Detroit Lions special teams stacks up well against rest of NFC North
Leading up to training camps, SideLion Report previews position groups for the Detroit Lions, and the rest of the NFC North. Today, we look at special teams.
They see a limited number of snaps every game, their mistakes are often magnified more than any other player, and their paychecks can pale in comparison to their high-profile teammates.
However, the Detroit Lions have made a point of fielding some of the most consistent specialists in the NFL over the last several years, and their NFC North counterparts will look to match some of that success after making changes this offseason.
Special teams play can mean the difference between a clutch victory, or an agonizing defeat; just ask the Chicago Bears. What’s in store for the division’s specialists in 2019? Here are their outlooks, starting with the Lions:
Detroit Lions
Key returning players: Matt Prater, Sam Martin, Don Muhlbach, Jamal Agnew
New additions: Ryan Santoso
Key losses: None
In 2019, the Detroit Lions will return their three main specialists in placekicker Matt Prater, punter Sam Martin and long snapper Don Muhlbach. The biggest change to the unit will be on the sideline, where they will welcome back a familiar face.
John Bonamego was rehired by the team as special teams coordinator in January, a post he held with the Lions from 2013-2014. He will essentially replace Joe Marciano at the position, after Marciano was fired midway through last season. Devin Fitzsimmons served as interim coordinator through the end of the season.
When Marciano was let go after a Week 9 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, the Lions’ coverage units were in rough shape. At that time they ranked 29th in the league averaging just under 37 net yards per punt and league worst 20.6 yards per punt return. The unit was committing silly penalties left and right. The Lions will look to Bonamego to bring the units back to respectability, and limit costly mistakes.
Bonamego spent the last four seasons as head football coach at his alma mater Central Michigan. He was let go after posting a dreadful 1-11 record last season. He does have 12 years of experience as an NFL special teams coordinator, and coached all three of the Lions primary specialists together in 2014.
Prater didn’t get as many attempts from 50-plus yards as he has in past years, making just three of five from that distance last season. But you’d be hard pressed to find too many NFL kickers more reliable than him. He enjoyed an fine 2018, missing just four of his 32 field goal attempts and hitting every one of his extra point tries. Signing Prater in 2014 when his career was on life support ranks as one of the Lions’ best personnel moves of the last decade. There’s no reason to expect any different from him in 2019.
Martin is two years removed from a strange foot injury that cost him six games in 2017. However, he endured one his weakest seasons, averaging under 40 net yards per punt for the second year in a row. Martin has a strong leg, and is certainly capable of a rebound, but he could have some competition; Ryan Santoso was brought back on a futures contract after spending last year’s training camp with the Lions. It’s doubtful that he’ll be able to unseat the veteran, but Martin represents just $1 million in dead cap money should he struggle to regain his form, and Santoso proves capable.
Chances are few people outside of Michigan or his childhood area in eastern Texas would recognize Lions long snapper Don Muhlbach on the street, and chances are he’s fine with that. He is however carving out his own impressive place in Lions history, currently ranking second in most career games played with the franchise at 228, behind only kicker Jason Hanson’s 327. He doesn’t make mistakes. He snaps it perfectly into Martin’s hands every time, and Prater kicks it. It’ll be business as usual for Muhlbach in 2019, after he signed his eighth consecutive one-year contract with the team.
The Lions would love for punt returner Jamal Agnew to regain his explosive rookie form, when he housed two punts and made the Pro Bowl. A knee injury cost him ten games last season, and prevented him from making much progress as a cornerback as well. If Agnew can recapture some of that electricity, the Lions’ special teams unit will be that much more improved. Expect rookie running back Ty Johnson and receivers Tommylee Lewis and Brandon Powell to get looks on the return units in training camp as well.