Ben Johnson spoke with the media today and I want to make sure we get that out here for the people because when Ben Johnson talks I feel like like you listen you need to listen especially in in the midst of middle of training camp you want to make sure like hey this dude Ben Johnson he might not be with us forever fellas he might not be with us forever and then that sounds bad when I say that like he he could die or something which everyone does die but you guys know what I mean here um he he spoke about the wide receiver for for battle guys and I think it's like the keep talking about and bringing up the the Darice Fountain we talk about the dpj we just did the buy sell with him I I think it's good to hear from guy a guy like Ben Johnson who is probably the guy who's going to make the final decision him and Dan Campbell on who's going to be wide receiver three who's GNA be wide receiver for who's going to be out there and who are they going to cut so I think it's interesting to hear exactly what he has to say about it um and and they asked him that's why I like hey I love the media they they they say how it is they they'll ask they'll ask the questions and and Ben has to he has to answer um so here here's Ben Johnson talking about wide receiver three wide receiver four what that battle looks like and he went into details on how he actually how they break it down and what they're looking at so here's Ben on that wide receiver at this point yeah we've been pretty consistent as a staff um really since since we knew that Josh Reynolds was leaving us and that that has been uh we need smart we need reliable okay and if we had to be picky we want a little bit of length okay just so it rounds out those three guys that we're we're anticipating entering the season with so with that being said um we're charting every single day who's the most reliable mental errors who's catching the ball who's dropping the ball um these guys see it they get the feedback every single day they know what's going on they know they're in the midst of the battle right now uh we got a number of guys competing for that spot Reese has certainly come on so far in training camp his physicality his explosiveness has shown up um Antoine green is still pushing on a long here we see growth from the springtime we just need to see the consistency that we've been hoping for from him um uh dpj has made some big plays for us he had a big block just the other day in practice that we took note of and we know what khif Raymond is like he's he's not to be overlooked either because he's going to be a big part of our offense as well so um the competition is healthy those are a few names but everyone is in it at this point boys I I I I think it's it's fair to say that the competition is is going the khif thing I don't know like the khif comment at the end I think that's more so like him just saying like khalif's not in this wide receiver three battle like he's he's gonna get Kif's gonna be khif I I think it's fair to say like it's a legit battle I'm interested like Antoine green keeps getting brought up it feels like Antoine Green's Ben Johnson's guy I don't know why I get that feeling he was hurt I I don't know if he got went back in today I didn't really realize like I saw he got hurt in the individuals I'm not sure though if he ended up going in for 11 on 11 I don't remember seeing him CLS but it seems it feels like Ben Johnson likes Antoine by the sounds I don't know that's is that just me I mean it definitely sounds like it but I think he's probably just given him a little bit of confidence because he's been doing well recently and I I do think there's guys that he likes more so than others but I don't think he's G to let that block anything and I think when you look at Donan people Jones and mentioned him up it's kind of in the same light so he probably definitely likes what he's seeing out of Antoine green but I don't think he's f bring him by any means yeah know one thing I just did notice is kind of like how we just brought him to dpj like what I said they I think they trust him they think he's reliable and that's something that he said that that he's looking for right there a guy that's reliable and that has length to kind of uh replace Josh Reynolds and what he brought so I'm not taking too much away from that but I do think um like I said I still think Donathan peoples Jones edges his way out here in this wide receiver room and makes a spot for him but like you said boone this is a battle and you know it's a good thing to have when you have a lot of guys that are you know kind of battling for these lower end positions just shows how much depth you really do have at the position yeah that's why I think they end up keeping two out of those three guys and then the other one is end up practice squad I think it ends up being dpj and uh in in in Fountain and I think uh as much as we hate it I think Antoine ends up getting the practice squad unless they keep I don't think they'll keep that many but I think that's just what it comes down to because because of the Reps and everything so I don't know I don't know um he also too Ben Johnson uh he talked about Jameson Williams a little bit I think this was the more interesting thing with J because the J situation class we talked about how like the the energy he's bringing and how different it looks here with j and and kind of how he's been stepping up and and and I I have the the the thought process of I think J's gonna have it even bigger year than people are are thinking like I think he could go out there and get 800 yards and and and have six touchdowns like what what you're seeing from him is is just is different um and Ben kind of talked about it and and again this is one of those things boys you hear from a lot of people when the offensive coordinator Ben Johnson the best in the league starts talking about Jameson Williams that's when you're like okay we're serious that's why hey CL when when he says Levi o when these guys say Levi o I listen use your Context Clues here we go listen this is on on Jameson Williams goddamn context clues feeling it towards the end of last year and uh he's taken that to another level in the springtime and so far here in training camp um he Prides himself on bringing some juice to the offense and we certainly feel it out there both in the in the passing game making explosive plays but he also wants to be a dynamic uh blocker as well which which we really value so um things have started to slow down mentally for him uh We've locked him into a couple spots and as a result his route treat is kind of grown it's developed and uh in his mind there's nothing he can't do and and so far we we really haven't seen that either I haven't seen anything that that he can't do so it's it's been fun hey I I think that was the biggest comment out of it is that there's nothing that he can't do and then they they they say that hey we've thrown everything at him and he could do anything that we ask like I think that's like the maturity of being in the NFL and being able to go out there like the different route trees and kind of developing that especially in different you know you're moving around a lot and and the stuff he was going through with the injury and the the gambling like this guy now it's like he's dialed in they said we've thrown things at him it's like hen and hooker they're like we're gonna keep throwing things at Hen and hooker and see what he can handle and he hasn't been able to handle much Jameson Williams are like we're throwing everything at him and he can handle everything and there's nothing that he can't do like that's crazy I mean yeah so I thought you were going to go on a little preach sets there Gentry but no J like I said he's playing with confidence I already spoke on it early he's you can see that J Jameson Williams is ready to take that next step and I do think that he won't they won't reach the production of the T Higgins or Jamar Chase but this will be probably like a top five wide receiver duo in the NFL especially when you look at what Jameson Williams can do in the Run game kind of like how the 49ers use Brandon IU kbo Samuel you bet your ass that Ben Johnson is looking over what Kyle Shanahan is doing and not copying it we like Oh I like that how can we use that with Jameson Williams and you saw that against the 49ers to get the first touchdown of the NFC championship game so Jameson Williams he's putting his game together towards the back half of the season last year like a lot of the other players on this team the chemistry is going to continue to build he's gonna get more opportunities so I don't think there's anything else to say but big year for Jamon Williams yeah and like I said I think the big one of the bigger things was like the confidence with J Mo and then I think ending of the Year getting those two big touchdowns in the NFC Championship I think that kind of carried his mentality into this season and like I said he feels like he's belong and uh I think right there was kind of just a realization that a Ben Johnson kind of like I got this weapon he's finally here he's everything that I wished he would have uh turned into and uh I think like you said big year for J Mo he's gonna go crazy let's go Boys Hey with the J stuff I pulled this tweet up talking about J something we saw today and and this kept happening they they kept they worked on special teams twice this new kickoff rule and I've seen it happen now in the in the Hall of Fame game a couple times and it's a weird it's a really weird really weird and people are gonna have to get used to it new kickoff um and essentially and this is kind of how I take it and and you guys can interpret how you do it feels like it's another offensive play like a running play and today when when they were repping it out guys like Jameson Williams David mountgomery I'm in R st Brown to jir Gibbs we're all back there returning kicks and it's not like this is where I want people to realize this too until you see it and I'm sure if you've been to camp or if you're watching the Hall of Fame game this is not like the old kick return to where they just boot it down and you're running 30 yards and and and you could just get hit and you're just uncovered this is like a legit play um and it feels like it's a running play and I think that's the mindset we saw Dan Campbell and Dave FIP and stuff have J and these guys out there I think they're trying to get a feel for it to say hey like is this actually something and then this is the thing that I talked about months ago is this something you can actually get yardages out and and flip the field or get field position out of and it feels like they're kind of giving that look are you guys like in or out on this class I feel like I know what you're in or your spot is on this but I want to hear both of you guys on this one I was just watching the Hall of Fame game and I've watched two of these returners one of them got killed and one of them slipped because he knew he was about to get killed like no I think there's just so there's so many variables that could happen that the Lions can't control here like if there's a if there they do the squib kick like I get that that work works better for a player to get up the field quicker but there's going to be players flying at different angles and you can't hit these players up high anymore so they're G be cutting them low they're just gonna be trying and getting them down right away I think this is honestly G to put like Star players like Jameson Williams David Montgomery jir gibes if you put them back there it definitely is going to put them at risk for injury and I don't think there's that much gain compared if you were to put a guy like um Maurice Alexander if you were to put CI vaky back there like I don't think there's that much what you're going to get out of it compared to the possible risk like I said if there's 30 seconds left in the game you're down by six and you need to go get any any chance of points then put J back there but when you're talking about to kick off the game to come out of halftime no please not put them back there yeah I was going to say like I want to see it in the game first and like obviously I wouldn't use one of my star players But like after Lucas said and he kind of just confirmed it that you know you're like suiciding some of your players out there I wouldn't put my stars out there and for guys like Jameson Williams Montgomery and St Brown those guys have all had some injuries so like to risk one of them getting injured on that no but if it was like a game-winning situation or you know you need one last drive maybe you do throw Jameson Williams back there or you throw jir Gibbs but like even St Brown like there's no way in hell I'm throwing St Brown back there like no [ __ ] way after all the money you just gave him and what he means to your offense like I that it's just stupid and like Lucas said you drafted a guy like SE vaky and you have Maurice Alexander you have a bunch of guys that you can use on special teams so I think unless it's like a game on the line situation I'm not even entertaining putting my star players back there do it boys let's do it let's put it back there's a lot of guys that have speed and there's a lot of guys that are actually made for the old special teams that can easily pick up on this there's no reason to waste you're hoping you have one of the top you know you're a top five offense you think you're going to be one of the best offenses in the league why would you go out there and possibly take a chance on losing one of your best players in that top five offense like it just makes no sense there's guys that can return kicks that can get yards that can take one to the house from here and then you don't waste your star players on that th this is my this is my thing though like this is my thing is and I I do I would like to see more of it in the preseason like I I have barely I barely seen it here in the game tonight I've looked down and I saw it once I did the only one I saw was the guy that slipped so I haven't been able to get to see like an actual one and what's happened but I think just the fact alone that they're repping it out with those guys shows that they're taking the look at this like this wasn't like this this wasn't they were just repping it out and walking through it today they were going 100% it looked like at it Aman rth St Brown got tackled during his his return like these guys are out there so if they're repping out in practice at full speed I'm not so sure d Campbell doesn't care like Hey we're we're here to win football games and if they feel like this kick return can put them in better field position if you like if you have better players out there because yeah you could say oh you have C vaki you have these like C vaki or David mountgomery C vaky or jir Gibbs ciaki or Jameson Williams ciaki or Aman R st Brown give me those guys over ciaki 10 times out of 10 like if you're if you're doing uh if if it's first and 10 and you have a run play are you going to give Jet Sweep to amanra St brown or J or are you going to hand the ball off to David mountgomery or Jamir Gibbs or are you gonna say hey I'm first and 10 let's go out there and give the ball to to sonion iaki because essentially this is another again the the the feelings behind this of everyone in the NFL right now is people are saying hey this feels like another run play that's how some teams are treating it because it feels like another run play if you have an opportunity to get an extra possession it's like saying you have instead of first and 10 you have like you're an extra possession in that first that first like an extra play that's doing in that situation if it's first and 10 I'll give it to those players but if it's not first and 10 right like you we have this depth that we're confident in the in the Detroit Lions offense let's put them to use like let's not just like if they want to get better let them develop like C only baky needs to improve as a runner I don't want guys to develop during the regular season when you're going for a Super Bowl would you rather have guys develop or keep players getting hurt