Jameson Williams is better, in every which way

In 1 on 1's between receivers and defensive backs Tuesday, Jameson Williams left Ennis Rakestraw on his hands and knees at the line of scrimmage with a slick release -- Rakestraw said he slipped -- and hauled in a long touchdown. Williams shook him again at the line and caught a slant in the same drill, though Rakestraw battled back for a punch-out as Williams turned up field.

Matching Williams has been a challenge for Rakestraw in the early stages of camp (it's been a challenge for everyone), especially when playing press coverage. Williams wants to help. When Rakestraw asked Williams for feedback, Williams said on SiriusXM NFL Radio they "had a conversation about how he’s coming to me on the press and how I was beating him, so I explained to him how I was beating him, and it’s been better work since. We’ve been going back and forth."

In 1 on 1's on Thursday, Rakestraw matched Williams off the line, stuck to his hip on a deep ball and made a leaping break-up in the end zone. After they tumbled to the grass, Williams popped up smiling and dapped Rakestraw up.

"Things like that could go a far way and it helps teammates a lot, so I try to do it any time I can," Williams said. "DB’s come to us when we beat them on reps, like, 'What was that?' and we to go them about defenses that we’ve never seen, so if we see it vs. somebody else we’ll know because we’ve already seen it against ours."

This is Jamo in Year 5, spreading the wealth. Asked on one of the first days of training camp about his goals this year, Williams said, "I just want to come out this season and be a better player and help my brothers stack days." He smiled reflecting on how far he's come from his first camp, when he was forced to watch in street clothes as he rehabbed a torn ACL, and said, "I feel like I’ve grown a lot, just with age and growing with the game, and matured a lot."

Then he reiterated his aspirations for himself: "I just want to work my way toward my ending goal of being a top receiver."

In some ways, Williams is already there. He was 10th in the NFL in receiving yards (1,117) last year and one of only 10 receivers in the league to reach 1K each of the last two seasons. The others are only the best in the game: Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Amon-Ra St. Brown, CeeDee Lamb, A.J. Brown, Zay Flowers, Nico Collins and Courtland Sutton.

And Williams did the bulk of his damage last season after Dan Campbell took over for former OC John Morton as play-caller. His pace over the final nine games with Campbell on the call equated to nearly 1,500 yards.

"I just had to stay down and stay focused," Williams said. "There were games (in the first half of the season) where I had zero catches, zero targets, but that doesn’t stay on my mind the day after, can’t be mad about it too long. I knew that my time was going to come and I knew what I was going to do when it came."

The one issue for Williams last year was a familiar one. He had the most drops (12) in the NFL. Some of them came at key moments. This will always be part of the Williams' experience, in part because he operates at such a high speed. He's dropped a couple catchable passes in team drills during camp.

But on the whole, Williams looks like a much surer-handed receiver this year. He's routinely plucking passes out of the air instead of corralling them with his body. And Williams knows the narrative. When he high-pointed a pass through tight coverage along the sideline and got both feet in bounds in front of a group of reporters early in camp, he turned to them with a grin and said, "Y'all like that??" (We did.)

Williams said working his hands was "a daily focus" this offseason. And not just snaring passes in stride, which is how he can make routes like slants so dangerous, but going up to get them.

"I was catching balls every day," he said. "I just want to be the receiver that no matter where it’s at I gotta catch it. That’s what I’ve been working on, really. I don’t want no mishaps or nothin no matter where the ball’s at, I’m just trying to go catch it. That was my main thing in working on the catches."

During red zone team drills on Thursday, Williams ran a fade out of the slot toward the back of the end zone. Jared Goff lofted a pass his way, with Rock Ya-Sin in close coverage. Williams turned around, leapt into the air and came down with it through contact. The play was perfectly timed, from Goff's throw to Jamo's jump. Williams celebrated in delight, as he usually does, laughing later with St. Brown that "I couldn't even see!!"

Williams' new OC loves what he sees. How couldn't he? Drew Petzing said Thursday that the focus for Williams in camp is "playing physical, playing fast, attacking the football and finishing plays." He caught another touchdown in 7-on-7 red zone drills Thursday with a quick move out of the slot, when Rakestraw and Ya-Sin got crossed up trying to pass off the assignment.

"The speed is second to none. I mean, he can run by everybody," Petzing said. "But what guys are going to do to try to negate that is get their hands on him and make sure he doesn't get off the line of scrimmage or can't separate at the top of the route. And I think that's where he's tried to really improve, gaining some of that play strength, being faster at the line of scrimmage and playing physical at the top of the route."

Williams, 25, wants to be known as a top receiver. If he's not there already, he's well on his way.