The key player in trouble is second-year wide receiver Jameson Williams.
Winning eight of the final ten games last season has the Detroit Lions picked as the favorite to win the NFC North in 2023, but it’ll be interesting to see if their odds change after four players, including 2022 first-round pick Jameson Williams, were suspended for gambling violations.
Williams and fellow wide receivers Quintez Cephus and Stanley Berryhill, along with safety C.J. Moore, have been suspended. Cephus and Moore were suspended for one year and immediately released by the Lions. Williams and Berryhill were hit with six-game suspensions.
Per ESPN, Williams and Berryhill didn’t bet on NFL games, but they were involved in “mobile betting” at the Lions’ practice facility, which is a violation of the NFL’s gambling policy.
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The suspension of Williams is the most significant because he was expected to be the team’s breakout wide receiver, taking pressure off of star Amon-Ra St. Brown. Without Williams for the first six games of the season means Jared Goff’s other targets will be Marvin Jones Jr., Josh Reynolds and tight end Brock Wright. It’s the same group that helped Goff throw for 29 touchdowns and the sixth-most passing yards (4,438) last season, but it certainly limits what he could do with Williams’s speed on the field.
Remember, Detroit took Williams 12th overall after making an inter-division trade with the Vikings to move up. They did so knowing that Williams would miss most of his rookie season rehabbing an ACL tear that he suffered in the national championship game with Alabama.
Williams had one catch as a rookie and it was a 41-yard touchdown against the Vikings. He also had one rushing play that went 40 yards against the Bears, but he was otherwise a non-factor.
His suspension is a plus for the Vikings, who in their continued state as competitive rebuilders, are looking to contend again in 2023 after winning 13 games in 2022 only to see significant roster turnover, including losing Adam Thielen, Irv Smith Jr., Eric Kendricks, Dalvin Tomlinson and quite possibly Dalvin Cook, Danielle Hunter and Za’Darius Smith.
The 2023 schedule hasn’t been released yet, but there’s a decent chance the Vikings and Lions play within the first six weeks of the season, which would obviously be a boon for Minnesota if Williams isn’t available.
But this is Minnesota sports we’re talking about, so prepare for Vikings vs. Lions to be scheduled for Week 7 and for Williams to go off for 200 yards and 3 touchdowns.