Get in Dan Campbell’s head in this Detroit Lions-themed corn maze
A corn maze tribute to Detroit Lions and head coach Dan Campbell is set to open at a local farm.
- Lions GM Brad Holmes denies reports suggesting the team might trade wide receiver Jameson Williams.
- Williams had a breakout season in 2024, recording 1,001 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.
- While the team is likely to exercise Williams’ fifth-year option, a long-term extension is uncertain due to financial constraints.
Jameson Williams isn’t going anywhere.
Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes said he has “never entertained” the idea of trading the team’s No. 2 receiver despite two Sports Illustrated reports that suggested the Lions could move Williams during this week’s NFL draft.
“No, that’s something that we have never entertained,” Holmes said. “I don’t know where that report came from, but that’s not a conversation that me and Dan (Campbell) have ever had.”
Williams set career-highs with 58 catches, 1,001 yards and seven receiving touchdowns last season, when he emerged as a reliable deep-threat complement to Amon-Ra St. Brown.
The 24-year-old receiver finished second in the league at 17.3 yards per catch, had six plays of 50 or more yards and another six of 25-plus yards.
But as explosive as he is, Williams’ long-term future with the Lions is uncertain due in part to the surging cost of pass catchers.
The Lions have talked openly about wanting to extend many of their young core players, including Williams’ 2022 draft classmates Aidan Hutchinson and Kerby Joseph (who signed a four-year extension as the NFL’s highest-paid safety this week). They never have expressly included Williams in that group, and Holmes acknowledged at the league meetings in March that giving Williams a new deal would be tricky because of the money he likely will command and the number of other extensions the Lions have on the horizon.
The Lions signed 2021 draft picks St. Brown, Penei Sewell and Alim McNeill to extensions last year, and 2023 picks Jahmyr Gibbs, Jack Campbell, Sam LaPorta and Brian Branch will be extension-eligible in 2026.
Williams is due to make $2.636 million this fall and has a team option for $15.49 million in 2026 but could command more than $30 million annually on his next deal.
“We’re still taking it as it goes,” Holmes said in March when asked about the prospects of signing Williams to an extension. “Look, his fifth-year option, it’s looking likely that we’ll go ahead and just 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 just don’t know what’s going to happen from a financial standpoint ’cause a wide receiver, it’s expensive. It’s very expensive.”
In two separate reports, Sports Illustrated suggested that the Lions could look to trade Williams rather than pick up the fifth-year option on his contract and noted that “some in NFL circles (believe Williams) could be traded.”
The Lions, who took Ohio State defensive tackle Tyleik Williams in the first round of the draft, posted a picture of Jameson Williams taking part in Day 2 of the team’s formal offseason workouts this week.
Dave Birkett is the author of the book, “Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline.”
Order your copy here.
Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
