It doesn’t sound like we’ll see Jameson Williams again until the middle of October. The Detroit Lions wideout suffered a hamstring injury this week that will keep him out of the team’s remaining preseason contests, according to Justin Rogers of The Detroit News.
Williams placed a bet on a non-NFL game while at the Lions facility, resulting in a six-game ban to begin the season. That means we won’t see the second-year wideout again until October 22 at the earliest. As Rogers writes, the Lions were planning to “douse” Williams with preseason snaps in anticipation of his absence, but an injury this week will limit the wideout to only one already-played preseason contest. Williams had a pair of catches during Detroit’s preseason opener against the New York Giants.
The receiver was spotted grabbing his hamstring after running a deep route at practice on Wednesday. As Rogers points out, it was Williams’ other hamstring that forced him to miss a handful of practices during the early part of training camp. The injury provides an interesting wrinkle when considering the player’s impending suspension. Rogers writes that NFL rules require Williams to be away from the team for the first three weeks of his six-game ban. This means the player wouldn’t be able to receive treatment for his hamstring, although the organization is reportedly “exploring an exemption.”
Williams will now be missing crucial developmental reps that he didn’t get in 2022. The first-round pick was still rehabbing from a torn ACL at this time last year and that recovery ended up extending through the first 11 games. Williams managed to return for six games, with the rookie garnering only 78 offensive snaps.
While the injury is discouraging, Lions coach Dan Campbell doesn’t believe it will have a massive impact on Williams’ development.
“As long as he stays on top of the mental portion of it, you can get a lot out of the mental work,” Campbell said (via Rogers). “If he grinds on that, takes care of the hamstring, we’ll take it as it comes.”
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