Mandatory Credit: Imagn Images

‘I’ve Failed Him’ – Lions’ OC John Morton Accepts Fault for Jameson Williams’ Lack of Involvement in the Lions’ Offense

Jameson Williams remains patient despite lack of targets coming his way!

Mandatory Credit: Imagn Images

The Detroit Lions may be 5-2 on the season, holding the second place in the NFC North just behind the 5-1-1 Green Bay Packers. On the face of it, everything is looking great, and the Lions are still one of the better teams, not just in the NFC but the NFL altogether.

That said, they just lost both of their former coordinators this offseason, as OC Ben Johnson left to take the Bears’ head coaching job, while DC Aaron Glenn took the Jets’ head coaching role.

Now, the new OC in Detroit is John Morton, and while he has continued Detroit’s offensive prowess, the apparent lack of targets for wide receiver Jameson Williams is an issue the team needs to solve quickly.

John Morton Accepts Blame for Jameson Williams’ Ineffectiveness

Last season was a breakout year for the Lions’ 2022 first-round draft pick Jameson Williams. After an ACL injury limited his participation to just 6 games in his rookie year, and a 4-game league suspension for his involvement in gambling the following season, Williams burst onto the scene in 2024 with his first 1,000-yard receiving season.

Having said that, his production this season has clearly dwindled, as the young receiver is just not seeing the ball come his way. After the first 7 games that the Lions have played this season, Williams has just 30 targets and 17 receptions for 289 receiving yards and a couple of touchdowns.

In comparison, last season, the 24-year-old was targeted 91 times through 15 games in which he hauled in 51 receptions for 1,001 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns. Williams should have been much more effective by now, but that hasn’t been the case.

Lions’ new offensive Coordinator, John Morton, has come out and shouldered much of the blame for not getting his receiver involved as much as he should. Having spoken to Williams in private, Morton also acknowledged his fault with the current situation while addressing a media session.

“So I looked at everything. I have failed him.” Said Morton. “That’s what I have told him. I have to do a better job with that. But it’s a two-way street. We definitely looked at that.”

#Lions OC John Morton on Jameson Williams:

“I’ve failed him — that’s what I told him… I’m like, listen, man, I’m gonna do a better job.“ pic.twitter.com/boDUzAa8V0
— The Coachspeak Index (@CoachspeakIndex) October 31, 2025

Williams Not Worried about His Role in the Lions’ Offense

Despite the lack of opportunities coming his way, Williams has not taken the matter up with the coaching staff. He has preferred to keep his head down and continue working to the best of his capacity, knowing very well that the season is a long one and that his chances will come.

“He (Morton) 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.”

Jameson Williams on his discussion with Lions Offensive Coordinator John Morton 👀 https://t.co/cMfKLJ1WFB pic.twitter.com/nexMgeYqVE
— Woodward Sports Network (@woodwardsports) October 30, 2025

Williams’ positive attitude is refreshing to see. His approach towards the game and his team will no doubt make life easier for his teammates, as we have also seen examples of how players have caused tension among the locker rooms when not being targeted enough.

In all fairness, though, the Lions have plenty of playmakers on that side of the ball, as Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta are essential pass-catching pieces of their offense. But both running backs, Jamhyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, also provide further options for Jared Goff to work with. Nevertheless, the coaching staff has become aware of what they are missing, so look for things to change if you are a Lions fan.

Mandatory Credit: Imagn Images

Detroit Lions

Jameson Williams

NFL

Devavrat Kulkarni

nfl

I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!