5 Detroit Lions who must play well in Week 13 vs. the Jaguars

2. WR DJ Chark

Chark will face his former team on Sunday, in a favorable circumstance from certain angles. But as Lions Wire’s Jeff Risdon noted, he’s also the kind of bigger, fast receiver who has had success against the Jaguars this year.

Chark will certainly have some extra motivation this week. An important closing stretch of the season for him starts here, and it just happens to be against his former team.

1. CB Will Harris

Christian Kirk and Zay Jones have combined to line up for over 78 percent of their snaps in the slot this season (according to Player Profiler). That means Lions’ slot corner Harris will get a regular dose of the Jaguars’ top free agent signings from last offseason. Tight end Evan Engram also lines up in the slot a good bit (37 percent of his snaps).

Detroit’s last two opponents have targeted Harris as a weakness of the secondary–he allowed a total of 13 catches (on 15 targets) for 164 yards with a passer rating over 135 against him over those games against the Giants and Bills.

If Harris can’t at least contain big plays, against Kirk after the catch in particular, the Lions will give up extra piles of yardage to the Jaguars on Sunday. As with Anzalone, but to an even greater degree, Jacksonville’s offensive game plan will certainly have a bullseye on Harris to target him.