Allen Park — The Detroit Lions have carefully avoided setting any timetables on rookie Jameson Williams’ return, as he continues to work his way back from a torn ACL he suffered in January, while playing in the College Football Playoff championship game for the University of Alabama.
On Wednesday, coach Dan Campbell didn’t provide specifics, but noted the team still expects Williams to play this season — even if he’s still weeks away from returning to practice.
“There’s still hope,” Campbell said. “There again, he’s put together a pretty good month, a real good month. So we feel like we’re going to have him before this season’s out. It’s hard to say when that’s going to be. I would say at least probably another month. But I do feel like we’re going to get him before this is said and done.”
If Williams returned to practice in a month, the team would then have a three-week acclimation window prior to needing to add him to the active roster. That would set Williams up to debut in late December, for the final two or three games of the season.
One of college football’s most-productive receivers last season, Williams caught 79 passes for 1,572 yards and 15 touchdowns, while adding two more scores as a part-time kickoff-return man. Despite Williams not being able to participate in the combine or his pro day due to the ACL injury, the Lions traded up 20 spots in the first round to snag the speedy wideout at No. 12 overall.
Throughout the offseason and into the regular season, the Lions have praised Williams’ commitment to his rehab, the weight room and learning the playbook.
“He’s picking it up,” position coach Antwaan Randle El said last month. “We go over it every day. It’s like in between sessions, we go over the plays with him, he can spit it right back out to me. … You just work every week, you know, what’s in the game plan? Hey, here it is and him go through it and give it to you, so he understands it.
“He can talk to you about coverages, stuff like that, so he gets it. The physical part, I’m not worried about. It’s always the mental you want to make sure a guy has. He has it. He’s getting it down.”
With DJ Chark out at least the next three weeks after being placed on injured reserve on Saturday, the Lions could use Williams sooner than later, but Campbell said outside factors are not going to rush the team’s rehab process with the rookie.
“(Other) injuries are not going to have any bearing on when he plays,” Campbell said last week. “We’re not going to let that affect us. When he’s ready, then we’ll get him up and ready to go, but we don’t want to press that just because we have a number of injuries in the receiver room.”
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers
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