ALLEN PARK — Jameson Williams learned he would be suspended just hours before the world did.
It was news to him too, considering he says he didn’t even know he had violated the policy.
“I was sick,” the Detroit Lions receiver said. “I was hurt, because I ain’t knew things like this was coming.”
All players are educated on the gambling policy, but Williams is far from the only Lions player to be suspended for violating it. Williams and receiver Stanley Berryhill getting six games apiece for placing non-NFL bets inside the team facility, while receiver Quintez Cephus and special teams ace C.J. Moore got one-year bans for placing NFL bets. Berryhill, Cephus and Moore have all been let go, while Williams will be barred from the team facility when Week 1 rolls around in September, dealing a huge blow to an offense that was counting on his speed to take the top off defenses.
Now the NFL has opened another investigation into whether a fifth Lions player also violated the policy, according to The Athletic. The publication did not name the player nor clarify whether that player remains on the team, saying only he did not have a prominent role on last year’s team.
With that, the Lions are taking action by re-educating their players on the policy.
“It’s much more an emphasis from us, as opposed to just leaving it to the league,” Campbell said. “Like, we need to make sure that we really hit this ourselves and make a point of it. We did, but obviously not enough. The proof’s in the pudding. So for us, let’s take it out of their hands. They will have what they do every year, but now we need to put our own emphasis on it. And I think that is the best way to do it, is to highlight it. And that is what we are trying to do.”