Tuesday’s signing of veteran wideout Anquan Boldin definitely shakes up the Detroit Lions depth chart at wide receiver. Boldin produces several ripple effects at the dawn of training camp.
Golden Tate and Marvin Jones shouldn’t be impacted. Tate is the No. 1 and has the ability to play inside or out. Jones will remain the primary outside threat working the deeper reaches of the field. After that, well…it gets complicated.
Boldin is best at coming out of the slot and working the drags, crosses and intermediate hooks and slants. That happens to be what Eric Ebron also does best at TE, at least up to this point. I do expect Ebron to do more damage down the field in his third season. At this point, he’s faster and lither in open space than the 36-year-old newcomer.
Expect to see a lot of a package with Tate and Jones outside, Boldin in the slot and Ebron lined up inline opposite Boldin. Put Theo Riddick out of the backfield and that is a pretty darn impressive and versatile set of targets for Matthew Stafford. Somewhere in Allen Park, Jim Bob Cooter barely stifles an erection…
Boldin might wind up serving as a de facto No. 2 tight end. His blocking remains beastly. With Brandon Pettigrew starting camp, and likely the regular season (that’s my speculation and nothing more) on the PUP list, Boldin’s primary role might be playing the tight slot in short yardage or running downs.
It’s the remaining spots on the roster where Boldin really shakes things up. Detroit is likely to keep six total. With Tate, Marvin Jones and Boldin being the first three on the depth chart, that leaves three spots with a whole lot of combatants.
T.J. Jones appears safe as the primary slot receiver behind Tate/Boldin. In fact, he might earn more reps than Boldin with his fresh legs and quickness out of breaks. The third-year pro showed real promise down the 2015 stretch, and his skills are divergent enough from Boldin’s that they could conceivably split that role.
That leaves newcomers Jeremy Kerley and Andre Roberts in a lurch. Kerley can only play in the slot, and that is a very crowded position. Positional designation notwithstanding, he’s looking up at Tate, Boldin, T.J. Jones, Ebron and Riddick in the slot. Obviously all those guys will also align elsewhere, but all are capable in the slot.
Roberts has the deep speed the team needs on the outside, but he’s small and doesn’t play bigger than his size. His best bet to make the roster for certain is as the kick and/or punt return specialist. While he didn’t do that last year in Washington, he’s had a lot of success at it in the past. The problem for Roberts is, so has Kerley and he’s done it more recently; only Darren Sproles in Philly had more punt return yards than Kerley did for the Jets last year, though Kerley’s average per return was a mediocre 8.6, or half a yard lower than Jeremy Ross achieved in Detroit.
Now for the real fun. Presuming–perhaps incorrectly–that only one of Roberts and Kerley makes the final 53 and their primary function is as a return specialist, there is one spot left. Right now, here are the other receivers on the roster, in alphabetical order:
- Jace Billingsley
- Andre Caldwell
- Damian Copeland
- Quinshad Davis
- Corey Fuller
- Jay Lee
- Ryan Spadola
Keep in mind this player will be a gameday inactive unless someone above gets hurt, but the inside track goes to undrafted rookie Lee. I’d say Corey Fuller but he begins camp on the PUP list and hasn’t progressed much from his rookie year in 2013.
Lee is straight-line fast and accustomed to running deep routes and catching the ball in single coverage down the field at Baylor. The rest of his game is (extremely) limited, but it’s a niche role and that happens to be the niche the Lions need.
If the Lions opt for more of a possession-type, undrafted rookie Davis is a bigger and cheaper option than veteran Caldwell. Spadola is a wild card who could earn it based on special teams, something neither Davis nor Caldwell do. He impressed the coaching staff with his work on the practice squad last year. Billingsley and Copeland both appear nothing more than camp fodder.