The Lions didn't draft a wide receiver last year, and waited until their final pick to draft one the year prior. Their youngest proven player at the position is Jameson Williams, who's entering year four of his career and faces an uncertain future in Detroit.
It feels like the right time to replenish the room with some youth. Much like cornerbacks, "you really can’t ever have enough" receivers, Brad Holmes said Thursday a week before the draft.
In addition to Williams, the Lions bring back All-Pro Amon-Ra St. Brown and veterans Tim Patrick and Kalif Raymond. The latter two will be free agents after this season, while St. Brown is signed through 2028 at $30 million per year. Antoine Green, a seventh-round pick in 2023, missed all of last season with a concussion/neck injury.
Williams is the interesting case. While Brad Holmes said last month that the Lions plan to pick up Williams' fifth-year option, which will cost about $15.5 million, he was much less certain about a potential extension for the big-play receiver who cracked 1,000 yards last season for the first time in his career.
The Lions have had extension talks this offseason with fellow 2022 draft picks Aidan Hutchinson and Kerby Joseph, but Williams is "one that you just don’t know what’s going to happen from a financial standpoint, because a wide receiver, it’s expensive," said Holmes. "It’s very expensive."
An extension for Williams could cost the Lions well north of $20 million per year, which they might not be able to accommodate under the cap with so many other key players to re-sign in the years ahead. Hence why they could be eyeing a receiver in next week's draft, "just to add one, just to continue to add youth," Holmes said.
"We’re happy with the guys that we have -- very happy with the guys that we have -- but obviously it’d be great to get younger," said Holmes.
The Lions recently hosted Texas wide receiver Matthew Golden on a pre-draft visit. The speed demon, who caught the most touchdowns in the SEC last season, is a likely first-round pick. But Holmes noted Thursday that receiver tends to be "one of the more voluminous positions in each draft," so the Lions won't be pressed to add one early.
What's more, "there's probably more of those guys that are veteran free agents that are available after the draft as well," he said. The Lions didn't sign Patrick until late last August and he turned into the reliable No. 3 receiver they were looking for.
But they could be looking for more than that in the draft, which casts Williams' future in Detroit into question.
On the other side of the ball, Holmes said the Lions remain open to a reunion with defensive end Za'Darius Smith at the right price. The Lions released him in March in a cap-saving move, which Holmes called an "amicable" move, but the two sides have had preliminary talks about running it back.
Holmes said he hasn't had any discussions with Smith's agent since the owners meetings last month, with the understanding "that his agent would let us know if something was going on or if anything has changed or if we have any updates."
Smith has been seen around Detroit this offseason, popping up at a Pistons game last week.