‘Big game breaker’: ESPN analyst makes bold Jameson Williams prediction
Jaxon Smith-Njigba is coming off one of the most surprising breakout seasons in recent memory. After posting 1,130 receiving yards and six touchdowns on 100 receptions in 2024, many thought that might be his peak. Turns out, it wasn’t anywhere close.
Last season, Smith-Njigba led the entire league with 1,793 yards and 10 touchdowns on 119 catches, averaging 15.1 yards per catch, winning the NFL Offensive Player of the Year, and leading the Seattle Seahawks to win Super Bowl LX.
Following that performance, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler dropped his latest wide receiver rankings, where NFL executives, coaches, and scouts voted on the top players at each position, and JSN made his debut inside the top 10, landing at No. 3 overall.
Shortly after the rankings came out, ESPN’s Louis Riddick jumped on “Get Up” and predicted another player to make a similar type of jump in 2026, Detroit Lions receiver Jameson Williams.
“Remember this name too, Jameson Williams. Just remember that name. The dude is a big game breaker,” Riddick said. “We all know who he is, but Amon-Ra is the guy who gets all the target share. Jameson could have that kind of season as well, where you’re looking at another football team like the Rams, like the Cowboys that have two guys in the top 10 in 2026.”
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After losing offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, now the head coach of the Chicago Bears, the Lions’ offense as a whole lost a step last year. But Williams, Detroit’s No. 12 overall pick in 2022, had his best season yet.
Appearing in all 17 games, Williams hauled in a career-high 1,117 receiving yards and seven touchdowns on just 65 catches, averaging 17.2 yards per reception, the fourth-highest mark in the NFL. Meanwhile, Williams’ teammate Amon-Ra St. Brown led the team with 1,401 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns on 117 receptions.
The Lions and the Cowboys were the only two teams in the league with two receivers over 1,000 yards, as Dallas saw both George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb clear that mark as well.
Both Pickens and Lamb earned a spot in Fowler’s top 10, and now, Riddick believes the same thing could happen next year with Williams and St. Brown.
Williams has now posted back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, and his play really took off last year once head coach Dan Campbell took over play-calling duties from former offensive coordinator John Morton.
With Morton gone and Drew Petzing now calling the plays, Williams could see a more consistent role in 2026 and help the Lions’ offense get back to their dominant form from two years ago, when they led the NFL, averaging 33.2 points per game.
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