By his own admission, Jameson Williams is having “probably one of my worst starts to [a season in] my career.”
Williams is coming off a season-high six-catch, 102-yard performance in last week’s loss to the Carolina Panthers, but the fourth-year receiver dropped two more passes in the game – including one potential touchdown he lost in the lights – and his coach made it clear this week the Detroit Lions need more from their top deep threat if they’re going to salvage their season after a disappointing 2-2 start.
“He's doing some things that we really like to see, but we're talking about greatness,” Lions wide receivers coach Scottie Montgomery said. “We're not just chasing [good]. He's a good player. He's a good player in this league. That's not –
I've told him and you guys have heard, I want to be around the best and I think that he has the opportunity to do that if we do clean up some of the things that you're talking about.”
The Lions visit the Arizona Cardinals this week in their final game before the bye, and while much of the focus has been on their league-worst defense, Williams and the offense haven’t clicked at the high level that made them so dangerous in the past.
Williams opened the season with a three-drop game against the New Orleans Saints, failed to top 50 yards receiving in the Lions’ first three games and has yet to score a touchdown this year.
With 16 catches for 229 yards, Williams is on pace to set a career-high in catches, but he’s averaging a career-low 14.3 yards per reception and is tracking to finish with less than 1,000 yards for the first time since 2023.
Williams acknowledged this week he has to clean up the drop problems that have haunted him since his rookie year. He’s dropped 20% of his 25 targets this season, according to Pro Football Reference, after dropping a career-high 12 passes (11.8%) last year.
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“It’s nothing major, it’s just drops,” Williams said. “I just got to catch the ball, that’s the main thing.”
Against the Panthers, Williams dropped his second target of the game on a go ball down the Lions' sideline in the middle of the first quarter. The Lions led 3-0 and were backed up near their own goal line at the time, and the play against single-high safety coverage had the potential to be an 89-yard touchdown.
Williams’ second drop early in the fourth quarter came on a high pass over the middle with the Lions down 10 points. They punted the ball away two plays later, and the Panthers answered with a 12-play field goal drive.
“Every target that he had in that game should have been a catch,” Montgomery. “If it hits you in the foot, you can catch it. If it hits you in the fingertip, you can catch it. If you jump up and it hits you, you got to catch it. He understands that. Like he understands that point of it, but that is exactly what I'm talking about. You can't be boom or bust this league. That is above average or average, when you use the means of them. So we have to get him to a point, I have to find more ways to get him to the point where he gets to that point and that is a normal play.”
Williams said he’s more concerned with helping the Lions dig out of their 2-2 start than his own numbers through four weeks.
“I see a lot of people saying I haven’t been involved a lot, but I have,” he said. “We just got to play better ball and execute when it comes our way, each and every one of us.”
But the way Montgomery sees it, the better Williams plays on a consistent basis, the better it is for the team.
“Above average in this league, it gets you beat. Above average in this league, you've forgotten about,” Montgomery said. “When you look at the record books, the guys that are great, they were consistently great. Not just consistently good. The dynasties, the good football teams. They're not consistently good, they were consistently great. So now that level, wherever you thought it was, it needs to raise. It needs to keep rising to the level of greatness on every play."
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Middling Lions need more from Jameson Williams: 'Can't be boom or bust'
