Jameson Williams has shown plenty of promise, while Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is a mix of a little disappointed and very hopeful with what he’s seen.
Anyone hoping or calling for Lions rookie wide receiver Jameson Williams to touch the ball more somewhat got their wish in Week 17 against the Chicago Bears. On a season-high (and of course career-high) 18 snaps, he had a nice 40-yard run on a reverse and three targets from Jared Goff.
Goff and Williams nearly connected on one of those passes, as Goff threw just a little behind the speedy rookie. But Williams got both hands on it, and he’d probably say he should’ve caught it. During his media availability on Thursday, via Nolan Bianchi of The Detroit News, it’s safe to say offensive coordinator Ben Johnson agrees.
For us, we still label it as a drop,” Johnson said. “Any time it touches one of our pass catchers — we have high standards in that, so I know Jamo wishes he would have caught it. And then Jared needs to put that ball out in front, so it’s a two-way street there, but no, we really don’t have concerns with drops or anything.”
Williams has one catch, a 41-yard touchdown against the Vikings in Week 14, on eight targets in his five games thus far. Johnson couldn’t really hide his disappointment in that fact.
Ben Johnson disappointed, but clearly not giving up on Jameson Williams
Here’s more from Johnson on Williams, via Bianchi.
It’s been — I hoped it would click just a little bit faster than it has, you know? I think we all have. But that’s — it takes time sometimes. We’re not losing faith and we’re gonna keep pressing it, and it’ll end up clicking at some point. He’ll have a big game and it’ll be like, ‘OK, that’s why. That’s why we took him. That’s why he can help us so much.”
The end of this season, whenever he took the field looking from back months ago, was always going to be a learning curve for Williams. Apart from trusting his injured knee, knowing the playbook, building chemistry with Goff, etc. were simple foundational elements that had to be worked through.
Devil’s advocates to Johnson’s disappointment it hasn’t clicked faster with Williams might say, “well the Lions should be playing him more then.” But with how well DJ Chark has been playing, healthy himself now after missing a chunk of games with an ankle injury, there just hasn’t been a lot of room for Williams to play a bunch. And that assumes the Lions would be playing him noticeably more if Chark hasn’t been productive, which would go against the cautious approach they’ve had all along.
So whatever is left of the Lions’ season will continue to be only a teaser of Williams’ ability. But looking to next season? All bets should be off, and a breakout season is fair to eye.