5 Lions players who'll benefit most from Jameson Williams' suspension absence

4. WR Kalif Raymond

Raymond has been sneaky productive over the last two games, with seven catches for 112 yards and a touchdown on 10 targets. Finding ways to get him more involved in the offense is always a challenge with all the other mouths the Lions have around to feed.

During his Wednesday press conference, Campbell took a fresh opportunity to laud Raymond when asked about how much confidence he has in knowing there's a "reliable guy" in place.

"A ton of confidence. I told you, 'Lif really, he's really, he's one of our starters, he's a spot starter. You know, we use him enough...Everybody's got the most, the utmost trust in 'Lif, man, he's been here since the beginning, I mean the guy does everything right. He's smart, he's competitive, he's got speed...let's not forget."

Raymond is automatically in line for more offensive snaps in Jameson Williams' absence, however he's deployed (in the slot, on the outside, etc.). He may cede some return game work to others (Isaiah Williams?) over the next two games, but there's opportunity for him to impactful to the offense.

3. WR Tim Patrick

Patrick, signed to the practice squad heading into the season, has emerged as the Josh Reynolds replacement the Lions were seeking. He is sheerly in line for more playing time with Jameson Williams out of the mix, particularly as an outside receiver, and he has clearly become a trusted target for Jared Goff (just like Reynolds was).

Patrick is averaging 16.5 yards per catch (10 catches for 165 yards, on 12 targets) and 13.8 yards per target in five games this season. If he qualified for the leaderboard heading into Week 8, he'd be top-10 in the league in yards per catch and he'd be second in yards per target.

If anyone can bring the downfield element to the Lions' passing game in Jameson Williams' absence, it looks to be Patrick with a combination of sufficient speed, a big frame and contested catch ability. There will be no divvying up of those downfield opportunities over the next two games.