On the heels of Jameson Williams' breakout season, the Lions are prepared to pick up the wide receiver's fifth-year option that will keep him under contract through 2026.
"It’s heading that way, that we’re most likely going to be doing that," GM Brad Holmes told reporters Monday at the NFL owners meetings. "Look, 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."
Williams' fifth-year option is projected to cost about $15.5 million, per Over The Cap, which would mark a significant jump from his $5.5 million cap hit in 2025. The deadline for the Lions to exercise it is May 1.
Injuries and suspensions stunted his first two seasons in Detroit, but Williams broke through in year three with 58 catches for 1,001 yards and seven TD's, even while missing two games for violating the NFL's performance-enhancing substances policy. He finished second in the NFL in yards per catch, proving his worth as a big-play receiver.
Williams was also suspended for four games at the start of 2023 for violating the league's gambling policy, and dealt with a hamstring injury that further delayed his integration into the Lions' offense that year. He spent most of his rookie season recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in his final game with Alabama.
The Lions are already looking into an extension for fellow 2022 first-round pick Aidan Hutchinson. Asked if Williams has shown that he's worthy of one yet, Holmes said, "Look, we’re still taking it as it goes."
"His fifth-year option is coming, 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. Because a wide receiver, it’s expensive. It’s very expensive," said Holmes.
The Lions briefly made Amon-Ra St. Brown the highest-paid receiver in the NFL last offseason with a four-year extension worth a tad over $30 million annually. St. Brown has already been surpassed by five other receivers in this department, with Ja'Marr Chase of the Bengals resetting the market this offseason at $40.25 million per year.
Holmes and the Lions are also budgeting for extensions for Hutchinson, All-Pro safety Kerby Joseph, who's entering the final year of his deal, and further down the line, tight end Sam LaPorta and safety Brian Branch, among others. Holmes admitted that while the Lions will try to extend all of their homegrown stars, "we might not be able to keep them all. We’re just going to try to do the best we can."
"I think every player would love to get it done sooner rather than later, but everything is kind of organic and case by case. We don’t intentionally not do things at one point versus the other. But bottom line is, say, like, it’s Kerby. He’s a player that we want to keep and we’ve let that be known. He’s a fit for us, for our team, he’s a really good player, but in terms of the timing, we’ll just kind of see where it goes," said Holmes. "He also goes in the bucket of being disciplined with finances."
By being disciplined, Holmes means the Lions can't afford to hand out lavish contracts to external free agents when they have so many players to reward internally.
"These are good problems to have," he said. "But I just wanted to make sure that more so our fans -- I don’t want our fans to think that we’re just not making the splashy moves because we don’t want to do that. It’s just, we’re being disciplined to make sure that we’re able to sustain winning but also win now."