Lions met with Jamaal Williams’ agent at Combine, other teams lurk to sign him

The Lions met with Jamaal Williams’ agent at the NFL Combine, but to no realistic surprise he isn’t quite ready to re-sign.

The Detroit Lions and running back Jamaal Williams clearly like each other, and it has felt inevitable he’ll just re-sign as he hits free agency. He could re-sign at any point, and according to Dave Birkett of The Detroit Free Press (subscription required) the Lions met with Williams’ agent at the NFL Combine this past week.

To many Lions’ fans, the idea of Williams leaving as a free agent is pure blasphemy. The standing take here has been he’d be doing himself a disservice to not see what else is out there on the market. If he comes back to the Lions, at the right price of course, that’s fine. But to just blindly say “he’s not going anywhere”, without consideration for the idea he’d leave, is to ignore reality.

To that end….

Jamaal Williams is set explore the market rather than just automatically re-sign with the Lions

According to Birkett, Williams appears set to test the open market and there will be some outside suitors for the Lions to contend with.

"The Lions are working to re-sign leading rusher Jamaal Williams. He has made it known he wants to return to Detroit, and his representatives met with the Lions on Wednesday at the combine, but he is expected to garner interest from the Panthers, Bills, and others on the open market.”"

The Carolina Panthers, Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals and Philadelphia Eagles, with dependence on how their running back situations take shape in free agency, have been mentioned as potential suitors for Williams. Some others could certainly surface.

It’s still more likely than not that Williams re-signs with the Lions. But if someone makes him an offer the Lions won’t (or shouldn’t) match, or maybe they won’t just come close to matching, he’d be foolish not to take it.