The Lions waived Williams (concussion) on Friday with an injury settlement.
Williams was expected to serve as the Lions' No. 1 wideout coming out of the preseason, but his reign atop the depth chart lasted just three quarters into the campaign, as he's been sidelined since suffering a concussion in Detroit's Week 1 loss to San Francisco. Considering that Williams hadn't even been cleared to resume practicing since landing on injured reserve Week 3, the wideout seemingly has multiple steps to clear in the concussion protocol before he'll explore signing with another team.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell suggested Tuesday that Williams (concussion) isn't on track to be activated from injured reserve ahead of the team's Week 6 game against the Bengals, Justin Rogers of The Detroit News reports. "It's off in the distance," Campbell said of Williams' potential return.
Campbell said a day earlier that Williams would have a chance at making it back this week, but the coach seemingly changed his tone after the receiver underwent an evaluation Tuesday. The fact that Williams doesn't look on track to play Week 6 isn't necessarily indicative of a setback; the wideout may have simply plateaued in his recovery from the concussion he sustained in the Lions' season-opening loss to the 49ers. With Quintez Cephus (collarbone) expected to join Williams on IR in the coming days, the Lions will likely head into the matchup with Cincinnati with Kalif Raymond, Amon-Ra St. Brown and KhaDarel Hodge as their starting receivers.
