Mike Payton talks about the very real possibility that the Detroit Lions trade star WR Jameson Williams before or during the NFL Draft.
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00:00There's a real possibility that a Detroit Lions could trade Jameson Williams ahead of the 2025 NFL draft. I know you think that's crazy, but let me explain it to you.
00:11Hi, I'm Mike Payton from A to Z Sports Detroit, and today we're going to talk about the real possibility that Jameson Williams could be traded during the 2025 NFL draft.
00:20And look, I know right off the bat, let's just get out of the way. You probably think this is clickbait. You probably think I'm doing this for views or some weird thing.
00:29I don't know that they talk about on the Internet, but this is a real thing. This is a real possibility, and the speculation comes from real ideas, and here's what they are.
00:40First off, Jameson Williams, tremendous player, changes the game, unbelievable speed, so many things that he can do on that field. It's huge. I don't want to see him go.
00:50I know you don't either, but there have been some problems. Let's just get him out there. Let's talk about it.
00:59The two suspensions, the internal affairs case that the Detroit Police Department opened up on in mid-November.
01:06Obviously, no charges were filed or anything like that, but that was still out there.
01:12The injury, the getting flagged multiple times for celebrating, the getting fined multiple times over $20,000 for obscene celebration.
01:24Like, that's stuff you and I don't care about. Like, we don't care, obviously.
01:28And if it was up to us, if it was up to me, it was up to you to reach into our wallets and pay the money to keep him, like, we would all do it in a heartbeat.
01:40But the thing about business is, you know, you have to consider all things.
01:45Right now, we're looking at a guy that the Lions don't feel safe enough to give a contract extension to and haven't offered a fifth-year option to yet either.
01:53We're coming up on the deadline for that. That's May 1st, just a couple weeks away.
01:58And they're also a team that just brought in Texas receiver Matthew Golden for a top-30 visit.
02:04Now, Golden is essentially Jamison Williams.
02:074'2", 9 speed, 23 miles per hour that he's hit on the field.
02:13Just a big play guy, deep threat, tracks the ball really well in the air.
02:19Significantly cheaper than Jamison Williams is going to be.
02:22You can get him at the 28th pick.
02:24If the Lions do that, he's, you know, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to have two receivers that do the same thing if one of them can't be an X receiver.
02:35And I don't think either of them can be that.
02:37I think Golden can do exactly what Jamison Williams can do.
02:42Maybe not as well.
02:43Maybe not as fast.
02:45But pretty close.
02:46Pretty good.
02:47I think that's a good receiver.
02:48He's somebody that Dane Brugler has as his number two receiver in the beast scouting guy that he dropped last week.
02:55This is a guy that everybody thinks is the second best receiver in the draft.
03:00So if the Lions go that route, if they draft Golden, well, now you have the opportunity to trade Jamison Williams.
03:06And the reason you would do it at the draft is, again, you go back to that fifth-year option that they haven't given out yet.
03:12May 1st is the deadline.
03:15If they were to do that, they would then owe Jamison Williams $15.49 guaranteed million in 2026.
03:23Right now, he's a free agent after 2025 because they haven't extended that fifth-year option yet.
03:28So if you trade him ahead of the draft, or at the draft, rather, you save essentially another $15 million.
03:35But then you also save probably an upwards of $30 million a year because this guy is going to get a big contract.
03:42If he goes and balls out in 2025, the Lions are going to be in a position where they're either going to have to let him go later,
03:49or they're going to have to let him go—he's going to cost a lot of money.
03:54I'm telling you, that's the thing.
03:56Could be a four-year, $120 million-plus extension, a lot like what Aminra St. Brown just got.
04:03If he's making $30 million a year, that's going to make it really hard to also make Brian Branch one of the highest-paid safeties.
04:10Kirby Joseph, probably the highest-paid safety in the league.
04:14Aiden Hutchinson, the highest-paid edge.
04:16Sam Laporta, the highest-paid tight end.
04:18Jabeer Gibbs, the highest-paid running back.
04:21If you move on from Jamison Williams now and draft Matthew Golden, you have a really good chance of just keeping all those guys.
04:30If you move Jamison Williams now, you have the ability to pay all these guys.
04:37If you keep Jamison Williams, you are suddenly paying for one of the highest-priced positions in the NFL.
04:49And you have two of them because Aminra St. Brown is one of the highest-paid receivers in the league.
04:53So it makes a lot of sense that you move off of one of these guys.
04:59And while it sucks, and we don't want to see it happen, and nobody wants this to happen, it's the harsh realities of the cap.
05:06It's the harsh realities of being so good at drafting.
05:10It just – you can't keep everyone.
05:13It's really, really hard to do without making drastic sacrifices.
05:18And this would be a drastic sacrifice that the Lions could make, and they would wind up with a pretty good receiver in Matthew Golden,
05:26and they'd wind up with a significant amount of money in which they can keep all those guys.
05:31It sucks, but you've got to do it.
05:34You almost have to do it.
05:36And we'll see what happens.
05:37I'm not saying it will happen.
05:39I think things have to happen in order for this to happen.
05:42But it's certainly a possibility.
05:44It's one I wouldn't rule out.
05:45And let me know what you guys think in the comments below.