The Lions doled out another market-setting extension this week, making Kerby Joseph the league’s highest-paid safety . Last April, the team gave Amon-Ra St. Brown and Penei Sewell position-record extensions during an offseason in which Jared Goff , Taylor Decker and Alim McNeill scored big-ticket extensions.
As the likes of Aidan Hutchinson
, Sam LaPorta
, Brian Branch
and Jahmyr Gibbs
have either reached extension eligibility or are moving toward it, Detroit will need to make tough decisions. One potential avenue to recoup value for a player potentially not in the team’s long-term plans surfaced this week, with a Jameson Williams
trade rumor coming out
. As of now, however, GM Brad Holmes said nothing along those lines is in the offing.
“That’s something that we have never entertained,” Holmes said (via Detroitfootball.net’s Justin Rogers ). “I don’t know where that report came from, but that’s not a conversation that me and Dan [Campbell] have ever had.”
Williams has shown flashes of high-end talent, most notably during a 2024 season in which he posted 1,001 receiving yards and eight total touchdowns, but he has also run into off-field trouble. The 2022 first-rounder has been suspended under the NFL’s PED and gambling policies, and an arrest last fall — a gun-related incident not expected to produce an NFL suspension — transpired as well. The former Alabama and Ohio State pass catcher also missed most of his rookie season due to ACL rehab, but the Lions still started to see their 2022 plan for the receiver come to fruition via his 2024 performance.
The Lions can keep the 24-year-old weapon signed through 2026 by exercising his fifth-year option by next week’s deadline, and Holmes confirmed last month the team will likely do so . That would tie Williams to a fully guaranteed $15.49MM 2026 salary, which would impact the receiver’s trade value. The Lions could land a notable asset by moving the deep threat, but having a rookie-scale asset to complement St. Brown for another season may be too valuable to pass up — especially as costs rise at other spots on the roster.
Williams’ past points to the Lions proceeding cautiously regarding a potential extension, even as his price could spike with another 1,000-yard season in 2025. The Lions have the former No. 11 overall pick tied to a $2.64MM base salary in 2025, and the fifth-year option would give the team more evaluation time — as St. Brown’s cap numbers rise.