Being limited by an illness during the practice week led to Detroit Lions rookie wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa playing just three offensive snaps in Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers. His highlight-reel touchdown catch was the easy highlight of an otherwise rough day for the Lions, and it brought visions of what he might be able to do with a bigger role.
The day after the season opener, Lions head coach Dan Campbell promised TeSlaa would see more action.
"I think we really wanted to try to get him involved last week (going into Week 1)", Campbell said. "But then he got sick and he missed a lot of practice, so then we didn't feel comfortable trying to load him up with stuff. So it was gonna be very limited. But certainly, we'd like to use him more."
The end of Campbell's comments coming out of Week 1 was easy to see as a sneaky message to fantasy managers (in deeper leagues) to put TeSlaa somewhere on their radar.
Isaac TeSlaa is lined up to be an increasing factor in the Lions' offense
In Week 2 against the Chicago Bears, TeSlaa played 17 offensive snaps as he narrowed the playing time gap (as expected) with Kalif Raymond (32 snaps). The rookie made another one-handed catch late in the first half, on his lone target in the game, which kicked off a sequence that was made controversial by an officiating error.
On a little more than half the snaps against the Bears, TeSlaa ran just two fewer routes than Raymond with the same number of targets (Raymond had one carry). Taking a look at the game from a fantasy perspective, Nathan Jahnke of Pro Football Focus outlined some finer details of TeSlaa's increased role.
"The Lions used Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams as their main wide receivers last week, while Kalif Raymond almost always joined the two in three-receiver sets. TeSlaa’s three snaps all came at Raymond's expense in three-receiver sets."
"This week, Raymond’s playing time in 11 personnel dropped to 70.3%, while TeSlaa’s time increased to 43.2%. TeSlaa also played a snap in a two-wide receiver set. This was not necessarily a result of the blowout. TeSlaa played 12 snaps in the first half compared to Raymond's 15. TeSlaa played noticeably less in the second half because the Lions weren’t using as much 11 personnel."
READ MORE: Motivated Brian Branch fueled Lions' major defensive resurgence against Bears
Jahnke finished his analysis with what easily lands as the bottom line regarding TeSlaa as a fantasy factor this year.
"While TeSlaa might not see enough volume to make him a fantasy starter, it will be interesting to see if he can take volume away from anyone else in the offense."
TeSlaa (6-foot-4, 214 pounds) is, at minimum, an ideal red zone target for Jared Goff as he gets more and more integrated into the Lions' offense. Toward the higher end of outcomes, he's the "X" receiver they've struggled to find.
Barring an injury to Amon-Ra St. Brown or Jameson Williams, TeSlaa will not see the consistent volume befitting a fantasy starter this season. But, as time goes on, he could siphon off enough valuable opportunities to impact the Lions' pass catchers who are weekly lineup locks (St. Brown, Williams, tight end Sam LaPorta).
The term "fantasy vulture" is usually reserved for players at positions other than wide receiver. But TeSlaa could become that dreaded production leech for a segment of fantasy managers, just as Lions fans are getting excited about his growing role in the offense.