Graziano: Jamo could lead Lions in receiving

Fantasy managers had suffered through three down games with the middle-round pick before Williams was able to take advantage of a Carolina secondary missing its top two corners. He was kept out of the end zone for the fourth consecutive contest to start the 2026 season but returned his first fantasy-viable outing on the backs of 52 Jared Goff pass attempts. While that level of volume is unlikely to be the norm for the Lions, a Week 5 meeting with the Cardinals provides another opportunity for Williams to return value in a potential shootout. Williams will be an upside WR3.

The incident was reported to the police earlier this month. Jeff Wattrick, spokesman for the Oakland County Prosecutor, told Birkett, “Based on the facts presented to us at this time, the Novi Police and our office jointly concluded that there is no cause to file charges against Mr. Williams.” Williams has been an off-field headache for the Lions since entering the league, but it doesn’t sound like this latest incident will be an issue. He will be on the field for the team’s Week 4 date with Carolina.

Drew Petzing schemed up a few short and intermediate looks for Williams, but he still finished with a measly 12.5 percent target share. Both Jahmyr Gibbs and Amon-Ra St. Brown saw eight targets. Williams has topped out at four catches through three weeks. His 49 yards today are a season-high. Williams closed the 2025 season as an every-week WR2, maybe even more. That usage has all but disappeared to start the 2026 season. He is tumbling back into the WR3 ranks heading into the Lions’ Week 4 game against the Panthers.

Williams continues to be primarily utilized as a deep threat in the Detroit offense, which is not the development fantasy managers were expecting following offseason reports that his route tree would be expanded in the new year. The mounting injuries along the offensive line have limited Goff’s time in the pocket to the point where Williams rarely has enough time for his routes to develop, leading to the down production through two weeks. Whether either of those two variables changes in the immediate future remains to be seen, leaving us to treat Williams as nothing more than an upside WR3 in the interim. He will be a difficult start in Week 3 when the Lions host the Jets.

At least a couple times a year Campbell has to tell reporters that he’s not worried about Williams’ sometimes-egregious drops, and that his playing time won’t suffer as a result. “I mean, look, nobody’s more frustrated than he is about it, but what I love is this just shows his growth,” Campbell said. “He bounced back, he gets back in the huddle. He’s not sulking, he’s not pouting about it, he’s not letting it go in the tank.” Williams in Week 1 against the Saints had two drops, one of which could have gone for a long score. He led the Lions with 128 air yards (a 56 percent share) and was second on the team with a 23 percent target share. Williams ran a route on 37 of Detroit’s 40 drop backs. He should be locked into lineups for Thursday night’s matchup against the Bills.

Williams posted a semi-usable fantasy score, but the film was hard to watch. He dropped a perfectly thrown deep shot from Jared Goff early in the game and bungled a pitch later, resulting in a loss. Williams has had these types of games in the past and he generally rebounds well. Fantasy managers can keep him in their lineups for a likely shootout with the Bills next week.

The Lions are retaining “all” of last year’s play-calling verbiage, and “it was on Drew Petzing to learn the offense,” not the other way around. Goff apparently “had as much of a hand in getting Petzing familiar with the offense as the offensive staff did.” Mays believes these developments speak to the command, agency and autonomy that Goff possesses at this stage in his career. We agree. For those who were concerned about the Lions scrapping the tactics that coach Dan Campbell employed as the Lions’ play caller in Weeks 10-18 last year, it sounds like those concepts aren’t going anywhere. Will Petzing be allowed to add his own elements to that playbook? Yes, we assume so. At the end of the day, this year’s offense could look a lot like last year’s fantasy-friendly unit, though. Draft accordingly.

Williams missed the Lions’ last two practices with what coach Dan Campbell described as a minor shoulder injury. Today’s practice was padless. We should learn more about Williams’ status when the pads go back on. Regardless, Williams seemingly remains a safe WR2/3 candidate right now.

Williams was notably absent from practice on Sunday and also missed Monday’s practice. He’s dealing with a minor shoulder injury, according to Campbell. Williams was spotted at Monday’s practice helping receivers go through a drill without a brace or a sling on his shoulder. Despite missing two practices so far, Campbell said Williams is “good to go.” While the coach said a significant amount of starters will play in the Lions second preseason game on Saturday, it’s unclear and potentially unlikely that Williams will be one of them at this point.

As has been the case in most weeks this season, Jamo finished second on the team in targets behind Amon-Ra St. Brown, highlighting his status as one of the highest upside WR2s in fantasy circles. He ends 2025 with 1,117 yards on 65 receptions, both of which are career highs, matching the seven touchdowns he scored a season ago. His role in the offense really took off after head coach Dan Campbell started calling offensive plays, making it a situation to monitor this offseason should the team make any changes to their coaching staff. Williams remains under contract through the 2029 season after signing a three-year extension in September of 2025.