Exit interviews: Jameson Williams' development a highlight in otherwise disappointing season
Wrapping up the Detroit Lions’ 2025 season, we’re doing our annual position-by-position evaluation of the roster. Today, we’ll focus on the play of the team’s wide receivers.
The straightforward stats
Amon-Ra St. Brown: 17 starts, 172 targets, 117 receptions, 1,401 yards, 11 touchdowns
Jameson Williams: 17 games (15 starts), 102 targets, 65 receptions, 1,117 yards, seven touchdowns
Isaac TeSlaa: 17 games (three starts), 27 targets, 16 receptions, 239 yards, six touchdowns
Kalif Raymond: 15 games (three starts), 30 targets, 24 receptions, 289 yards, one touchdown
Tom Kennedy: Six games, four targets, four receptions, 36 yards
Advanced metrics
St. Brown continues to be one of the league’s best receivers, but he demonstrated the narrow gap between earning first-team All-Pro honors, like he did the previous two seasons, and getting named to the second team this season.
While St. Brown’s usage and yards were up from a year ago, he dropped a career-high 10 passes. He also saw a sharp decline in catch rate — targets resulting in a reception — from 81.6% to 68.0%, contested-catch rate, and success rate, which checked in at a career-worst 55.2%.
For the first time in his career, St. Brown saw more work in the slot than the year before. That led to one notable improvement, yards after the catch, which jumped to 5.1 yards per reception from 3.8 the previous season.
Williams’ season was more a tale of two halves, or, more fittingly, a tale of two play-callers.