The Detroit Lions have come to terms with wide receiver Tyrell Williams of Salem, Oregon. On Wednesday, the Lions signed Williams to a one-year contract worth $6.2 million according to Bryan DeArdo of CBS Sports.
The Lions will become Williams’s third National Football League franchise. He previously played four seasons with the Chargers (in 2015 and 2016 with the San Diego Chargers, and in 2017 and 2018 with the Los Angeles Chargers), and one season with the Oakland Raiders in 2019. Williams missed the entire 2000 NFL season with a torn labrum.
In five NFL seasons, Williams caught 197 passes for 3181 yards and 23 touchdowns. During the 2019 season with the Raiders, Williams had 42 catches for 651 yards and six touchdowns. Williams’s best NFL season came back in 2016 with the San Diego Chargers, when he had career highs in receptions (69), yards (1059), and touchdown catches (seven).
The Lions will be hoping Williams has the same sort of chemistry with newly-acquired quarterback Jared Goff as he did with recently-retired quarterback Philip Rivers while with the Chargers. Goff was traded from the Los Angeles Rams to the Detroit Lions for Matt Stafford on January 31.
Williams played his college football at Western Oregon. Initially undrafted, Williams signed with the San Diego Chargers after the 2015 NFL Draft. Before Williams made his mark with San Diego, he was waived and was on the Chargers practice squad.
Williams is set to join a Lions’ receiving corps that includes Kenny Golladay, Marvin Jones Jr., Mohamed Sanu Sr., and Danny Amendola. It will be interesting to see what receiver among the five emerges as Goff’s go-to guy. Williams is reacquainted with former Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn, who is now the Lions’ offensive coordinator.
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