It started out slowly for Jameson Williams in Detroit this season. After coming off his 4-game suspension to start the year, Williams barely made a blip on the stat sheet in the first few weeks back.
Sure enough, Williams is getting more acclimated into the Lions offense. His hard work is paying off. Williams has played over 40 snaps in each of the last two games after not topping 34 in any of his five prior games. He’s hauled in two passes in both games, good for 44 yards against Chicago and 51 on Thanksgiving versus Green Bay.
Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is happy to see the second-year speedster earning more reps. Johnson is seeing Williams’ hard work behind the scenes really start to pay dividends.
“He’s getting better every week,” Johnson said on Thursday of Williams. “You see it and because of that, the way he’s practicing, the way he’s preparing and the way he’s playing, because of that, his reps are going up. And so, he continues to get out there and the ball’s going to just start gravitating to him just a little bit more than it already has.
But he’s doing a really nice job and he just needs to continue to put in the work like he’s doing right now and good things will happen.”
Williams has been used more frequently on shorter routes, moving beyond the deep shots that were so problematic for Jamo and QB Jared Goff to connect on earlier in the season. Williams also played in the slot on over 25 percent of the snaps against Green Bay, a wrinkle that helps the young wideout get cleaner releases off the line.