Tight end not obvious need, but Day 3 promising
Over the next several days, leading up to the 2024 NFL Draft, we’re taking a position-by-position look at the Detroit Lions’ roster and evaluating how the team might address each unit. Today: Tight ends.
• Current roster: Sam LaPorta, Brock Wright, James Mitchell, Shane Zylstra
• Short-term need: 1/10
• Long-term need: 3/10
• Top prospects: Brock Bowers, Ja’Tavion Sanders
Day 2 options: Sanders, Theo Johnson
• Late-round considerations: AJ Barner, Tip Reiman, Ben Sinnott
• Analysis: Last offseason was such a different story. After dealing away T.J. Hockenson at the trade deadline, instead of paying him the massive extension he’d soon be due, the Lions were in desperate need of an upgrade at tight end.
It’s not that they were getting nothing from the position — the collective had set a team record with a dozen touchdowns the previous season — but they lacked a consistently reliable threat, as Wright paced the returning options with 18 catches for 216 yards.
To address the need, the Lions snagged LaPorta in the early stages of the second round, making him the second tight end off the board after Buffalo’s selection of Dalton Kincaid with the No. 25 pick the night before.
Still, even though it filled a massive void on the roster, it would be revisionist to suggest the response to the LaPorta choice was enthusiastic. We know now that the Lions got it right.
Very, very right.
The former Iowa standout rewrote the franchise’s record books as a rookie, hauling in 86 passes for 889 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also broke the mark for most catches by a first-year tight end in NFL history. The campaign was good enough for Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro honors.
The top-end production of LaPorta, paired with the team’s recent matching of a three-year, $12 million offer sheet Wright received from the San Francisco 49ers, leaves little room for a meaningful addition to the depth chart. Heck, James Mitchell, a player the Lions really liked when they took him in the fifth round of the 2022 draft, could only muster two receptions and 157 offensive snaps in 2023. And most of that workload came late in the season, when Wright was sidelined by injury.
Given the stability of the team’s personnel, it’s beyond reasonable to suggest an early-round tight
end isn’t in the cards for the Lions. Sure, it’s interesting to think about how offensive coordinator Ben Johnson could scheme up a LaPorta/Bowers combination, assuming the ultra-talented Georgia Bulldog slid to a range where the Lions would be comfortable trading up to get him, but it’s
also not
Where you could make the strongest case for a tight end addition is a mauling blocker with special-teams potential in the later rounds. The Lions have leaned heavily on Wright as that guy, and his re-signing suggests they are pleased with the job he’s done, but think of all the times the Lions utilize a sixth offensive lineman. Wouldn’t it be nice to get that kind of reliability
particularly reasonable.
from a blocker, also knowing they could offer more as a pass-catching threat?
Among the prospects who could fill this role are Barner and Sinnott. To be clear, the Lions probably can’t wait until the end of the draft to land either one. They’re both projected to be early Day 3 picks, which is slightly problematic, given the Lions don’t have a fourthround choice this year. Without a trade, the team
isn’t scheduled to pick until late in the fifth. But with the way general manager Brad Holmes moves up and down the board, who knows where the Lions will actually be choosing Saturday afternoon?
Both Barner and Sinnott are high-end athletes who tested very well at the combine. Barner’s stock is somewhat anchored by how little he was utilized as a receiver at Indiana and Michigan, while Sinnott only has one
year of quality, pass-catching production, hauling in 49 balls as a senior at Kansas State.
Also in that conversation is Reimann, who is uniquely built for in-line blocking, at 6-foot-5, 271 pounds, while still possessing elite athletic traits for his position. Plus, he has more than 500 career special-teams snaps at Illinois, so he should require less development than some of the other options in this area.