This past week, Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams was disciplined by the NFL, along with several other teammates and players around the league, for violating the league’s gambling policy. As punishment, he is expected to serve the first six weeks of the 2023 season suspended. This is crushing news for a talented player who was barely able to play his rookie season recovering from an ACL tear he sustained in the 2021 National Championship game against Georgia. This is possibly even more crushing for the organization that traded up 20 spots in the first round to select Williams hoping for him to be a franchise cornerstone.
How Does the Suspension Change the WR Room?
With Williams suspended, the Lions’ wide receiver room is still pretty deep. Amon Ra St. Brown, Marvin Jones, Josh Reynolds, and Kalif Raymond are all receivers who have produced in this league or have developed chemistry with Goff. Don’t forget, the Lions played all of 2022 without truly incorporating Jameson into the offense. Although they did lose D.J. Chark to free agency, he was injured for a lot of the year as well. With the small change from Chark to Jones, the Lions’ wide receivers should look remarkably similar to last year during the first 6 weeks. The same wide receivers that helped this offense finish top 5 in the league in most statistical categories. Jameson is still the deep-threat, game-wrecker that he was coming out of the draft. He has done nothing to demonstrate an inability to live up to his expectations on tape. With that being said, his choices will cost this team that game-wrecking talent for the first half of the season. A season where the Lions are trying to prove they can play with anyone.
Does that mean the Lions should target wideout this Thursday during the first round of the NFL draft?
In this writer’s opinion, definitely not. Realistically, Jameson will be back after six games, and he will pick up where he should have started in week 1. The Lions started last year 1-6 and finished 9-8, so even if Jameson’s suspension causes the team to start off slowly, they are clearly capable of turning it around after a slow start. Even without Jameson, the Lions do not have a “need” at wide receiver. They were a dominant offense last season and they essentially played without him. The first round of this draft should be focused on securing the future of the team. The Lions already have their future at wide receiver with Amon Ra and Jamo. While it will hurt to have to wait even longer to see him play healthy, there is still confidence that he will pan out into the player the Lions thought they were getting when they drafted him.
