When the Detroit Lions made the massive trade with the Minnesota Vikings to land Alabama wide receiver Jameson Williams with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft, some o the buzz for Lions fans was couched by Williams’ injury status. The speedster tore his ACL in Alabama’s loss to Georgia in the college football title game in early January.
All the updates from Williams himself have been bullish that he’ll be ready well before the regular season begins. Now the man who performed the ACL surgery has offered an even more optimistic timeline.
“Jameson’s goal is to play first preseason game, obviously,” Dr. Lyle Cain told Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.
The Lions don’t appear to be in any mood to rush Williams back on the field. Cain agrees with the conservative approach.
“I told him, I said, ‘Look, depending on which team you go to, most teams are probably — they’re going to be very conservative. You’ve got to understand that.’ And he’ll get talked into it, but I know he’s, in his mind said he’s going to be ready Game 1″, Cain continued.
The timetable for full recovery is between five and seven months, according to Cain. We’re already almost four months out from the surgery, and Williams has looked good in video clips he’s posted of his progress, some of which were shown on the NFL draft broadcasts.
