If Madden respect me enough to (give me) 98 speed out the gate? That’s a 4.1. No 40 and 98 speed? If I was a 99, it would be like a 3.9 or a 4.0.”

A pair of Williams’ teammates, quarterback Jared Goff and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, chimed in with doubts about whether Williams could actually achieve that feat.

“Yeah, I guess if he says so, I don’t know. We’ll have to go measure it sometime,” Goff said. “He’s hard to track down if we want to measure his 40, but he says 4.1, we have to hold him accountable.”

“I do love Jamo, but I don’t know if he’s touching 4.1,” St. Brown added with a smile. “That’s crazy, that’s crazy.”

Williams bellieves he still has room to grow as a player in the midst of his banner year.

The speedster has demonstrated a more nuanced route tree, along with an added layer of intensity as a run blocker and the ability to contribute more in the short and intermediate passing game in addition to his role as a deep threat.

In his pursuit to be one of the NFL’s best, he isn’t settling for just these improvements, though. Rather, he’s taking a wide-ranging approach to his development.

“Everywhere. I’m not a perfect player, I’m not the best player right now but I feel like I’m explosive and I’m eye-catching. But I’ve got to work on everything, just so I can be the best,” Williams said, when asked where he can grow. “At the end of the day, that’s all I work for and that’s what I want to do, for the name on the back of my jersey, everybody that’s got the same last name, all my family. I just want to prove to them that I’m the best and just keep working. No matter if you’re at the top, one of the top dogs, you’ve still got to work because there’s people that are trying to get to your spot. I would say I’ve got to work on everything.”

Williams has impressed his teammates and coaches with his development over the year. In unlocking his skill set, he brings an added element for defenses to worry about with his speed. This fits perfectly with Detroit’s other array of weapons, such as St. Brown and running back Jahmyr Gibbs.

“He’s had a great year, and he’s missed two games too. He’s gonna get to 1,000, I know he is. He might get it this game. Hopefully he does,” St. Brown said. “He does a lot for our offense, whether it’s in the run game. He puts his head in there, he really makes key blocks for us, he’s not scared to block, go dig out a safety. So, that’s huge. Obviously, his explosiveness, his vertical, his ability to take the top off of defenses. Put the stress on the safety, DBs. And then whether it’s a reverse or things like that, where you can get the ball to him behind the line of scrimmage, and he can be special with it. He brings a lot of firepower to our offense, and I love having him out there, playing with him.”

Williams did have his ups and downs through the start to his career. The deep connection that he and Goff had in Sunday’s game that went for an 82-yard touchdown was not always as crisp, and offensive coordinator Ben Johnson explained that it took time for the duo to find its rhythm.

“Two-and-a-half years,” Johnson said. “I mean, shoot, we struggled there that first year, when he got healthy, to truly get on the same page, and as coaches, we saw – we saw the potential and with Jared, he’s a timing, he’s a rhythm quarterback, he needs reps, just like the great ones do… That’s the potential that Jameson has to this offense, and it’s a beautiful thing to see a post versus single-high like that. I know this, it does our offense wonders going into the end of the season here and into the postseason to put that type of stuff on tape.”

Pursuit of 1,000 yards

The 2022 first-round pick has notched 890 receiving yards through his 13 appearances this season. Even though he missed two games midway through the year, the wideout needs just 110 yards over the final two regular season games to surpass 1,000 for the first time in his career.

Though Williams is aware of how close he is to the mark, he’s not putting his individual accomplishments ahead of the team goals.

“I’m aware of it. I ain’t trying to force it though,” Williams explained. “We’ve still got two games ahead of us, that’s the main priority, getting a team win. If it comes, it comes, but it’s nothing I’m stressing about.”

Since coming to Detroit, Williams has never put personal achievements ahead of the team winning. That approach is not changing, even with a landmark milestone firmly in his grasp. Rather, he called for the team to put all of its personal goals to the side as it pursues a Lombardi Trophy.

“That stuff don’t really matter, you’ve just got to go out there the next game and try to make that up. Those two games, of course, it set me back a little bit,” Williams said. “But, the team still got the W both of those weeks without me. That’s really the main thing. I know people might have individual goals, but this far in the season, I feel like people need to put those to the side. It’s time to go win and it’s real now. It’s getting (more and more real) week by week, and playoffs will be here soon. The yardage is something I haven’t been worrying about. Missing the two games and having the down games that I’ve had. I’m still there, you know? I’m still in that range. So hopefully, I can get it, though.”