In the span of about 15 minutes at Wednesday's practice, Jameson Williams caught a deep comeback against Jerry Jacobs, torched Cam Sutton for a 55-yard touchdown and couldn't corral a short pass over the middle for an easy first down. So goes Jamo as he enters year two.
For all his speed, Williams is still fighting the drops.
"Those do show up and that’s something we’ve talked about with him, and he knows that," Dan Campbell said Wednesday.
This is nothing new. Williams had six drops in his lone season at Alabama -- when he also took the top off the SEC -- more drops (2) than catches (1) in his first season with the Lions and he's put several balls on the ground in practices this spring and summer. Part of it, said Campbell, is correctable through better technique and "hand mechanics." And part of it just is what it is. With his ability to get open, Williams can still be the dynamic playmaker the Lions envision.
Campbell admitted Williams will "probably never be one of these elite pass-catchers that you’ve seen, but it’ll be just fine with his speed and what he’s able to do." After all, the Lions drafted him to stretch the field more than move the chains.
"But there’s a number of things that he can clean up with (the drops) and I think it’s just time on task. Because there are some things, just the simple change of the way your hands are by ball location, pinkie to pinkie, thumb to thumb, that will go a long way for him. We just have to keep working through it," Campbell said.
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To say Williams won't be an "elite pass-catcher" is not to say he won't be an elite wide receiver. His one catch last season went for a 41-yard touchdown. He had another called back that went for a 66-yard touchdown. (He also took his one hand-off for a 40-yard gain.) He has wiggle and sizzle and rare ability to separate at the line of scrimmage. Defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who was twisted inside-out by Williams on a red zone rep earlier this week, has already called the former 12th overall pick "one of the best receivers in the game."
To say Williams won't be an "elite pass-catcher" is simply to say he might not come down with every ball like Amon-Ra St. Brown.
"He’s been able to create so much separation where he came from that (his technique) wasn’t as big of a deal," Campbell said. "But in this league, you’re getting contested catches. That’s why I brought up the details of his routes. With his explosive speed, the more he can home in on the details, there’ll be a level of separation, you’d like to believe, different than most to where it’s not always going to be these contested catches. So there’s a little give and take."
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For all the talk about details and technique, Campbell points out Williams has hardly practiced in the NFL. That's what makes the rest of training camp so crucial before Williams serves his six-game suspension for gambling, which starts with a three-week ban from the Lions' facility. He needs to make every rep count. He especially needs to sharpen his connection with Jared Goff, who threw nine passes to Williams last season and saw eight hit the ground.
"You want to feel like by the end of camp there’s a level of polish," Campbell said. "The splits, the route depth, you want to feel like there’s a lot of polish to detail and a pretty good rapport with Goff by the time he leaves. Because I think if we can get there, I don’t think it will take very long to pick it back once he comes back."
Williams should get some valuable work next week in joint practices with the Giants, and the week after that in practices with the Jaguars. Campbell also said the Lions are "going to douse him with game reps" in the preseason.
"And I’m telling you, as with anybody, the more reps he gets, the more time on task, the more consecutive practices he can put together, he’ll just grow. I really believe that," Campbell said. "And I do believe he wants it. I do believe he wants to get better. So he’ll grind through this and let’s see where we can go with it.”
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