Fantasy Index

header banner img
OUR FANTASY BASEBALL MAGAZINE IS BACK! PRE-ORDER NOW
Win here.

Factoid

Jameson Williams

Latest Tide receiver has mending knee, high upside

I will be interested to see where Jameson Williams goes. There are some who believe he’s the best receiver in this draft, but he’s not a usual kind of prospect.

Williams tore his ACL in January, so I don’t know that you’re getting much premium play out of him in 2022. He may start the year on the PUP list. The hope would be that he can maybe start half the season, get his feet wet, and then come back in 2023 and excel.

The body type is different. He’s got that same rail-thin build as DeVonta Smith, who preceded him at Alabama. He’s 6-foot-2 and 179 pounds, so there could be some issues with press coverage and making contested catches.

There’s also the weird deal where Williams couldn’t get on the field at Ohio State. He caught only 15 passes in two seasons with the Buckeyes. They watched him practice for two seasons and didn’t think he was as good as Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson (who are also going to be selected in the first round tomorrow). Ohio State, of course, made a similar decision with Joe Burrow, who left for LSU when Urban Meyer’s staff decided Dwayne Haskins was better.

Williams put up big numbers last year at Alabama, continuing that school’s remarkable pipeline with wide receiver talent. Only two of those receivers finished a season with more receiving yards or touchdown catches than Williams.

Below, see a compilation of the wide receivers from Alabama who’ve gone on to be selected in the first round. (I don’t think John Metchie will be picked in the first, but he might be, so I also tossed him on there.)

Players are ordered by average fantasy points per game (using PPR scoring). But to avoid making the chart too cluttered, I’m showing just the receiving production for each player. The final two columns show the team numbers, giving an idea of the offense they were running. (Julio Jones, for example, finished with only 924 yards in 2008, but that team averaged only 171 passing yards – about half of what they’ve put up the last two seasons).

NICK SABAN'S FIRST ROUND RECEIVERS
YearPlayerGNoYardsAvgTDT YdsTTD
2020DeVonta Smith131171,85615.9233583.2
2014Amari Cooper141241,72713.9162782.3
2021Jameson Williams15791,57219.9153383.2
2019DeVonta Smith13681,25618.5143423.8
2021• John Metchie13961,14211.983383.2
2019Jerry Jeudy13771,16315.1103423.8
2018Jerry Jeudy15681,31519.3143243.5
2020Jaylen Waddle62859121.143583.2
2010Julio Jones13781,13314.572611.8
2012Amari Cooper14591,00016.9112182.2
2015Calvin Ridley15891,04511.772271.5
2020• John Metchie135591616.763583.2
2017Calvin Ridley146396715.351932.0
2018Henry Ruggs144674116.1113243.5
2019Henry Ruggs124074618.773423.8
2013Amari Cooper114573616.442492.3
2016Calvin Ridley157276910.772101.7
2008Julio Jones145892415.94171.8
2018Jaylen Waddle154584818.873243.5
2018DeVonta Smith134269316.563243.5
2009Julio Jones134359613.941881.2
2019Jaylen Waddle133356017.063423.8
2017Jerry Jeudy81426418.921932.0
2017DeVonta Smith8816020.031932.0
2017Henry Ruggs141222919.161932.0

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index