It apparently became a source of concern among Lions fans, but Jameson Williams was indeed at voluntary offseason work this week.
As the Detroit Lions released daily photos from this week’s start of voluntary offseason work, apparently the absence of wide receiver Jameson Williams in any of said pictures was noticed. That has only further fed reading into what general manager Brad Holmes said about Williams putting in the work this offseason, which was not worth being read into at all.
Literally, there was nothing to see there. Some fans will latch onto anything in the offseason though, and find a negative angle if it could be found. But Williams was spotted a couple weeks ago working out with teammates in California, and there are no signs the second-year man isn’t working hard as he moves through a fully healthy offseason.
Brad Holmes confirms Jameson Williams was on-site in Allen Park this week
From here until mandatory minicamp in June, any offseason work organized by the team is voluntary for NFL players. Again, V-O-L-U-N-T-A-R-Y. As in, you don’t have to be there even if the team might like you to be there.
Holmes did his pre-draft press conference on Thursday. Williams’ name came up. Via Ben Raven of MLive, Holmes put anything suggesting Williams did not report to offseason work this week concisely to rest.
“He was just here yesterday,” Holmes said during Thursday’s pre-draft press conference.
There’s nothing more Holmes needed to say there.
Now, some may take issue with the idea of Williams (apparently) only being on-site one day this week.
But Erik Schlitt of Pride of Detroit added, per his source, that Williams was also in Allen Park on Thursday. And who’s to say he hasn’t actually been around all week, just not in a position to be captured in photos taken by the team for what amounts to promotional purposes?
It’s also not as if Williams was the only Lions’ player not captured in photos this week. And plenty of others surely haven’t been at the team facility for the start of voluntary work at all.
Yes, Williams is a needle-mover for Lions’ fans–for good, or bad as those who are long-suffering naturally find reasons for skepticism and worry in everything.
But until Williams offers actual reasons to worry, if he does, due to not producing on the field, not being durable, etc., everything else is insignificant noise. And voluntary offseason work in mid-April is about as insignificant as it gets, in terms of reason to be concerned or trying to draw conclusions.
So to a certain segment of Lions fans, and they know who they are, step away from the panic button regarding Jameson Williams. Once again, there’s nothing to see here and Holmes confirmed it.