Dan Campbell prefers that Jameson Williams focus on ‘polishing all the minor things’ in exchange.
Dan Campbell is doing his best to keep Jameson Williams’ expectations in check when he returns from a four-game suspension this week and for the rest of the season.
Williams officially rejoined the Detroit Lions on Monday, three days after the NFL and NFL Players Association agreed to revised gambling rules that reduced his six-game suspension for betting on non-NFL games from an NFL facility by two weeks.
Monday’s activities included morning meetings, a team weight lift, and an hourlong workout. The Lions will have a padded practice Tuesday before taking a day off Wednesday in preparation for Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers.
Williams is expected to make his season debut this week at Ford Field, but Campbell believes it will be in a supporting role for a Lions club that is 3-1 and coming off a 34-20 victory over the Green Bay Packers.
FILM REVIEW: Jahmyr Gibbs, a Lions rookie, is off to a rough start. But don’t get too worked up just yet.
“If he does play, he can’t play 60 plays,” Campbell explained. “That’s not wise. So we won’t be able to do it to him. So we’ll see what happens. It’s all about progress, just like the rest of the team. We just have to get a little better each week. He only needs to improve a little bit, and we’ll go from there.”
Williams, the No. 12 overall choice in last year’s draft, has had a poor start to his NFL career.
He appeared in only six games last season after returning from a college knee injury, finishing with one catch and one rushing attempt, and missing more than two weeks of training camp this spring due to two separate hamstring problems.
Williams is now healthy, according to Campbell, but the team needs to “see where he’s at with football” to determine how much it can rely on him going ahead.
“This’ll be his first week back, so we’ll take every day, see how he does,” Campbell went on to say.
After five games, the Lions rank sixth in overall and scoring offense, but they could employ Williams’ field-stretching abilities to diversify their offense even more.
Through four weeks, Amon-Ra St. Brown leads the Lions with 26 catches and 331 yards receiving, and rookies Sam LaPorta and Jahmyr Gibbs have emerged as two of Jared Goff’s favorite targets. However, the only other Lions receiver averaging more than two catches per game is Josh Reynolds (12 catches, 215 yards), while No. 4 receiver Marvin Jones has two catches for 8 yards and has been a non-factor on offense this season.
MOVIE NIGHT: A new documentary features tailgating Lions fans.
Campbell stated that his primary goal for Williams this fall is to be a trustworthy player when it comes to doing his job.
“Stay in line and know where you’re supposed to be.” We’ll extract the depth from you, and we can rely on you to be where you’re meant to be, when you’re supposed to be there. “That’s all there is to it,” Campbell added. “I’m not looking for yards, explosives, or touchdowns,” he says. Just be a dependable receiver, like any of the other players in the room. That’s all. And that, to me, is a terrific year. Because we want to win. It’s not about one player, and that will aid our victory.”
If Williams does that, Campbell believes he won’t feel the need to make up for lost time and will be able to integrate into the offense easily.
“I think what we’ve done a really good job of in these four weeks is, man, we are by committee,” Campbell went on to say. “The way we’ve had production is that it’s required all of us.” That offensive line is crucial to us, as are our skill players stepping up. Everyone has a task to do, from tight ends to running backs to receivers. And your number will be called at a specific moment, but we’re not a one-man show; that’s not how we function here.
“Certainly, we have players on that side of the ball on whom we rely who have come through for us.” You know who they are, but no, I think that’s just a — he just needs to come in, and I’m not worried about him working; he will, and it’s just a matter of polishing all the tiny details.”
