The 2024 UFL Draft took place on Wednesday and two of the Lions current rookies just got drafted. First, in the fourth-round of the draft, receiver Isaiah Williams has been selected by the Birmingham Stallions.
Now, let’s just get this part out of the way here. This does not mean that Williams has to leave the Lions and report to the UFL. This means that if Williams does not make the Lions roster and doesn’t get signed to their practice squad or anyone else’s roster or practice squad, he has a place to go next spring.
It’s still early, but at this point I would bet heavily on the idea that he never makes it to Birmingham and the Stallions probably know that. It’s more than likely why they took him so low.
Williams has a really good shot of sticking around with the Lions. He’s someone who has a yards after the catch ability that’s too good to pass up. It might even help him net one of the spots on the 53-man roster. Even if that doesn’t happen, he’s a prime practice squad candidate assuming that no other team claims him once he hits waivers.
There should be some other teams interested. It’s still crazy that he didn’t get drafted in the late rounds. His size is a concern, but he plays big and was tremendous at Illinois.
The other player that got drafted actually has a really good shot of staying in Detroit, but it won’t be for the Lions. It will be for the Michigan Panthers. They selected edge rusher Isaac Ukwu with their third-round pick in the draft.
Ukwu is still with the Lions, but he has a real uphill battle with so many guys ahead of him. Specifically James Houston, Mathieu Betts, John Cominsky, Mitchell Agude, Josh Paschal, Marcus Davenport and Aidan Hutchinson.
He could wind up on a practice squad if he puts out a great camp, but right it now it seems like that would be somewhere else and that he could wind up playing for the Panthers in the spring.