Getty Jamaal Williams celebrates a touchdown for the Lions in 2022.
The Detroit Lions are pushing toward the offseason, and they will have lots of decisions to make in terms of what positions to prioritize when all is said and done.
There are tons of questions that the team has to ponder currently, and the most important of which was recently revealed by Pro Football Focus and writer Sam Monson.
The most important issues for every team this offseason were examined in a piece. Given the amount of defensive needs on the roster, it could have been expected a defensive issue would take precedence.
For Monson, though, running back actually represents the most pressing issue at this point in time. As he wrote, the biggest question for the team will revolve around whether to re-sign Jamaal Williams relative to drafting a potentially elite player like Bijan Robinson.
“The Lions have a few questions to answer this offseason, but a major one will be how much they value the running back position. Jamaal Williams is a free agent fresh off eclipsing a franchise single-season touchdown mark held by Barry Sanders, and the Lions could have to make a decision about whether to draft Texas’ Bijan Robinson — arguably the best prospect at the position in over a decade — over higher-value positions. Is this a team that really values that position, or do they still want to attack the perimeter positions where they need help?,” Monson wrote in the piece.
The Lions’ offense was ranked fourth-overall last season, and their rushing attack was a very solid 11th in the NFL, racking up 23 touchdowns and around 128 yards per-game. A big reason why that was the case was Williams, in addition to D’Andre Swift, who seems likely to return in 2023 as well.
Detroit will have to make the choice on Williams, then decide whether or not they want to add a player for the future in the case of Swift having health problems again. A third running back could make sense, but how soon does the team want to draft him?
All good reasons that running back figures as a major question for the offseason.
Jamaal Williams Looks Likely to Return to Lions
It might not take long to see how much the team values the running back position, especially if the Lions elect to bring back Jamaal Williams, as has already been speculated.
A new deal with Williams could kick-start the rest of the offseason. It’s seemed like the Lions and Williams were heading for a return, and that could be the case in the coming days.
As Brad Holmes recently explained at the NFL combine on Wednesday, March 1, a deal with Williams could be the first order of business for the offseason, and there could be mutual interest in making something happen.
Brad Holmes: There’s a “mutual interest” between the Lions and UFA running back Jamaal Williams
“We’re having discussions now currently. We’re having discussions with all of our UFA’s who are on expiring deals. There’s a mutual interest to hopefully get him back, and we still have (D’Andre) Swift as a free agent,” Holmes said as shown in Bianchi’s tweet.
It seems like it could be only a matter of time now before a deal is done, which could bring Williams back into the fold. That could make running back a lot smaller of a priority for the Lions the rest of the way.
New Mock Gives Lions Bijan Robinson
Even though the Lions could look to lock up Williams, the specter of Bijan Robinson still looms over the team. The young running back just wrapped up an impressive combine in plenty of ways, and could be on the radar for Detroit.
Already, a new post-combine mock has the Lions nabbing Robinson with the 18th overall pick in the draft. NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein was all too pleased to give the Lions such an elite option when he was on the clock with the team’s second pick in the first-round.
“Let’s go! The talented Longhorn back combines power and wiggle — and he can have a similar impact on an offense to what we saw this past season from Josh Jacobs in Las Vegas. Baller move here, Brad Holmes!,” Zierlein wrote in the piece.
As a whole, Robinson has totaled 3,410 yards and 60 touchdowns on the ground in college. That’s to go with 805 receiving yards and eight touchdowns in his career catching the ball. It’s clear he is a diverse weapon capable of stretching out a defense, which would certainly fit Detroit.
Detroit will have a big decision to make with Robinson even if Williams returns. He looks like a first-round talent, but does Detroit dare make him an early pick?
While the team does have obvious defensive needs, this piece is correct to highlight running back as one of the important decision points of Detroit’s entire offseason to come.