Kenny Golladay shines in Detroit Lions first win; Future Pro Bowler?

The explosive third-year wideout led the team in yards in Week 2, but how good can Kenny Golladay be for the Detroit Lions in 2019?

Thankfully for the Detroit Lions fans everywhere, their favorite team was able to improve on their late game troubles from Week One. After taking the lead with just over seven minutes remaining, Detroit was able to hold on to beat the Los Angeles Chargers, 13-10, on Sunday afternoon.

While this was a fairly ugly contest featuring a lot of turnovers and even more penalties, the bright spot of the Lions’ offense was third-year receiver Kenny Golladay, who proved that he can relied upon as a No. 1 option at wide receiver.

The former Northern Illinois Huskie led the Lions in receiving yards against the Chargers, catching eight balls for a game-high 117 yards. The most important of those catches came in the fourth quarter. Golladay was able to catch a well-thrown jump ball by quarterback Matthew Stafford for his longest reception of the day, gaining 31 yards while also scoring what would end up being the game-winning touchdown.

Thinking from the long-term perspective, while Sunday’s win is great, Golladay showed that he can be a key option in this Lions offense for years to come. As long as he stays healthy, his immense talent combined with his ability to separate from receivers should give him a spot on the Lions for the foreseeable future.

Thinking from the short-term perspective, it’s great to see Golladay being used as a No. 1 receiver, and his preseason hype as a fantasy breakout candidate for 2019 just might be coming to fruition.

Being that the Lions now have a fervent passing game with a lot of qualities options such as Marvin Jones, Danny Amendola, and T.J. Hockenson, opposing team won’t be able to double Golladay due to the other talent on the field, helping Golladay to make his presence felt by opposing defenses.

And while all these pass catchers listed above had to adjust to a new offensive playbook, Golladay has a lot of confidence that the unit can be lethal in 2019, as judging by his individual performance against the Chargers, it seems like he already knows that playbook like the back of his hand.

Here’s what Golladay told to Carlos Monarrez of the Detroit Free Press last month.

"“I feel like we’re going to be explosive. We’ve got a lot of explosive people in different positions. I’m excited, it’s an entirely new playbook so it’s definitely different. I think everybody is excited to see it during the game. In practice, that’s what practice is for: run your plays, have deeper shots some days, run the ball some days, little intermediate shots. But in the game, it’s now, let’s just go.”"

Similar to what Doug Baldwin was in Darrell Bevell’s offense all those years in Seattle, Golladay’s ability to gain separation from defenders and be relied upon in the clutch.

Perhaps this offense will be on week-by-week breakout basis. Last week, T.J. Hockenson shined. This week, it was Golladay. Who is next for Week 3?

This will certainly not be the first time that Golladay will go off for the Lions this season; the bigger question is just how good the receiver can be.

In his first two weeks, Kenny Golladay is averaging almost 75 yards and a touchdown a game. If he is able to keep up that pace and potentially even boost it in the upcoming weeks, he would not only be projected to have the best statistical season of his career, but he may be a dark-horse candidate to represent the Detroit Lions and the NFC in the Pro Bowl come January.