Despite Sunday's rough outing, Jameson Williams cannot be definitively declared a bust

On Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams played his ninth NFL game. With his career-best 33 snaps played in the game, he has played 155 snaps. He had a career-best six targets against the Ravens, but for the sixth time in those nine career games he went without a catch.

Via NFL Study, here's a compilation of Williams' six targets from Sunday.

Some of those misses were ugly.

A deep ball hit Williams in the face, though he was interfered with, inspiring laughter from the FOX booth. He appeared to run away from coverage on a deep ball, and Jared Goff threw it toward coverage for an interception in the end zone. Another miss was a combination of (possibly) poor route depth from Williams and a bad throw from Goff. Another deep ball further showed Williams' struggles tracking the ball, as he looked inside when the throw was coming (and should have been coming) toward the outside, away from coverage. Williams appeared to stop his route on a shorter ball, failing to corral the throw when he reached out for it.

Jameson Williams cannot yet be declared a bust

The questions around Williams include pleading ignorance to the NFL's gambling policy, which gave him a six-game suspension that was later shortened to four. If nothing else, that error in judgement (or failure of common sense) cost him valuable development time. Then, maybe, some of these miscommunications and other little things would not be happening like they are. A hamstring injury in camp also did not help, as he was lined up to play a lot in preseason games.

Lions' fans, and fans of other teams observing from afar in something of a "pot calling the kettle black" moment in terms of the 2022 draft, may want to declare Williams a bust. It is fair to want, or expect, even just a little better from a top-12 draft pick at this point. Better consistency would be nice.

There is definitely cause for concern, or a least an invitation for questions and wonder, about Williams. But it's still way too early to definitively declare him a bust.