Detroit Lions: Marvin Jones is a go route beast

The Detroit Lions found themselves a superstar in the making when they signed wide receiver Marvin Jones the day after Calvin Johnson retired.

In 2016, the Detroit Lions lost one of the greatest players in their franchise’s history. After nine seasons in the NFL, wide receiver Calvin Johnson unexpectedly retired. The very next day, Detroit inked former Cincinnati Bengals wideout Marvin Jones Jr. to a five-year, $40 million contract to very little fanfare.

Despite the timing of the signing, no one really believed the free agent Jones was an intended replacement for Megatron. In fact, it was Golden Tate who assumed the number one role in the Motor City. And he still assumes that role to this day.

Jones was a fifth-round pick out of California back in 2012 after all. He spent his first four seasons with the Bengals playing in the shadow of former first-round selection A.J. Green. But Jones showed signs of potential during his time in Cincinnati.

And in just his third regular-season game in Detroit, Jones posted an incredible six reception, 205-yard, two touchdown performance against the Lions’ divisional rivals, the Green Bay Packers.

That was a breakout game. In 2017, Jones had a breakout year. In his sixth NFL season, Marvin led the Lions in touchdowns with nine scores and posted over 1,000 receiving yards for the first time in his career.

One area of his game that Jones excelled was at running the “go” route. Also known as a fly or verticle route, it’s likely the simplest route on the route tree. There a no jukes, digs or cuts. The receiver simply flies off the line of scrimmage, straight towards the end zone trying to get behind the defender using pure speed.

Pro Football Focus writer Mark Chichester went into detail as to why Jones is the absolute man when it comes to running the go route in Detroit.

"“In 2017, Jones led the league with 16 receptions from go routes and he used those to rack up 496 receiving yards, the second most among players at the position. He also led the league’s receivers with seven touchdown receptions on go routes, converting 55.2 percent of his targets for either a first down or a touchdown, which was the league’s second-best mark.”"

The fact Jones is one of the best-contested ball catchers in the NFL makes all the above that much more impressive. He is quickly establishing himself as one of the top receivers in the league.

With Tate in the final year of his contract in Detroit, and turning 30-years old this August, it’s unclear if Golden will even be in Motown past this season. That leaves the possibility that Jones will become the new number one receiver in the Motor City soon. In fact, some seem to believe he already is.

Regardless, one thing is clear. The Detroit Lions hit a home run when they signed Marvin Jones as a free agent back in 2016. And although his signing wasn’t intended to be a replacement for Calvin Johnson, it’s slowly turning out to be.