APPLETON, Wis. -- Jameson Williams is sticking with the Detroit Lions for the long haul.
Williams and the Lions agreed to a three-year contract extension worth $83 million with $67 million guaranteed, per NFL insider Jordan Schultz. This news comes on the eve of the Week 1 game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.
The 24-year-old has two years left on his rookie contract, including his fifth-year option, so this three-year deal ensures the electric playmaker remains part of the core in Detroit. His extension will kick in after those two remaining years, too.
Not only does this deal keep Williams under team control for the next five seasons. But it’s a potential home-run bargain if the receiver continues his ascent as one of the game’s most lethal playmakers. After those two years left on his rookie deal are done, Williams will make $27.6 million per season, which would rank him outside of the top 10 in average per year among receivers as of now.
Williams is fresh off a breakout season, when he caught 58 passes for 1,001 yards and seven touchdowns. It hasn’t always been the smoothest ride for Williams since entering the NFL. The 2022 first-round pick missed all but six games his rookie year after suffering an ACL injury in college. He missed four games for a gambling-related suspension in 2023, then was suspended for two games for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing substances policy last season.
However, the arrow has been pointed straight in the air since that last mistake. Williams led the league in yards per catch among those with at least 40 receptions last year, adding a lethal one-two punch at wide receiver with All-Pro Amon-Ra St. Brown.
“Yeah. I think he started to turn the corner a long time ago, I can’t really put --- you could see it, almost around the corner, almost the corner,” Scottie Montgomery, the team’s assistant head coach and receivers coach, said earlier this week. “And then this offseason, where I think he grew the most is, I really talked to him about strength and getting better and stronger, his lower quarters and changing his body.
“And he’s gotten a lot stronger. There was a couple of carrots dangled to get stronger. To be able to get out of the breaks, you’ve got to have stronger lower quarters. And, man, he came back, and I could immediately see the difference in his body type, but also his movement skills. It became not just explosive, but it became to a point where now I can go be explosive and still stop on a dime. If you’ve watched him, his progression has been his ability to stop and start, or start and stop, either way you look at it. He’s done a good job of that.”
Williams has continued to earn praise from teammates and coaches alike for his continued progression leading into the new season. He’s even expanding his route tree under new offensive coordinator John Morton, earning praise for his body control and improved strength, as Montgomery noted.
“He’s gotten better every year, he’s matured,” Morton previously said of Williams. “It’s tough for a young receiver to come into this league, because they don’t run a lot of different routes in college.
“And now he’s progressed through, and I want to take that skillset, and now isolate him. I think he’s been phenomenal. Again, we’re still scripting, we’re giving the young guys more reps to get them prepared for the preseason. I’m very excited where he’s at right now. He’s going to help us win some big games, obviously.”
St. Brown remains under team control through 2028 after signing his big extension last April, so the top two receivers are just getting started as a duo.
The Lions traded up in the order to take Williams 12th overall in 2022. They made the draft-day deal with the Minnesota Vikings and have turned that gamble on an injured player into a long-term centerpiece.
“Look, he was a tremendous player for us last year,” Lions general manager Brad Holmes said when asked about picking up Williams’ fifth-year option.
“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.”
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