Detroit Lions: What if the tight ends don’t produce?

So what will happen if this group of tight ends can’t hold up their end of the production in the passing game? Will it jeopardize the season?

That is always a possibility, but let’s take a hard look at the situation.

Opposing defenses with be concentrating on the Lions three headed monster at receiver. Between Golden Tate, Marvin Jones and Kenny Golladay, every defense the Lions face will be heavily game planning to find ways to contain this unit.

When you toss T.J. Jones into the mix, then it just accentuates the nightmare.

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What this means is that the Lions tight ends will have plenty of opportunities to make big catches and big plays because they will be nothing more than a complete afterthought. Think about it, if you were coaching against the Lions how much time would you spend preparing to stop the wide outs and would the tight ends more or less be an after thought?

That doesn’t mean you don’t do your job and prepare for the whole Lions offense, but I tend to think most people would put much more effort into stopping this elite group of wide receivers than they would the tight ends.

So following that premise, let’s say that the tight ends have favorable match-ups that are primed for big plays and touchdowns, however, this group of tight ends collectively fails. They either can get open or can’t consistently hold onto the ball if they do find themselves open.

Now what? Can the Lions overcome this scenario?

I believe they can and here’s why; Golden Tate is almost a given to be open regardless of coverage, Marvin Jones made big strides last season and if he continues to just keep working, he will continue to build upon an outstanding year.

Meanwhile Kenny Golladay only scratched the surface of what he can do last season and is working incredibly hard to keep improving.

My point? You can’t double-team them all.