Lions Signing DT Sylvester Williams

Cameron Wolfe is reporting that the Lions are signing veteran DT Sylvester Williams to a one-year contract on Wednesday.

The Lions were clearly in the market for a defensive tackle with Johnathan Hankins, Alan Branch and Ricky Jean Francois coming up as potential options along with Williams.

Williams also met with the Redskins in recent days, but it appears as though the Lions proved to be his best opportunity.

It’s worth mentioning that signing Williams to a contract won’t impact a team’s 2019 compensatory picks, given that he was released this offseason.

Williams, 29, was taken with the No. 28 overall pick back in 2013. He played out the final year of his rookie contract but the Broncos elected to not pick up his fifth-year option, which allowed him to test the open market as an unrestricted free agent.

The Titans signed Williams to a three-year, $16.5 million contract that included $7.25 million guaranteed last year before releasing him in a move that freed up $3,083,332 of available cap space this offseason.

In 2017, Williams appeared in 15 games for the Titans and recorded 20 tackles and no sacks. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 67 interior defender out of 122 qualifying players.

We had him featured in our Top 50 Available 2018 NFL Free Agents list.

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