Lions' Williams, Jags' Jones on opposite routes
(June 7, 2006) -- For now, the Lions are as down on former first-round draft pick Mike Williams as their fans have been on the franchise in recent seasons.
Williams is running with Detroit's third group of wide receivers -- and there are no indications he is going to be moving up the Detroit depth chart anytime soon, even though the receiver was back at practice today.
The Lions have made the decision that, until Williams demonstrates a noticeable change in his behavior -- and few in the organization are expecting anything to be any different any time soon -- he will not be contributing to the franchise.
While the rest of the Lions franchise has taken to new head coach Rod Marinelli's demanding methods, Williams has not. Lions officials believe Williams has not worked hard, has not been accountable, has not carried himself the way a first-round pick or any NFL player should.
The team even has looked into the cost of ridding itself of Williams, but realized it cannot. If the Lions were to cut or trade Williams, they would be hit with a whopping $12 million salary-cap charge.
This means the Lions are stuck with Williams, who has been nursing a strained hamstring for the past two months. These types of struggles are nothing new for Williams in Detroit. Last year, he was fined for being overweight and late to meetings.
Unless Williams changes his attitude, his name will be expected to pop up often on the inactive list this season. It's rather ironic, too. For one year, after he left USC, Williams was the man without a team. Now that he has a team, the team is willing to move forward without him.
