During his time away from the Lions, Jameson Williams said he "only had one bad day." One bad night, really: the season opener at Arrowhead.
"I prepared like I was playing, I was happy the whole day just to try and keep the emotions away from me, Williams said Tuesday. "But it was just hard once the clock hit and the gametime hit, I see my guys going out there in their all-white just making plays."
Williams wanted to be out there with them. Instead, he was watching from home as he served the first game of his suspension for violating the NFL's gambling policy. At the time, Williams was slated to miss six games. The NFL reinstated him last week, two games ahead of schedule, after adjusting the punishments attached to gambling.
Williams, the 12th overall pick in 2022, got the good word in the locker room at Lambeau Field after the Lions' win over the Packers last Thursday night and returned to practice with his team Tuesday.
"I felt good," he said with a smile. "We just got a dub, 3-1, now I hear the news that I can get back and play. … I’m real hungry, just want to keep this going. This is something that Detroit hasn't seen in a while, so we’re just trying to keep this going as a team, play good ball and just get wins."
Williams is eligible to play Sunday against the Panthers at Ford Field, and said he expects to suit up. (I would suit up today.") He stayed in shape during his suspension by following a strict schedule of two-a-days, which included catching 100 balls on his home JUGS machine every day. ("You do the math on that, that’s a lot of catches.") He also said he's past the hamstring injury he suffered toward the end of training camp, having been running routes "for a little minute now."
"I’m good, I feel good. Over time we got everything together and we ready to go," Williams said.
The biggest question isn't his health or physical capacity. It's his readiness to jump into the Lions' offense, which currently ranks eighth in the NFL, and find some harmony with Jared Goff. The duo connected once on nine targets last season -- a 41-yard touchdown -- and didn't show the best chemistry during training camp this summer. They're still trying to get in sync, but Williams said that won't take long.
"I don't think so. We had some time in camp, we just had some time today after practice. We get stuff in, whatever he thinks we need," Williams said. "So I don't think it will take lot of time. It’ll be good work and we’ll get going."
Goff would agree.
“There’s really no getting on the same page with him," Goff said. "I feel good with him. It’s just getting him reps. Whenever you’re off for that long, I don’t care who you are, you just need reps to get back into it and feel the speed of it and run some plays and be on the field with all of us. If you want to call that getting on the same page, maybe it is, but I feel good with him on really everything right now.”
As for his role in the offense, Williams said that "whatever Ben (Johnson) got going for me, going to get in, we going to execute." And while he couldn't have any communication with the coaching staff during the first three weeks of his suspension, he doesn't think catching up on the playbook will be a problem: "It's actually easier in the season, it's narrowed down. We know we're going to run certain things. In camp the playbook is wide open, so it's easier now."
With his elite speed, Williams will add a game-breaking threat to the offense. That's great news for the likes of Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta, who should find themselves open even more with Williams back on the field.
"He can stretch the field and back the safeties up, back the corners up and open things up underneath," said Goff. "And then going across the field he can displace coverage as well. His speed’s a problem for defenses and it’s our job to get him the ball in space and let him go with it. It’s been nice to have him back and hopefully he can make an impact sooner than later.”
"We’re 3-1 and have been pretty good on offense without him," Goff added. "Hopefully he can take us to the next level."