10 potential DJ Chark replacements for the Detroit Lions in free agency

5. Parris Campbell

After three injury-riddled seasons to start his career, Campbell was finally healthy in 2022 and it naturally yielded career-bests across the board (63 receptions for 623 yards and three touchdowns. Given what the Colts trotted out under center, that kind of production is notable.

Campbell is easy to pigeonhole as purely a short-area target and a bit of a gadget guy. Nothing that happened in this just-finished season changed that idea (6.4 average yards per target). But, albeit in very, very small samples, his average depth of target was over 8.0 in each of his first three seasons.

The Lions have a couple players Campbell’s skill set seems to replicate (Amon-Ra St. Brown, Kalif Raymond). But if Ben Johnson dared to use him in a different fashion….Campbell’s Player Profiler comp is Santana Moss.

4. Zach Pascal

Pascal was buried on Philadelphia’s wide receiver pecking order this year, seeing just 338 offensive snaps with 254 special teams snaps in 17 regular season games. Two blowout wins to start the playoffs drove snaps shares north of 30 percent for him in both.

In two of three seasons (2019-2021) as a starter with the Indianapolis Colts, Pascal had five touchdowns and averaged over 14 yards per catch. While he’s not a WR1, or even a WR2, he can absolutely add value in a secondary role as a bit of a downfield threat and red zone target.

If Chark exits in free agency, the Lions could go very cheap to fill the spot on the depth chart.  Pascal would fit that template perfectly, as an ideal piece of the puzzle in many ways.