Dan Campbell: Jameson Williams won’t ever have elite hands, will be ‘just fine’ with speed’

The Detroit Lions traded up to get Jameson Williams in last year’s NFL draft in hopes of landing a No. 1 receiver, but Lions coach Dan Campbell acknowledged Wednesday that Williams might never meet that criteria in one specific area — his hands.

Williams had more drops (three) than catches (one) in six games last season and has been inconsistent catching the ball this spring and summer.

“(The drops) show up and that’s something we’ve talked about with him and he knows that, too,” Campbell said. “I think, man, working his hand mechanics. He’s got to work those pre-practice, he’s got to work them post-practice. And I mean, really, he’s just got to grind on it, and even then it’s not — it’ll never be probably be like one of these elite pass-catchers that you’ve seen, but it’ll be just fine with his speed and what he’s able to do.”

LET’S ALL JUST CALM DOWN: Jameson Williams deserves more time

Williams showed off his world-class speed early in Wednesday’s non-padded practice when he blew past No. 1 cornerback Cam Sutton for a long touchdown catch on the first play of seven-on-seven drills.

Williams, who celebrated his TD by tossing the ball high in the air, caught five of seven passes thrown his way in team drills Wednesday, most on shallow crossing routes and short outs.

He made one catch after briefly bobbling it on the sideline, had one drop on a Nate Sudfeld pass that was thrown high over the middle in traffic but hit both his hands, and had one potential catch broken up by Saivion Smith.

After practice, Williams spent a few minutes catching passes from Lions receivers coach Antwaan Randle El before going to sign autographs and greet family.

“There’s a number of things he can clean up with it and I think it’s just, man, time on task, work through it, because honestly there are some things that — just the simple change of the way your hands are by ball location, pinkie to pinkie, thumb to thumb, that’ll go a long way for him,” Campbell said. “And so, we just got to keep working through it. We just got to keep working through it.”

Randle El said this spring that Williams was still a work in progress when it came to some of the finer points of the receiver position, a reflection of his relative inexperience.

Williams had one standout season at Alabama in 2021, when he caught 79 passes for 1,572 yards, but he played sparingly on offense in his two previous college seasons at Ohio State and missed the first 11 games last year while recovering from a college knee injury.

He also missed a few days at the start of camp with a hamstring injury.

“It’s not an excuse, but he hasn’t practiced,” Campbell said. “I mean he didn’t practice last year. He came in during the year and we kind of had a couple plays for him here and there, but it’s not like — this is his first significant time to get (practice). He was hurt last week, so, man, the longer can keep him on the field and just keep working through these things, he’ll get better, but I would say that’s the answer.”

Campbell said Williams’ speed also has worked against him in a way because he has always been so good at creating separation against defensive backs, he hasn’t had to be a detailed route runner or precision ball catcher.

“He can run, and he’s been able to create so much separation where he came from that it was – that wasn’t as big of a deal,” Campbell said. “Well, in this league, you’re getting contested catches. But I think that’s why I brought up the details of his routes. With his speed, the more he can really hone in on the details, his explosive speed, man, there’ll be a level of separation, you’d like to believe, different than most to where it’s not always going to be these contested catches. So there’s a little give and take there.”

PLAYERS RETURNING: Penei Sewell (concussion), Sam LaPorta (ankle) return to Detroit Lions practice

Williams said Monday he worked on all aspects of his game this offseason and expects to be a more complete receiver this fall after he returns from a six-game suspension to start the year for violating the NFL’s gambling policy.

Because he can’t play or practice until late October and must be completely away from the team for the first three weeks of his suspension, the Lions plan to give Williams a heavy dose of action in preseason games this summer.

Campbell said he wants Williams to come away with an increased “level of polish” to his game and a good rapport with quarterback Jared Goff that will make it easy for him to pick up where he left off when he returns.

“It’ll be imperative,” Campbell said. “We’re going to douse him with a ton of game reps. He needs that. He needs that. As he does practice, but, man, and I’m telling you, as with anybody, the more reps he gets, the more time on task, the more consecutive practices and reps he can put together, he’ll just grow, I really believe that. And I do believe he wants it. I do believe he wants to get better, I do believe. So he’ll grind through this and let’s see where we can go with it.”

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.