As Jameson Williams prepares to serve a six-game suspension for violating the NFL's gambling policy amid an offseason in which he's created the wrong kind of stirs on social media, concerns are growing about the 12th overall pick outside the Lions' walls. Not within them.
Asked Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket if he has faith in Williams "getting his act together," Lions GM Brad Holmes said, "Yeah, I mean, Jamo made a mistake and he understands what he did and he’s accountable for it. But yeah, I don’t have any concerns going forward about Jameson."
Williams, who spent most of last season recovering from the torn ACL he suffered at Alabama, is 22 years old. He has a long runway ahead of him, and all the talent in the world. But he'll have another late start this season after an NFL investigation revealed that he bet on non-NFL games from an NFL facility, meaning Williams will approach the midway point of his second season with just one catch and six games under his belt.
"We have confidence that he’s going to take the right approach and have the right response in terms of what he needs to do," Holmes said last week after the draft.
Among his perceived missteps on social media this offseason, Williams liked a Tweet suggesting the Lions should replace Jared Goff by trading for Lamar Jackson and, in the days after his suspension was announced, shared a video of himself at a boxing match in Las Vegas. Another video made the rounds in March of Williams apparently at a Coney restaurant on Detroit's 6 Mile late into the night.
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Asked about Williams' decision-making and how the Lions can ensure they get the best out of him, Holmes said, “You just have talks with him. I would say, everything who Jamo is as a person, we are extremely thorough in our research about the human being before we acquire these players. We know who Jamo is, and we have a good system for him and for all of our players.
"Player development is No. 1 for all of our players. We said that in Year 1, that that was our goal and focus. Each player is different. Jamo is young and he’s going to continue to mature and grow. So, yeah, some mistakes will be made, but we communicate with Jamo and we treat him like our other players."
Williams' suspension begins Week 1 this season, so he can go through the rest of the Lions' offseason program and training camp. But once it starts, he'll be prohibited from the team facility until Week 4. The onus will be on Williams to ensure that he's ready to hit the ground running when he returns.
"We’ll get him in training camp and then we’ll just have to have a good plan for when he has to depart and when he has to return," said Holmes.
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