The 2022 NFL Draft takes place April 28-30 this year, emanating LIVE from Las Vegas, Nevada. As it stands, the Tennessee Titans have one first round draft pick. General manager Jon Robinson and head coach Mike Vrabel currently hold the 26th overall selection. Over the next few months, your boy “Big Natural” Stoney Keeley will be taking a look at some of the prospects who are either rumored to be tied to, have met with, or who make sense for the Titans. Today, we’re lookin’ at Alabama wide receiver Jameson Williams.
We all saw the memes after this year’s National Championship game between Alabama and Georgia. As soon as Williams went down with an apparent ACL tear, JRob’s mouth started watering, right? The chance to draft another elite talent with an injury history – it’s just too tempting. Well, given how this Titans offense could use another weapon in the passing game, there are certainly worse ideas than taking Williams should he slide to them at #26. The need isn’t necessarily as pressing as it was a few weeks ago before the Titans traded for Robert Woods. They have AJ Brown. They clearly like some of their younger guys. Maybe you feel like rolling the dice on a guy who won’t be a contributor right away, but who could really get your receiving corps over the top once he is healthy. He’d also serve as a bit of an insurance policy should Woods not pan out as intended (a lesson learned from the Julio Jones experiment).
I don’t doubt that had Williams come on a little earlier in the season, he would’ve been a legitimate contender for the 2021 Heisman Trophy. He finished 2021 with 79 catches for a whopping 1,572 yards…that’s 19.9 yards per catch. He also had 15 receiving touchdowns, 12 of which came after 10/2/21. Throughout the first fives games of the season, Williams topped 100 yards just once. In the remaining 10 games, he did it six times. If he had been that productive from the jump, Bryce Young might not be holding the Heisman. Williams earned First-Team All-American and First-Team All-SEC honors, as well as the SEC’s Co-Special Teams Player of the Year.
Whoever ends up with Williams is getting the best pure play-maker in this draft class…again…that’s assuming he returns to form after tearing his ACL. He is simply electric, possessing the speed, burst, and explosiveness to make cornerbacks who give him a cushion pay. Williams has a large catch radius, and the ability to juke defenders, shed tacklers, and create opportunities after the catch. He is magnificent in the open field, and that lends itself to special teams versatility (he had a couple of kick return touchdowns to go with his 15 receiving touchdowns in 2021 as well). To me, Williams looks a lot like his predecessor at Alabama, Jaylen Waddle, in how he plays and how he can be used in an offense. As far as weaknesses go, there were times when he wasn’t physical or aggressive enough to really shake press coverage. Otherwise, it’s really just the ACL tear that is keeping Williams from being the consensus #1 wide receiver in this draft class.
As far as his fit with the Titans, he would make for an excellent 1-2-3 punch with Brown and Woods. Where Brown is essentially Derrick Henry playing receiver, and Woods is the more polished route-runner and blocker, Williams would bring that gadgety versatility element to the offense. I know people are sick to death of those “who’s stopping this offense?” graphics from PFF, but in this case, this is a legit case of “who on Earth is stopping that trio?” I don’t think Williams will be there at #26, but if he is, you’ll get no gripes from me should he end up in the two-tone blue.
Further Reading: Jameson Williams explains what Alabama season gave him
2022 TITANS FIRST ROUND OPTIONS
- Treylon Burks
- Jahan Dotson
- Kenyon Green
- Zion Johnson
- Tyler Linderbaum
- Roger McCreary
- Trey McBride
- Chris Olave
- Trevor Penning
- Desmond Ridder
- Jalen Tolbert
- Jalen Wydermyer
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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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