Did the Detroit Lions do enough to fix their offense?

Wide receivers

The receivers should be better with one caveat: Golden Tate cannot suffer any drop off in production. Should the 30-year-old (at the start of the season) lose a step or two, or suffer injuries, it would be difficult to maintain the kind of production that the Lions enjoyed from their outside receivers.

The Lions are the only team to boast two 1,000 yards wide outs (Tate and Marvin Jones, Jr.), while leading the league in deep passing yards.

In terms of their blocking on run plays, they are not a particularly imposing group. Kenny Golladay is the biggest wideout, at 6-4, 213 pounds. Perhaps drafting some bigger targets would allow them to contribute more to the offensive line efforts.

Is Tate golden?

The big issue here is that Tate wants big money to stay. The contracts of Julian Edelman and Jarvis Landry have cemented the idea in his head. He is a free agent next year. Currently, he has a cap hit of $9.35 million dollars, according to Sportrac.com.

Why is that dicey? Most wide receivers are at their peak at the age of 26 or 27. From 31 to 33 is the normal time for them to experience a drop off that they will never recover from. Tate will become a free agent in the year that he turns 31. Do you see where I am going?

Beside Tate, Marvin Jones, Jr., Kenny Golladay, and T.J. Jones comprise the core of one of the NFL’s best units. Although they lack the star power provided by former Lion, Calvin Johnson, the unit has better depth. Golladay and T.J. Jones, are very good WR3 and WR4 players.

Jace Billingsley has been a perennial practice squad player, but has flashed in preseason. Should the Lions develop another slot player who is not in a contract year, it would be difficult to envision Quinn spending big money on Tate going into 2019.