In a perfect world, Jamaal Williams would have re-signed this offseason with the Packers, the team that drafted him out of BYU in 2017. But the Packers let Williams depart and he wound up in Detroit.
Now he's all-in on the Lions.
Asked Monday if he was upset that the Packers chose to let him go, Williams said, "Of course, just because I was just all-in for Green Bay. That’s how you’re supposed to be when you’re on a team, you gotta be all-in for what you believe in. I wanted to stay there. But the way things happened, it just happened and you gotta keep going with your journey.
"I already think of myself as my own main character in my own animated show. This is just my life right now going through it and I’m hitting another chapter: the chapter of the Lions, baby. And it’s looking good! I’m enjoying every minute it of just because I can feel the energy of this team and how special we can be. The support and everything I’m getting from here, it makes me feel like I can do go great things here. I’m honestly falling in love with Detroit."
The Lions are getting a good running back in Williams. They're also getting a ball of good vibes. That much was clear based on the pep in his voice and the grin on his face during a Zoom call with reporters. Williams is a relentlessly positive spirit, which makes him a good match with Dan Campbell and a coaching staff that's high on energy.
"They get me stoked. Like, people think I’m a hype man. Having him, Anthony Lynn, all these dudes, they their own hype men," Williams said. "When you got so many hype men, it’s about to get crazy, this year is going to be great. I’m about to enjoy every minute of this, but this is about to be good. When you get people like this who got the same mentality and want to win and they’re going to give people the opportunities to make those plays, I’m just grateful to have people who believe in me and want me to be out there to make those."
The Lions will pair Williams with D'Andre Swift to form what they hope is an explosive duo in the backfield. Williams rushed at least 100 times for at least 460 yards -- and caught at least 25 passes for at least 200 yards -- each of his four seasons in Green Bay. In Detroit, he wants to show he can do even more. He said his "potential is unlimited."
"I think I'm just going to get more opportunities to show what I can do outside the backfield, running routes, downhill. Try to make more explosive plays and just show that I can go all the way and hit home runs sometimes," he said. "I just want to do more than what I’m already doing. People feel like they already know my possibilities, but they don’t know how far I really can go. I don’t even know how far I can go. My potential is unlimited because my mind is. I’m just gonna keep growing and finding things I need to work on. You can never stop working, that’s my mentality."
Williams echoed the sentiments of newly acquired defensive lineman Michael Brockers, who likewise said Detroit's coaching staff has him pumped up for next season.
"Really just exited to get with this group. This coaching staff has really just fired me up, got me to a level where I feel like I can change things there, I can truly change things there," Brockers said Monday. "I’ve been there, been to the biggest game, been through big playoff games, so I understand that this winning thing is not a magic formula that everybody makes it out to be. It's just about accountability, trusting in one another, having great communication between the coaches and the players and just going out there and trying to win games. At the end of the day, that’s the only goal."