Jameson Williams — Week 1: Twenty-Two Yards to the Five in Overtime
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 14
Williams caught four of nine targets for forty-five yards Sunday, and the fourth was the one that mattered: second and eleven at the New Orleans twenty-seven in overtime, deep left, out of bounds at the five, two snaps before Amon-Ra St. Brown's winning touchdown. Nine targets carried a hundred twenty-seven air yards, the most on the Lions by a wide margin, and he also recovered Jared Goff's fumbled snap in the second quarter, in a 31–30 win over the Saints.
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Second and 11 at the New Orleans 27, six 19 left in overtime, 24 all. Jared Goff went deep left to Jameson Williams, 21 yards in the air, and Williams ran out of bounds at the five for 22. That catch was worth +2.3 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and it turned a drive that had just lost a yard on first down into first and goal. Jahmyr Gibbs ran for one, and then Amon-Ra St. Brown caught the touchdown.
It was the fourth of four catches on nine targets, 45 yards, no touchdowns, +0.4 expected points on the nine. The air yards tell the shape: a hundred 27 on nine throws, against 70 on St. Brown's 14. The five incompletions were mostly that — deep left with 40 yards in the air on first down from the Detroit 37 late in the first, deep right with 18 in the air on second and 15 in the second, deep left with 16 in the air on first down in overtime, and two short ones on third down: third and five at the Detroit 25 in the third, and third and one at the 44 with 40 seconds left in regulation and the game tied, which cost Detroit almost eight points of win probability, the chance of winning before and after a play, and sent the Lions to a punt. The other catches were a 10-yarder on third and eight at the New Orleans 11 that put the ball at the one for Gibbs's first touchdown, seven on first down in the second, and six on second and 10 in the third.
The one thing in his line that was not a target came with 10 47 left in the second quarter: Goff's snap was aborted, the ball was loose at the Detroit 31, and Williams recovered it at the 25 and carried it to the 32. Where he sat in the passing game was second, nine targets to St. Brown's 14, one ahead of Sam LaPorta; three of his nine targets came on third down and one was caught. Four targets before halftime, five after.
Back in June the preview's read on Williams was a defined alpha role at a WR26 price — a WR10 finish across all 17 games as Detroit's deep threat, with durability, about 73 percent availability since 2021, the only concern. Sunday was the role exactly as described: the deep targets were his, most did not land, and the one that did decided the game. It says nothing about the durability question except that he was on the field at the end. Detroit is at the Bills on Thursday the seventeenth. The number to watch is how many of the deep ones come down.
_Data via nflverse._
When Jameson Williams's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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