Did the Detroit Lions do enough to fix their offense?
Tight ends
There has been an almost total changeover in tight ends from a year ago. Remaining, only Michael Roberts has returned to reprise his role in the offense but with obviously higher expectations.
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Polarizing receiving option, Eric Ebron, and steady blocker, Darren Fells were both allowed to explore other vocational opportunities. Ebron, gone due to his high salary, and Fells was a free agent who quickly signed with the Cleveland Browns.
Sticking to a similar mix of talent and ability, Detroit brought in Luke Willson as the receiving option and Levine Toilolo as the blocker. The moves saved the Lions millions, but at the cost of established production.
The hope is that the roughly 800 receiving yards and seven touchdowns generated by the 2017 unit will be replicated or beaten by the replacements. Willson, the main receiver in his 6th year out of Rice, has a career high of 362 yards and three touchdowns.
In terms of blocking, Toilolo is a capable blocker, Willson cannot be worse than Ebron as a blocker, and Roberts has to have gotten better as the hybrid, do-everything option. Their efforts helping their offensive line should be equal or greater to 2017.
Overall, despite some production the tight ends look poised to be about the same as 2017, which is a win for general manager, Bob Quinn.