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.
“Look, these are good problems to have, but I don’t want our fans to think we’re just not making the splashy moves because we don’t want to do that. It’s just we’re being disciplined, wanting to make sure we’re able to sustain winning but also win now.”
Williams has one season remaining on his four-year, $17.462 million rookie contract, signed after the Lions traded up to make him the 12th selection in the 2022 NFL Draft. Detroit is scheduled to pay Williams $3.086 million for the 2025 season, which is 61st on the wide-receiver pay chart.
The Lions have benefited by getting all-star production with the cost control that comes with drafted players, who have predetermined contract amounts based on their pick position for their first four seasons.
Safety Kerby Joseph, a 2022 third-round pick, is entering the final season of his rookie contract after making first-team All-Pro in 2024. The Lions drafted defensive end Aidan Hutchinson before they picked Williamson in 2022. The 2023 draft yielded running back Jahmyr Gibbs and linebacker Jack Campbell in the first round and tight end Sam LaPorta and safety Brian Branch in the second round. Picked in 2024’s first round, cornerback Terrion Arnold went right into Detroit’s lineup.
As draft picks, those players signed four-year contracts, with the first-rounders’ deals carrying fifth-year options.
“We have so many of these young players that have been on rookie deals,” Holmes said, “and we’ve been enjoying the impact that they’ve all been bringing. But now a bill is coming. What you spend this year is going to impact next year. It even impacts 2027.”
Fifth-year options come in four designations, and Williams is in the most inexpensive of the tiers.
The levels include:
- Players who have been selected for at least two Pro Bowls on the original ballot for the all-star event.
- Players who have been selected for one Pro Bowl on the original ballot.
- Players who have not been Pro Bowlers but have played at least 75 percent of the offensive or defensive snaps in two seasons or 50 percent of the overall snaps in three seasons.
- Players who have not reached the Pro Bowl or the playing-time standards.
Williams’ option is in the most inexpensive of the four slots, but Hutchinson’s is in the second-most expensive. Because he’s a one-time Pro Bowl selection, Hutchinson’s fifth-year option will cost Detroit $20.862 million for the 2026 season, if the team chooses to pick it up in the next month.
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