Fantasy Alert: Lions' Jameson Williams Tabbed as 2024's Breakout Player by NFL Execs

Expectations for Jameson Williams are high around the NFL as the Detroit Lions wide receiver enters his third season.

Williams earned the highest vote-getter when ESPN's Jeremy Fowler canvassed league executives and scouts for the NFL's "breakout player" in 2024.

"He's in a great offense, and Amon-Ra (St. Brown) isn't a secret anymore, so [Williams] should get one-on-one looks," one AFC exec said to Fowler. "He can absolutely fly and is an ideal deep threat for Jared Goff. He looks like himself again, too."

Many considered Williams' rookie year to be a write-off thanks to the torn ACL he suffered in his final college game. He missed Detroit's first 11 games before making his full NFL debut.

The 23-year-old encountered an unexpected hurdle in 2023, though. He received a six-game suspension, which was subsequently reduced to four games, for violating the league's gambling policy.

Williams wound up catching 24 passes for 354 yards and two touchdowns in 12 regular-season appearances and had 121 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns in the playoffs.

Fantasy football managers appear to be somewhat lukewarm on the 2022 first-round pick for now. He has an average draft position of 125.1 in standard Yahoo Sports leagues, which is significantly below St. Brown (7.8) and Lions tight end Sam LaPorta (29.8).

That leaves a lot of upside with Williams.

Sure, he's competing with St. Brown and LaPorta for targets, while Jahmyr Gibbs will be utilized as a receiver out of the backfield. But having so many options in the passing game means people are going to be open, and Williams might be a big beneficiary in that regard.