One of the most perplexing issues on offense for the Detroit Lions this season has been the play of veteran wide receiver Jameson Williams. The 24-year-old Williams hasn’t been a factor in the passing game through seven games, which is surprising, given the season he had in 2024.
Last year, Williams racked up 58 receptions (91 targets) for 1,001 yards and seven touchdowns. He also averaged 8.6 yards after the catch per reception and 17.3 yards per catch. Fast forward to this season, the former first-round pick has 17 receptions (30 targets) for 289 yards and two touchdowns.
For the Lions to get where they want to go this season, they’ll need to find a way to get Williams more involved in the passing game. It seems like the Lions’ coaching staff understands this and told reporters on Tuesday that they need to put him in a better position.
“(There is) no middle ground. Only a ceiling. We gotta get to the ceiling,” Detroit WR coach and assistant head coach Scottie Montgomery said via Kory Woods of MLive.com.
Montgomery also said (h/t Nolan Bianchi of The Detroit News), “We gotta get to a point when we're not talking about potential, we're talking about production, and we'll get there."
Lions Coaches Pressuring Themselves to Get Jameson Williams on Track
If you’re a Lions fan, you’re excited to read these quotes from Montgomery and hope that it also reverberates to head coach Dan Campbell and offensive coordinator John Morton. Unlike Amon-Ra St. Brown, who is a tremendous wide receiver, Williams does not need a lot of targets to make a play. If he can get behind a defense with his speed, all quarterback Jared Goff has to do is get the ball to him in time.
That said, when Williams has gotten a large number of targets, it has worked out in his favor. An example of this was in Week 6 against the Kansas City Chiefs, where he tallied six receptions (seven targets) for 66 yards and a touchdown.
Some Lions fans likely thought this was a sign of a breakthrough, but that wasn’t the case, as he had two targets, but zero yards and zero catches in the following week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Earlier this month, the coaches raved about Williams’ unselfishness as he was outstanding as a run blocker, which helped the Lions’ offense. That being said, the Lions didn’t give Williams an extension to be an excellent run blocker; it was to be a game breaker as a pass catcher.
Coming out of the bye, it’s paramount that the Lions get Williams involved early in Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings’ defense has struggled over their last two games, especially in Week 6 against the Philadelphia Eagles, where they allowed two WRs to go over 100 yards.
Sunday's showdown is the perfect matchup for Detroit to get the ball into Williams’ hands while squashing any lingering concerns that Lions fans might have.