How Detroit Lions' Jameson Williams can learn from Randy Moss and end bust talk on MNF
A drop here.
A sloppy route there.
A bad decision. A suspension. Another drop. Another missed connection.
The evidence is stacking up and the question is growing: Is Jameson Williams a bust?
Let me say this unequivocally: No way, not after playing nine games for the Detroit Lions.
It’s too early to give up on Williams — his rare combination of speed, height and quickness makes him an incredible asset. An incredible deep threat.
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But his slow development and lack of production have reached the concerning stage, and he’s not exactly trending in the right direction. The Lions tried their darndest to get him involved against the Baltimore Ravens. Quarterback Jared Goff targeted Williams six times — twice as many as any game in his short career — but he didn’t catch a single pass.
"Six targets, no catches. I don't know," Williams said. "It can get better for sure. It's gotta get better."
On that we can all agree.
“What is causing the disconnect?” I asked Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
“Time on task still,” Johnson said. “And I know it’s beating a dead horse by saying that, but some guys take longer than others to develop a rapport with and we just — we frankly aren’t there yet.”
Lions general manager Brad Holmes moved up in the 2022 draft to take Williams out of Alabama at No. 12 overall, knowing he was injured at the time. Knowing it would take time for Williams to produce. Holmes was enamored by Williams’ ability to stretch the field and create big plays, and we have seen it in small glimpses. Nine games into his career, Williams has two big catches — a 41-yard TD last season, and a 45-yarder two weeks ago.
He’s proven that he’s so dang fast that he can streak downfield, do a crazy, stumbling 360-degree spin trying to locate the ball and still come down with a touchdown.
That kind of speed is mesmerizing. It could be the X-factor in a playoff run — if he could just be consistent.
Unfortunately, other than those two TDs, he has caught just three of 19 targets.
“It’s just so early in his career,” Goff said. “It’s just reps, it’s just reps. It's just time and it’s a matter of time before everything starts to click for him in our offense.”
Yes, I know his rookie season was messed up because of an injury, and the start of this season was paused because of a suspension. But is there something more, some kind of underlying issue? Is it sloppy route running? Is it poor ball-tracking skills? Is it his hands?
“Yeah, it’s repetition, time and time again,” Johnson said. “He — I think I’ve alluded to it before with him, consistent days, stacking up, back-to-back-to-back, and that’s really all we’re focused on, us and him. So, we’ll continue to see improvement from his play as he continues to get more reps.”
The "reps" argument is getting old, and so is the idea of “stacking” good days of practice.
Because think about what that means. What’s a good day of practice?
It’s being mentally prepared and focused, even for practice. It’s knowing the offense, making the right reads on what the defense is doing, making adjustments and running crisp routes. It’s doing all the little things: tracking the ball and turning the right way and winning one-on-one battles and high-pointing the ball and catching it with his hands, not his body where it can be knocked out. But most of all, it’s holding onto the dang ball.
Because if he can’t do it in practice, he won’t in the game — and he hasn't.
Effort, thankfully, doesn’t seem to be the problem.
“I just keep working, keep working with him, building that trust with him and getting on the same page,” Goff said. “He’s working his tail off at practice and has done a great job trying to get better every week and I expect to see his development continue.”
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No typical route to success
I’ve spent a lot of time around some great wide receivers — Cris Carter, Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson — and not one of them took the same path.
You probably know Johnson’s story. But consider this: In his first nine games, the No. 2 overall pick in 2007 had just three touchdowns. Just one more than Williams.
Carter started off slow for a different reason. He was battling addictions, and he was cut by the Philadelphia Eagles. But he turned around his life and turned into a Pro Football Hall of Famer with the Minnesota Vikings.
I was a beat writer covering the Vikings when they drafted Moss, who slipped in the draft because of off-the-field issues. I spent time in his small hometown — Rand, West Virginia — getting to know his friends and family, and we were on the same flight when he headed to Minneapolis for his first practice. He was far from a finished product.
Moss was one of the greatest athletes to ever come out of West Virginia. He had been praised and exalted since he was a youngster, and he struck me as a child. Someone whose maturity was stunted because of all the praise. Someone who had yet to develop into a man.
But Carter taught him how to become a pro.
Now, think about Williams: Everything has always come easy to him. He has always been the fastest player on the field, ever since he was a kid. He never had to run great routes or worry about high-pointing the ball or perfecting his craft or catching the ball properly. He was always the fastest on the field.
His first off-the-field problem hit while in the NFL — he was suspended for violating the NFL's gambling rules.
But he was being mentored by Marvin Jones Jr.
“He's a big brother to me,” Williams said.
Unfortunately, Jones has left the Lions for personal reasons. “It's a big impact,” Williams said last week.
I know how important Carter was to Moss’ development, so Jones' absence is not exactly good news for Williams’ development.
But in a strange twist, Jones’ absence might create more playing time and more opportunity.
An appreciation for Moss
Now here is another twist: Williams’ favorite player growing up was — you guessed it — Moss.
“He's kind of like me,” Williams said. “He can stretch the field. He's a great ballplayer. I just liked how he played ball. Everything about him. He's just, like, he just reminds me of my game.”
As Williams talked in the Lions locker room, as the Lions were getting ready to play the Raiders on "Monday Night Football," a memory flashed back to me: My time sitting in a press box in Green Bay's Lambeau Field for a Monday night game during Moss’s rookie season.
Moss had a national coming-out party at that game on Oct. 5, 1998, catching five passes for 190 yards and a pair of long touchdowns. It was simply amazing.
Granted, Williams wasn’t even born yet.
“But I’ve seen his catches on YouTube,” Williams said.
In that Monday night game — just the fifth game of Moss’s career — the Vikings just chucked it deep to him.
Now here we have Williams, who is heading into his first Monday night game; and it will be his 10th career game.
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And I think the Lions should take the same approach.
Just chuck it deep to Williams. Don’t give up on him.
“Listen, this guy loves football, so the more we can get him involved, the better off I think we’re going to be,” Goff said.
While I’m sick of the excuses — I don’t want to hear any more talk about reps or stacking good days — Williams can turn this around, and I can’t think of a better setting than on Monday night at Ford Field.
Williams doesn’t need to match Moss with five catches for 190 and two touchdowns, although it would work.
Shoot, three catches for 54 yards would be a career high.
Baby steps would be fine.
Just as long as they are in the right direction.
Contact Jeff Seidel at jseidel@freepress.com or follow him @seideljeff.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MNF a chance for Detroit Lions' Jameson Williams to end bust talk
