After a turbulent start to his NFL career, Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams has topped 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons. As an easy correlation to that, he has clearly become a more complete receiver.
This season, it was a tale of two halves for Williams.
Over the first eight games, when now-former offensive coordinator John Morton was calling the plays, Williams had 21 catches for 365 yards and three touchdowns. Over the last nine games, when head coach Dan Campbell took over the play calling, Williams had 44 receptions for 752 yards and four touchdowns.
In fantasy football parlance (0.5-point PPR scoring), the difference was clear. From Week 1-9 (Morton calling plays), Williams was WR41. From Week 10-17 (Campbell calling plays, he was was WR6 (WR5 from Week 10-18).
When it was all said and done, Williams finished as WR11 in 0.5-point PPR and WR13 in full PPR. Fantasy managers who bought in were happy with their investment, and there's a path to more moving forward.
Analyst gives fantasy managers a sobering Jameson Williams reality
In fantasy football, while big weeks are nice, there's great value in week-to-week consistency. Williams was up-and-down (again) this season, so he earned a place among the four most volatile wide receivers this season from Nic Bodiford of Pro Football Focus.
"Williams enjoyed a Week 1-17, half-PPR WR1 breakout season....yet still produced the same volatile weekly results that plagued him during his first three professional seasons. His 75.6 PFF offense grade earned in 2025 is the best among his four NFL seasons."
"Williams benefited from Lions head coach Dan Campbell assuming play-calling duties in Week 10, immediately banking overall WR1 results after “notching three weekly places in the overall WR10-WR15 range and five in the overall WR53-WR104 window” with “former Lions offensive coordinator John Morton calling plays in Weeks 1-9.”
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Even during that strong stretch to close the season, Williams had some ups and downs. Bodiford highlighted that.
"Despite Campbell’s altered role, Williams still turned in unusable weeks down the stretch, albeit infrequently. He failed to catch a single pass in Weeks 7 and 12, sandwiching both games with outings totaling at least four receptions, 66 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown."
"The Lions’ field-stretching wide receiver totaled 88-plus receiving yards six times and finished with less than half that sum seven times."
Due in big part to there being so many mouths to feed in the Lions' offense, Bodiford offered the sobering bottom line regarding Williams as a fantasy asset moving forwaed.
"His week-winning ability keeps Williams as a WR1 candidate in 2026, though his volatile productivity is likely to continue."
When 2026 fantasy draft season hits full-tilt this summer, it will be interesting to see where Williams' ADP (Average Draft Position) lands. But managers who add him to a roster know what to expect at this point, with two seasons of evidence showing the weekly ups and downs, and a different play caller is not likely to change that.