Jameson Williams, others did not learn from Calvin Ridley’s mistakes

Like the rules or not, agree with the rules or not, the rules against NFL players and gambling are what they are. They are obvious and made obvious to players. There’s really no excuse for players these days to slip up in this particular way, especially after the league made an example out of former Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley, suspending him for the entire 2022 season for gambling on NFL games in 2021. Ridley, who was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars last year, was reinstated this offseason. Now, Detroit Lions wide receiver and former first-round pick Jameson Williams is being suspended by the NFL, albeit for a lesser gambling infraction.

Williams is being suspended (for 6 games) along with his teammates CJ Moore (indefinitely), Quintez Cephus (indefinitely), and Stanley Berryhill (6 games). Commanders pass rusher Shaka Toney has also been hit with a suspension (indefinitely). Unlike Moore and Cephus, however, the Detroit Lions are keeping Williams on the team. Moore and Cephus were cut as soon as this news broke.

Thankfully for the Lions, and frankly for Jameson Williams, he’s only being suspended for six games because, apparently, he was not betting on NFL games. He was simply violating the league’s rule which prohibits players from betting on other sports leagues on team or league property (stadium, facility, team plane, etc.).

The official release from the NFL states that no game was compromised in accordance with these situations, which is obviously the primary concern and reason why players cannot bet on games.

It’s understandable to take the stance that the message the NFL is sending is a bit confusing. They are clearly promoting gambling these days in a wide variety of different ways. The ways in which players could get in trouble with this have become so readily available and popularized, so it’s certainly going to be difficult for players who enjoy this type of entertainment to completely stay away from it.

It’s also slightly confusing for the player that they are allowed to participate in this arena, just not with NFL games. They just have to be very careful about where they do it, but these guys a lot of times live at the facility, spending most days there. Again, it’s no justification, it’s just painting the picture of how something like this could happen.

But given the league’s extremely harsh example made last year of Calvin Ridley, it’s incredibly foolish for any player to fall into the same trap. Again, you don’t have to like the rule. You certainly don’t have to agree with it. But as long as it’s in place, players have seen the consequence of breaking these rules and the consequence is extremely severe.

Detroit Lions fans have been understandably excited about their team lately, and Jameson Williams is a major part of that excitement. He caught one pass in six games in his rookie season, and it was for a 41-yard touchdown. Williams was electric at Alabama in the 2021 season before hurting his knee in the National Championship game.

That injury was the reason he was limited to just six games, but the team obviously had aims on making him a massive part of their plans in 2023. Now, they will have to wait to get him until their seventh game of the season, at which point, he will hopefully be in game shape and ready to go.

The Lions clearly took a no-tolerance stance on this by cutting guys like Moore and Cephus. They — and other teams — don’t want to mess around with the level of selfishness it takes to clearly see how it can affect and cost your team to bet on NFL games. Imagine if the Lions were counting on those guys for this season and they were now suspended indefinitely.

Hopefully, there are fewer examples of this going forward. It’s clear that if you’re a player and you’re betting on games, the league is going to find out.