Lions OC John Morton gets real on WR Jameson Williams' role

Detroit Lions first-year offensive coordinator John Morton is not happy with himself.

Sure, his offense is ranked third in the league in points per game at 30.7 and eighth in yards per game at 357.3. And yes, Morton has several superstars at his disposal as a play-caller. From wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown (538 yards, seven touchdowns), running back Jahmyr Gibbs (526 yards rushing, six touchdowns) and tight end Sam LaPorta (339 yards, two touchdowns), the Lions have firepower.

One lever that Morton feels he hasn't pulled enough this season, though, is former first-round wide receiver Jameson Williams. 

Williams does have 17 catches for 289 yards and two touchdowns, but Morton took a look at things during the bye week, and he came away believing that he failed the young receiver. He wants to get Williams more targets.

"So I looked at everything, and I failed him. That's what I told him," Morton added. "I have to do a better job with that. But it's a two-way street. We definitely looked at that."

Lions need to target Jameson Williams more in 2025

Williams has top-end speed and is a big play waiting to happen. The issue for him in Detroit is that quarterback Jared Goff has a ton of options to work with. St. Brown and LaPorta have been his top two favorite options, but Gibbs and running back David Montgomery can also catch the ball out of the backfield.

Not only that, but the Lions like to play a style of ball-control offense that leans heavily on the run under head coach Dan Campbell. The tougher the better when it comes to Campbell, and sometimes, that type of mentality doesn't lead to big shot plays down the field.

As far as Williams is concerned, he relayed that he and Morton did talk, but he's trying to take it all in stride.

"He came to me and expressed to me how he felt, but with me, I really wasn't taking it too far into thinking about it," Williams said. "We was winning games and things like that, so I can never get myself too worked up with me getting the ball or me getting targeted or things like that. I know it's gonna come. It's a long season."

It's a long season, indeed, but the Lions could be missing out on opportunities by not targeting Williams at a high clip. 

Last season, he caught 58 passes for 1,001 and seven touchdowns. He averaged 17 yards per reception.