For Father's Day, Greg Dortch had the perfect thanks to offer his Dad ahead of his eighth season in the NFL.
The new Detroit Lions receiver, who is likely to compete for a role with the teams' punt return squad, comes over from the Arizona Cardinals by way of new offensive coordinator Drew Petzing. He had 811 kickoff return yards on 31 attempts in 2025 for the Cardinals, which was his best performance for that unit in his career.
He's set to be a key piece to the teams' special teams unit this season, and it sounds like he's also excited to land with a team that values the same things that he - and his Dad - value.
"Just thinking about this moment. This was my 6th team in eight years, there's times where I didn't want to keep going, I kept getting cut. And, you get fired from your job over and over again, you start questioning yourself, 'am I good enough?' My dad was right there like, 'just keep going! keep going, keep going.' What the whole city of Detroit stands on, it's the toughness, it's the built Ford tough, it's the grit, it's the working your way through it and finding success. And, I'm sitting here right now in Year 8, my Dad is right there, it means everything. It's a dream come true."
Dortch seems ready to run through a wall for Lions ahead of this season
With the Lions investing in Isaac TeSlaa's potential as their next WR3 alongside Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams, it stands to reason that Dortch is going to be one of the teams' special teams aces for 2026.
He's a small, speedy receiver with reliable hands and major experience as a kickoff returner, which brings in legitimate competition for players like Jacob Saylors, Jackson Meeks, Tom Kennedy, and Sione Vaki.
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Dortch could also still offer some versatility to the Lions as a WR3 option. Petzing is obviously in like enough with the receiver to bring him in from a dysfunctional Arizona offense to a more established one in Detroit, so he might have some plans for him beyond just being a special teams weapon.
The Lions made some very nice depth adds this offseason, Dortch included. This was in direct response to their 2025 season, where injuries exposed just how top-heavy their depth chart was - especially on defense. But, it doesn't hurt to add Dortch after the team lost Kalif Raymond, and as TeSlaa is only headed into Year 2.
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