Detroit Lions first round pick Tyleik Williams has seen his playing time take a significant dip since the return of Alim McNeill in Week 7. The rookie defensive tackle averaged 30.5 defensive snaps per
game over the first six weeks of the season. His playing time over the last three games?
- 22 snaps against the Buccaneers
- 11 snaps against the Vikings
- 8 snaps against the Commanders
Obviously, the return of McNeill has a big reason to do with Williams’ decrease in snaps, but it is a bit curious as to why he’s repping behind backup nose tackle Roy Lopez, who has out snapped him in each of the last two games (14 and 12 snaps, respectively).
On Tuesday during his weekly radio appearance on 97.1 The Ticket, Campbell explained why Williams hasn’t gotten a lot of playing time thus far.
“Tyleik’s just a young guy, continuing to get better, growing. There’s just a little inconsistency at times, but that’s not out of the norm,” Campbell said. “Correct it, get a little bit better, and move on.”
Complicating Williams’ inconsistent play is Detroit’s impressive depth chart. DJ Reader, McNeill, and Lopez are reliable players who, according to Campbell, are playing at a high level right now.
“The hard thing for him—which is a good thing for all of us—is Mac’s playing good, Reader’s playing good, Lopez is playing good. So, ‘Hey man, you’ve got some good players in front of you right now.’ So all he needs to do is elevate his game, and then he’ll be in front of them.”
Some may disagree with Campbell’s assessment of the defensive line room. Against the Commanders, Reader and McNeill combined for zero pressures (per PFF) and just three tackles. But it’s hard to deny how well Lopez is playing. For the second day in a row, Campbell praised Lopez for his five-tackle, 0.5-sack performance against Washington.
“He’s an outstanding role player for us. We he comes in, we don’t miss a beat,” Campbell said. “He can lift the point of attack. He’s one of those guys, man, he plays with leverage, he stout, he’s strong, he’s explosive, but then he can run the line of scrimmage, too now. So you want to run outside zone on him, he can get knocked back and—man, that was evident the other day. He was in the backfield two or three different times . He’s one of the reasons we had some of these TFLs. ”
So, in short, Williams simply needs to raise his level of play. In nine games, including six starts, Williams has just six tackles, one tackle for loss, and three pass breakups.
