On Thursday, it was reported by Dave Birkett that the Detroit Lions are "firmly committed" to wide receiver Nate Burleson and defensive tackle Corey Williams. In other words, they don't intend to part ways with either player just to free up some cap space.
Today, the Lions confirmed Birkett's report. During his meeting with the media, Lions general manager Martin Mayhew made it clear that the team's current plans call for nothing to happen to Burleson or Williams.
Mayhew said there are no plans to cut or restructure the contracts of Williams or Burleson. Reiterated how important they were to the team.
— Tim Twentyman (@ttwentyman) February 24, 2012
The news that Burleson and Williams aren't going anywhere isn't a big surprise to me. Both players contributed in a big way on the field in 2011, and Burleson especially was a big leader off the field. The news about neither player's contract being restructured is a bit more surprising, but then again, I doubt the Lions want to make the cap situation in future years worse by restructuring everybody with a moderately big cap hit in 2012.