Lions rookie WR Jameson Williams has been on the field throughout training camp, but he won't be taking the field anytime soon.
The Lions placed the 12th overall pick on the reserve/non-football injury list Tuesday as he recovers from a torn ACL, meaning he won't be available for at least the first four weeks of the season.
Williams, who underwent surgery in January shortly after suffering the injury in the national championship game, had originally planned to be ready to go for the start of camp. Instead, he's been a daily observer, often mingling with teammates and coaches and spinning a football in his hands.
"He is progressing," Dan Campbell said Thursday. "There's no setbacks, but we just felt like, particularly being a rookie, he's got a ways to go. So the best thing for him and for us is to make that move and just get him right. Make sure that the knee is stable and he's got strength in that leg, he can cut, he can decelerate, he can accelerate, he can do everything before we put him out there and start getting him reps."
Williams will be eligible to come off reserve/NFI ahead of the Lions' Week 5 game against the Patriots, but he'll likely need more time than that to get into playing shape. He can't practice until activated.
"He's coming," said Campbell. "I mean, there's only so much you can do in a rehab mode. But he's doing what we're asking him to do and progressing. That's really the best way to say it."
On the other hand, the Lions decided to keep second-year CB Jerry Jacobs on the active/Physically Unable to Perform list as he rehabs a torn ACL of his own. His injury came about a month before Williams', and Campbell said Jacobs is "farther along" in his recovery.
If the Lions can implement him into practice over the next several weeks, Jacobs, a bright spot in a bad secondary last season, could hypothetically be ready by Week 5, Campbell said.
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