DETROIT – Jameson Williams didn’t exactly fill up the stat sheet in his first game back from suspension, but Detroit Lions fans shouldn’t be discouraged by his performance.
If you’re worried because he only caught one pass in six games last season, I totally get it. If you’re annoyed that he’s only played in seven of the team’s 22 games since the Lions traded up to draft him, I’m right there with you!
But on Sunday, I think Williams showed his coaches what they wanted to see.
He only had two catches for two total yards -- a screen pass for a 2-yard loss and then a screen pass for a 4-yard gain. He also dropped a pass that would have gone for a short gain over the middle.
But as Dan Campbell said last week when he was taking dozens of questions about Williams returning to the team, these first few games aren’t about catches and yardage.
I’m reading between the lines here, but what I heard when Campbell talked about Williams was, “He hasn’t been here, and now he needs to earn his keep.” The Lions knew Williams had a knee injury when they drafted him, but it was his own mistake that kept him out for the first four weeks this year.
He returned to a team that was getting along just fine without him. The Lions were in first place and had found a nice groove with Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam LaPorta, Josh Reynolds, and Kalif Raymond in the passing game.
While he’s building a culture of hard work, accountability, and putting the team first, the last thing Campbell wants is for Williams to be a diva because he’s not getting the ball. Williams isn’t going to just replace someone like Reynolds, whose production is proven rather than hypothetical.
But Williams wasn’t a diva on Sunday. Instead, he did what Campbell asked: He blocked for his teammates and went where he was supposed to be (as far as we can tell).
Most people noticed Williams on the very first drive, when David Montgomery took a handoff up the middle 42 yards for a score. One of the key second-level blocks that sparked that long run came from Williams, who planted his man on the ground and allowed Montgomery to bounce outside.
“Jamo did a hell of a job with the block on the outside,” Montgomery said, via the Lions Twitter account. “I was able to get outside of him. He sealed the end. It was me and a (defensive back), and I wasn’t going down.”
Williams also threw a critical block with 10:34 left in the game, when Craig Reynolds was taking handoffs to run out the clock. He threw another big block for Reynolds on a 20-yard run that took the Lions from the 24-yard line down to the 4.
The game was already in hand. It was garbage time. So I was encouraged to see Williams still out there doing dirty work.
That’s how Williams can earn the respect of his teammates and coaches, and therefore start to become a more integral part of the passing attack.
Now, the Lions didn’t trade up to No. 12 in the 2022 draft to add a wide receiver who specializes in downfield blocking. They picked Williams for his speed, and if he doesn’t turn into a home run threat, that pick will go down as a rare miss from Brad Holmes.
But Williams was never going to return to the field and get 10 targets right away. That’s not how the Lions operate. First, they want to make sure he’s buying into their philosophy and mindset.
On Sunday, I think he took the first step.