Donovan Peoples-Jones has a chance to have a career season if he does this one thing
The Detroit Lions did not go out and make a huge trade at the deadline like Lions fans were hoping they would. They didn't get the big time edge rusher and it's a good thing they didn't becasue that didn't really work out for anyone last year. But that's not what we're here to talk […]
The Detroit Lions did not go out and make a huge trade at the deadline like Lions fans were hoping they would. They didn't get the big time edge rusher and it's a good thing they didn't becasue that didn't really work out for anyone last year. But that's not what we're here to talk about.
The Lions did make one trade and while it seemed small at the time, it could wind up being a big one in 2024. That's the Donovan Peoples-Jones trade.
The expectation last season was that Peoples-Jones would come in and contribute right away. That didn't happen. He spent most of the season coming off the bench and waiting his turn. Now he has a chance to make a big mark for his hometown team. With Josh Reynolds off to Denver, Peoples-Jones is expected to come in and take that role.
All he really has to do is just be Josh Reynolds and this will be a success. The thing is, he pretty much already is Josh Reynolds. There are a ton of similarities between the two. They're close in size and stature and their playing style is very similar.
Like Reynolds, Peoples-Jones is not going to blow you away with speed and separation, but he makes up for that with contested catches and big plays.
The big thing that Reynolds brought to the table was the ability to get first downs. He had 40 catches for Detroit in 2023 and 32 of them were for first downs. Peoples-Jones has a similar ability.
In 2021 he had 34 catches for the Browns and 26 of them were for first downs. In 2022, where he played the most he's ever played, Peoples-Jones had 33 first downs on 61 catches. It's not a super close margin like Reynolds had last year, but it wasn't always that close for Reynolds.
The big thing that Reynolds has that Peoples-Jones is going to have to work on is chemistry with Jared Goff. Reynolds and Goff played together for seven seasons. Goff and Peoples-Jones have been together for seven months. They need time on task together.
If they can get into a groove and Peoples-Jones can simply play the role that's mostly been designed for his style of play, then he has a real shot at having a career year and being a big part of a team for the first time in his career. While he had that big season in 2022, the Browns wound up just shoving him back down the depth chart. This is his chance to really leave his mark and he gets to do it with the team he grew up watching. It's almost poetic.
