Twenty-one months since his last appearance in an NFL game, former Lions running back Jamaal Williams is in the market for another shot.
Williams told the Detroit Free Press that he recently contacted Lions head coach Dan Campbell to tell him he is looking to make an NFL comeback.
While Campbell told him the team is set at running back for the moment, he assured Williams that the team will keep him in mind if things change.
“Football’s my love, man,” Williams told the publication. “I want to finish off right. It’s just something about knowing what your first love is and mine so happened to be a professional sport, and knowing that you’re not going to be able to play it forever I just want to make sure that I have no regrets on me working hard, doing what I need to do to get to my dream one more time.”
Williams saw success and became a fan favorite in two seasons with Detroit in 2021 and ’22, especially during his elite 2022 campaign where he recorded 1,066 rushing yards and a team-record 17 rushing touchdowns.
However, when Williams hit free agency the next year, the Lions opted to sign David Montgomery and Williams ended up in New Orleans, where he wasn’t quite fitting into a run game built around Alvin Kamara.
In 2025, Williams had tryouts with a few teams, but nothing materialized.
“At the time, it was just the Saints who offered what I wanted,” Williams explained to the outlet. “They gave it to me and I ended up there. And that’s pretty much it. There’s no personal feelings, no hard feelings. It’s the NFL, it’s part of business. That’s all.
“It really started dwelling on my mental of you hearing people tell you what you feel like you can’t do. And you know what you can do, you just need the opportunity.”
