Lions say they have no concerns about Jameson Williams after suspension

Not that anything else would be said publicly, but the Lions have no concerns about Jameson Williams after his six-game gambling suspension.

After a rookie season limited by recovery from a torn ACL in his final college game, the Detroit Lions had big plans for Jameson Williams in his second season. Then he was hit with a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s gambling policy, setting what was lined up to be a breakout season off-course.

There are pieces of the equation. Should Williams have known the league’s gambling rules? Yes or no, why even risk gambling at all, even on non-NFL games? Calvin Ridley’s suspension last year should have been some kind of signal to every other player in the league.

The Lions also do, or did, appear to have an issue in educating about the gambling policy after an ESPN report said they’d fired multiple non-coaching people for running afoul of the policy.

Lions have no concerns about Jameson Williams going forward

During his post-draft press conference Saturday night, via Kyle Meinke of MLive, Lions general manager Brad Holmes talked about Williams.

"Look, he made a mistake,” “He made a mistake. He takes accountability of it, he knows it. Yes, he is young, and he understands the mistake he’s made. We’ve had transparent, open conversations about it, but we have confidence that he’s going to take the approach, he’s going to have the right response, in terms of what he needs to do.”We’re always clear and transparent with him, like all our players, and just go forward from there. So, no real concerns going forward. He made a mistake, he takes accountability for it.”"

Holmes saying there are “no real concerns going forward” with Williams is what he was going to say publicly. Any concerns have surely been conveyed to Williams directly, and they’ll be kept between the team and him.

The piece of the statement released on Williams behalf by his agents about the location of his bets, and if he’d simply done his non-NFL game betting away from any team facility it would’ve been fine, reeks of agent PR speak/spin and not an attempt to avoid accountability on his part. He has not commented on his suspension directly.

It’s also worth remembering Williams is 22 years old. While he’s in the spotlight as a pro athlete, he’s not immune to mistakes a regular 22-year old might make.

The Lions don’t want Williams to dwell on his mistake, and getting down to it he shouldn’t. He can participate in everything up until final roster cutdown before Week 1, return to practice after three weeks and his first game will be Oct. 22 or 29 depending on when the Lions’ bye week falls.