Six Detroit Lions players the national media are sleeping on

The deep threat

Kenny Golladay began his NFL career with one heck of a bang. He set high marks in targets, catches, and yardage that he did not exceed until late in the year. His two touchdowns had the entire national media asking “Who is Kenny Golladay?”

Unfortunately, Golladay was smothered by the next two teams the Lions played. He then missed five games with an injury. He fell completely off the radar of the national media personalities who are being asked to make league-wide predictions. They forgot about him.

Golladay closed out the final four games strongly, but not in a flashy manner. The Lions started taking advantage of the off coverage that teams were using. They threw Golladay short passes for easy gains on first down.

Despite the reduction in deep shots, Golladay’s final four games were on a pace for 52 catches and 612 yards. While those are not the numbers of a superstar, they would have landed Golladay in the top 50 NFL wide receivers in catches and yardage.

By virtue of the fact that there are 32 teams, that puts Golladay as a number two receiver in terms of production over the last four games. The Chicago Bears leading receiver Kendall Wright had only 59 catches and 614 yards on the entire season. Golladay closed out the year on an equal pace to some teams top wide receivers.

The other reason I think Golladay is going to have a breakout season is Golden Tate‘s impending 2019 free agency. It is in the team’s best interest to find out whether or not Golladay can be their full-time number two. I think he can, and I think the Lions three legitimate wide receiver threats make their passing game more than most teams will be able to handle.