Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams flips into the end zone during an NFL playoff game against the Washington Commanders on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, at Ford Field in Detroit.(AP Photo/Mike Mulholland)
The Detroit Lions have one month to make a decision on wide receiver Jameson Williams’ future with the team.
As a first-round draft choice, the former Alabama All-American’s four-year contract contains a team option for a fifth season. The Lions must decide if they will exercise that option for the 2026 NFL season by May 1.
“It’s heading that way that we are most likely going to be doing that,” Detroit general manager Brad Holmes said at the NFL’s annual meeting this week in Palm Beach, Florida. “He was a tremendous player for us last year. He’s still scratching the surface. I do think he’s got more in him as well, so I just think it just makes sense for us to do what we can to keep him around.”
That might not have been the decision if the choice had come after Williams’ first two seasons.
Through Williams’ first two seasons, the Lions got 25 receptions for 395 yards and three touchdowns and four rushing attempts for 69 yards and one touchdown in 18 regular-season games from the wide receiver.
But after Williams scored two touchdowns in the Lions’ 34-31 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game for the 2023 season, he broke out in 2024 with 58 receptions for 1,001 yards and seven touchdowns and 11 rushing attempts for 61 yards and one touchdown.
Williams also had a 61-yard touchdown run in the Lions’ 45-31 loss to the Washington Commanders in the second round of the NFC playoffs on Jan. 18.
If the Lions pick up their option on Williams’ contract, Detroit will guarantee the wide receiver a pay day of $15.493 million for the 2026 season. That’s the average of the third through 25th highest salaries at wide receiver over the past five seasons.
The fifth-year option isn’t Detroit’s only means of preventing Williams from becoming an unrestricted free agent after the 2025 season. The Lions could use their franchise tag on the wide receiver next offseason or sign Williams to a long-term contract. Neither might be financially feasible for the team right now.
“We’re still taking it as it goes,” Holmes said. “His fifth-year option’s coming. It’s looking likely that we’ll just go ahead and pick that up. But in terms of extension, again, there’s a lot of extensions that are hopefully coming. But it’s just one that you don’t know what’s going to happen from a financial standpoint because a wide receiver, it’s expensive. It’s very expensive.
