Lions WR Jameson Williams will practice for first time Monday

The Detroit Lions have made Victory Monday all that much sweeter by announcing that first-round pick Jameson Williams will practice for the first time this week, starting the clock on his 21-day evaluation period.

Williams suffered a torn ACL in the National Championship game in January and has spent the following 10 months rehabbing. He’s been on the Non-Football Injury list the entire time, and he will remain there until the Lions believe he is ready to start contributing on game days.

That technically means he’s eligible to play as soon as Thursday against the Buffalo Bills if the Lions activate him to the 53-man roster. However, coach Dan Campbell said last week that that is unlikely to happen.

“I would say probably after Thanksgiving sometime would be the best way to – I think that’s tentatively what we’re looking at,” Campbell said. “I don’t know if that would be the Jacksonville week or the week after. It could be next week (vs. Bills), it’s just we’re not doing a ton, but he’s close. It certainly won’t be this week (vs. Giants) and I don’t see, there again, him playing for Thanksgiving, but we’ll see where it goes.”

Either way, it sounds like we’re finally close to seeing what the Lions have in their 12th overall pick, and it couldn’t come at a more perfect time, with the Lions now seriously in the NFC playoff hunt.

And if you need a reminder of just what the Lions saw in Jameson Williams, here’s a look back at his ridiculous 2021 season with Alabama.