Jameson Williams’ agency offers statement on 6-game suspension for gambling

On Friday, the league announced that Detroit Lions Jameson Williams was among five NFL players—four Lions players—who have been suspended for sports gambling. Williams suspension is for six games because he gambled on non-NFL games while at a team facility. Others, including Lions’ C.J. Moore and Quintez Cephus, were given indefinite suspensions, because they gambled on NFL games. Both of those players were immediately released by Detroit.

While Williams has not responded to the news directly, his agency offered this statement on his behalf:

“Alliance Sports confirms that its client, Jameson Williams, has been suspended by the NFL for six games for violating the NFL’s gambling policy. Jameson takes full responsibility for his actions and is very apologetic to the NFL, his teammates and the fans and city of Detroit. However, it is important to note that Jameson’s violation was not for betting on football but rather due to a technical rule regarding the actual location in which the online bet was place - and which would otherwise be allowed by the NFL outside the club’s facility. Jameson would never intentionally jeopardize the integrity of the game he loves so much and looks forward to getting back to his team as soon as possible.”

Williams will continue to be eligible to participate in offseason activities with the team, including OTAs, minicamp, training camp and the preseason. His suspension officially starts at the beginning of the regular season. He will be allowed to participate in a ramp-up period three weeks into the suspension, so that he would theoretically be ready to play in the team’s seventh game without any conditioning concerns.

Lions general manager Brad Holmes offered the following statement on the news.

“As a result of an NFL investigation, it came to our attention that a few of our players had violated the league’s gambling policy. These players exhibited decision making that is not consistent with our organizational values and violates league rules. We have made the decision to part ways with Quintez and C.J. immediately. We are disappointed by the decision making demonstrated by Stanley (Berryhill) and Jameson and will work with both players to ensure they understand the severity of these violations and have clarity on the league rules moving forward.”