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Lions' Dan Campbell: 'We'll be fine' during Jameson Williams' suspension

Lions' Dan Campbell: 'We'll be fine' during Jameson Williams' suspension

The NFL has not yet officially announced a two-game suspension for Jameson Williams, but Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell said Tuesday morning that the team is willing to waive him.

“All I can tell you is that we are prepared not to have him,” Campbell said during his weekly appearance on the radio show Costa & Jansen with Heather.

Until the NFL officially makes its ruling, Campbell said he could not comment further on the situation. According to ESPN's Eric Woodyard, Williams' two-game suspension is a violation of the leagues' policies on performance-enhancing substances. According to official NFL policy, a positive test for a stimulant, diuretic or masking agent will result in a two-game suspension for a first-time offender. If the violation involved an anabolic drug, it would result in a six-game suspension.

Campbell expressed confidence that the Lions' offense – with players like Amon-Ra St. Brown, Kalif Raymond and Tim Patrick – will do just fine in the next two games without Williams – at home against the Titans and an upcoming road trip Green Bay Packers.

“We’ll be fine,” Campbell said. “That’s why we have (Ka)lif and Saint and (Sam) LaPorta and TP and Allen Robinson, with David Montgomery, (Jahmyr) Gibbs among others. We'll be fine. We’ll carry on.”

The Lions' offense has been electric this season, ranking third in points per game (30.3) and second in yards per play. Without a doubt, Williams' growth in year three is a big part of that. His 361 receiving yards and three touchdowns nearly matched his output from the first two years of his Lions career.

But his impact goes beyond the catches he made. Not only is he a willing downfield blocker, but several coaches have noted that he changes the way opposing defenses play him.

“I think people are starting to realize that we don't want to single him out. The defense doesn’t want to single him out because he makes them pay,” offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said last week. “They're not as fast as him, it's that simple. Hopefully we'll continue to get these one-on-one duels because we're so dynamic elsewhere. I think going into this (Dallas) game last week, they had the philosophy of playing more two-highs to limit guys like Jameson, and you saw what our running game did early in the game.”

As of Tuesday morning, the NFL still had not officially announced the two-game suspension for Williams.

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