NFL Draft Profile: WR Jameson Williams

Breaking down Alabama wide receiver Jameson Williams

Alabama wide receiver Jameson Williams was one of the highest rated receivers in this class until he suffered a torn ACL in the National Championship game against Georgia. That injury occurred on the 11th of January this year, which means Williams has missed all the typical pre-draft testing and workouts like the combine and pro days that teams conduct to gather measurable information on each prospect. Williams is a true speed receiver, so not having the opportunity to set a blazing 40-yard dash time this offseason doesn’t help his situation.

However, the ACL injury is one that has become easier to manage and recover from in recent years and is no longer an injury that teams fear in the same way they used to. It’s believed that despite suffering the injury in January, Williams is expected to be ready to participate in training camp and start the season on time, which should reassure teams they would still get the instant impact from drafting Williams.

On the field, Williams' game revolves around his speed. He has the ability to turn on the jets and just run by defenses at will. This makes him a legitimate deep threat that defenses have to worry about.

On this play, Williams aligns to the left of the formation and begins his route by selling a basic in-cut. However, after taking a few steps inside, Williams then suddenly takes off down the field. The outside corner can’t stay on top of him while the safety inside was focused on a different receiver before realizing he suddenly had a threat from Williams. Williams speeds past both players and tracks the ball well, adjusting slightly as the ball arrives to run under it and catch it in stride. With the ball in his hands, neither the corner nor the safety are catching him and Williams sprints away into the end zone for a huge touchdown.

That’s the kind of game-changing speed Williams possesses. All he needs is a moment of hesitation from a defender and he will run by them. That means on double moves, even ones he doesn’t necessarily run particularly well, he can be deadly.

Here against Georgia, Williams lines up to the right side of the formation and runs a double move. He releases inside and at about the 40 yard line, he sells a bit of a stutter to fake breaking off his route. It’s not necessarily the most convincing move, but it does get the corner and the deep safety to pause for just a fraction of a second, which is all Williams needs to accelerate away from them. Once again he runs by them and does a nice job tracking the deep ball to pull in the pass for another deep touchdown.

Williams’ speed is a huge threat to the defense, but it’s not just on vertical routes. He almost accelerates more when he gets the ball in his hands. That means he’s a true home run threat any time he touches the ball.

Here we have a simple slant route from Williams. He aligns to the left of the formation and breaks inside quickly on a slant. He makes the catch on about the 23 yard line and then he just turns on the jets. He runs away from the trailing corner like he wasn’t even there. The deep safety’s angle gets exposed as Williams runs by him. The only player that can catch Williams is the corner being blocked on the far side. He peels off the block to try and save the touchdown, but despite making contact, Williams’ momentum gained from the run carries him through to the end zone for the score.

With this kind of home run threat, Williams is someone that should be manufactured touches. All the so-called “gadget” type plays like jet sweeps and screen passes should all be used to get the ball in Williams’ hands and give him opportunities to create chunk plays.

On this play, Williams aligns tight to the right of the formation in a run-heavy look. Just before the snap, the quarterback gives Williams a signal to motion across the formation and then snaps the ball to hand it off to Williams on a jet sweep. All Williams needs is one block to give him the opportunity to turn the corner, as he gets here, and suddenly he can take off down the sideline. It was a short yardage situation where Alabama needed just a yard or two for a first down, but Williams’ speed turned it into a 17-yard gain. 

Williams is also wise enough to understand to be patient with the ball in his hands. He knows he has explosive speed, but that if he allows his blockers time to set up their blocks, then his explosive speed can be even more effective.

This is a simple bubble screen to Williams that Alabama will run a couple times a game. The end zone replay angle is the best angle for this play because it shows Williams’ patience. When he secures the pass, he has two blockers in front of him, but they’re in the middle of passing off a defender from one to the other so the first blocker can then work up and block the defender on the edge. It would be easy for a receiver to just sprint to the edge and outrun his blocking, but that would give the defense a chance to make a tackle and limit the gain. Williams stays patient though and allows the blocker to engage with the defender before he begins to really accelerate to top speed. With the defender on the edge engaged in a block, Williams can then use his speed to run by him and down the sideline, picking up nearly 25 yards on a simple bubble screen.

This speed will terrify defenses, and rightly so. He can run by coverage on vertical routes or on quick passes that get the ball in his hands early. This means defenses need to be aware of him and respect his threat at all times. Smart offenses will use this respect to open things up for others.

On this play, Williams aligns tight to the right side of the formation. He’s tasked with running a deep corner route, selling a slight fake of a deep over before breaking back outside. Just before the ball is snapped, we can see the respect the Texas A&M defense has for Williams, with the deep safety beginning to bail back towards the deep middle of the field. As the play develops that deep safety gains more and more depth to try and keep his cushion and stay on top of Williams. As Williams breaks his route back outside, he has the deep safety and corner to his side focused on him and playing with a lot of depth. That vacates a huge space in the middle of the field for his teammates to work with. Alabama has a receiver running a deep dig from the far side into that vacated space, but unfortunately the quarterback gets pressured and has to scramble before he can pull the trigger on that wide open throw over the middle.

Williams then is clearly a huge threat to the defense because of his speed and home run ability every time he touches the ball. He can also be used as a decoy to run the top off the defense and create space underneath for his teammates. Assuming he has no setbacks with his injury and makes a full recovery, that threat will have a significant impact on any offense from the first time he sets foot on the field. However, he’s still a bit raw in terms of the finer details of being a receiver. His route running is inconsistent. It was often easy to tell the difference between his routes when he was expecting to get the ball and when he wasn’t because there was a different intensity to his routes on those plays. He can also struggle against physical press coverage.

Here we see Williams attempting to run a basic cross against Texas A&M. The corner working against him walks up to the line of scrimmage and plays press coverage. Williams stutters off the line but is allowed to release inside initially. However, Williams then attempts to get back outside the corner as he bends his route to get back vertical. The corner reaches out his arm to engage and Williams attempts to swipe the arm away, but struggles to get the corner off him. He’s forced to stop and restart, taking a few extra steps and losing time as he works back outside to try and sell the vertical fake. Williams then attempts to wrap around the corner as he breaks inside, but the corner continues to play physical and Williams ends up losing balance and falling to the ground, taking him out of the play.

The biggest jump from college to the NFL for every wide receiver is the standard and consistency of press coverage they face. Williams struggled against press in college, so he’ll have to work hard to improve on that in the NFL. Fortunately, there are creative things teams can do to help Williams avoid press coverage as much as possible, like stacking him behind another receiver or using motion to move him around just before the snap. Once he learns how to release against press coverage too, his speed might make defenders think twice about pressing him because of the risk of getting burned if they miss.

From a route running perspective, Williams does need work to consistently separate without just relying on his speed. However, he does flash potential in this area.

This is just a simple quick out route from Williams. However, there is more than you might think that goes into this type of route. Williams initially releases into the route by widening his position on the field towards the hash marks. Once he reaches those hash marks, he just straightens up for a step or two, getting the route back to vertical. That means he attempts to sell a vertical threat on the route to the defender in coverage. With his speed, even just a small threat to go vertical will cause most defenders to open their hips and prepare to run deep. As the defender opens his hips, Williams then breaks outside, leaving the defender to pause for a second as he realizes the route is breaking off and not running deep, which creates the separation.

That route flashed potential, but it wasn’t perfect either. The sell vertical could have been a lot clearer and crisper, working directly up the hash marks instead of drifting from the inside of them to the outside of them. The urgency of the route could have been sold a bit better too, just to really threaten the defender vertically and create maximum separation as he breaks outside. But the potential is there to be worked on and developed.

Overall, assuming Williams is able to make a full recovery on the anticipated time schedule, he would be a valuable addition to any offense and worthy of a first-round pick. His speed is electric and he offers a legitimate deep threat as well as an explosive home run hitter after the catch. For the Washington Commanders, Williams could easily fit in as the Z or slot receiver, flipping between those two spots with Curtis Samuel. His deep threat would help vacate space for Terry McLaurin on those deep digs while his ability after the catch would give Washington another threat underneath too. There are more polished receivers in the draft, like Chris Olave, and receivers that offer more size, like Drake London. But Williams has game-changing speed and explosive play-making ability, which will make him a threat to any defense the moment he steps on the field.