Lions receiving corps ranked in the bottom 10 by PFF
I've had my own concerns about the Detroit Lions receiving team, but those concerns were at a bit of minimum. Pro Football Focus took their concern to the max on Tuesday when they ranked the Lions group as the 23rd best in the NFL. Here's their reasoning: "Amon-Ra St. Brown took a step into the elite […]
I've had my own concerns about the Detroit Lions receiving team, but those concerns were at a bit of minimum. Pro Football Focus took their concern to the max on Tuesday when they ranked the Lions group as the 23rd best in the NFL. Here's their reasoning:
"Amon-Ra St. Brown took a step into the elite category, earning a 90.4 receiving grade last season. Detroit moved on from T.J. Hockenson via trade in the middle of last year, but they have Marvin Jones Jr., Josh Reynolds and added rookie Sam LaPorta, who is sure to be a decent part of their passing game."
That's it. There was no reason. For the most part, every team got some elaboration for their ranking. The Lions essentially got a list of their receivers.
I know I mentioned that I had some concerns about this unit. The thing that concerned me is that we don't quite know what Jameson Williams is yet and we won't know until Week 7 since he is going through a suspension. I also was hoping the Lions would pick up a definitive number two option and they didn't.
Still, the Lions finished seventh in the league in receiving yards last year and they did that without Jameson Williams and the newly added Marvin Jones. Yes, they had DJ Chark, but Chark only accounted 500 of the teams 4,444 receiving yards. That's a hefty chunk, but the Lions succeeded without him.
There's guys that are getting forgotten here. First there's Kalif Raymond. Raymond had the second most yards on the team last season with 616. He also probably made the biggest catch of the year too.
There's also James Mitchell. The Lions took things slow with him in his rookie year since he was coming off a torn ACL, but he should figure into to being the Lions TE2 going into the season. He's a guy that was high on my list of players the Lions should draft in the 2022 NFL Draft. He can do a lot.
The Lions offense arguably got better over the offseason when they added Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta to the mix. That's just more weapons added to the seventh best receiving squad. It just makes no sense that the group would fold in on itself and head down to the basement of the league.
There's a chance that PFF could be right about their assessment, but I just don't see it. I also don't see how the Chicago Bears rank at 13th in the league. What is this list?
Featured image by Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK
