Marvin Jones Jr will be the Detroit Lions difference maker on Offense
By Bob Heyrman
Marvin Jones Jr was well on his way to his second straight 1000-plus yard season with the Detroit Lions before his season abruptly came to an end because of a knee injury.
Marvin Jones Jr is best known for his downfield acrobatic catching ability. Matthew Stafford has depended on Jones heavily since he joined the Detroit Lions as a free agent before the start of the 2016 NFL season. He was a player the Cincinnati Bengals didn’t exactly want to see elsewhere, but they were in a bit of a bind having to pay their star receiver A.J Green along with overpaying for quarterback Andy Dalton. For all the Matthew Stafford haters out there, Andy Dalton makes nearly $100-million on a 6-year agreement.
To be fair, the Bengals apparently offered a “similar” deal to the Lions five-year, $40 million but there could have been a substantial difference in the guaranteed money. The Lions rewarded Jones with half the money being fully guaranteed.
The Bengals had Green along with Tyler Eifert soaking up a lot of the teams’ targets. Signing with the Lions allowed Jones the opportunity to try and become an NFL number one wide-out. Jones proved he has that ability after recording 1101 yards including 9 scores in 2017; his last healthy season.
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Jones is 29-years old and coming off of a season-ending knee injury. He isn’t expected to have any limitations as the season starts. Being 29 years old doesn’t mean he won’t be able to return to form. Detroit Lions’ fans will feel much better after they see the highlight reel creator making a few plays either throughout training camp or the preseason.
In today’s NFL, it’s challenging to create separation so you either need to be bigger than your opponent like Julio Jones or slippery like Golden Tate or having the leaping ability of Marvin Jones. Jones is billed as a 6’2 wide receiver, yet he plays like he’s 6’4 with his leaping ability.
In his first two full seasons’ with the Detroit Lions, Marvin Jones Jr was targeted over 100 times in both years. He reeled in over 50% of his targets in both years, the second year he grabbed 57% of his passes which ranked as the second-highest catch rate of his career.
In year one he reeled in 55 balls for 930 yards with a catch rate of 53.4%. Last season despite being an injury-shortened season he caught 56.5% of the passes in which he was targeted recording 508 yards on 35 grabs. He’s a sure-handed wide-out only having dropped 2 balls through 9 games last season.
Marvin Jones Jr has the potential to be the Detroit Lions unsung hero in 2019. The electric receiver can be a matchup nightmare and could find himself matched up against single coverage much more often playing in Detroit’s new offense. Jones can be a defensive coordinator’s nightmare. Kenny Golladay will garner much of the defenses’ attention which will allow Jones to go to work on lesser talented corners.
Darrell Bevell loves to focus on the run, but he also loves to dial up plenty of downfield passing plays. He tries to lull the defense to sleep with the power run and then take a downfield shot; this bodes well for Jones, who loves to go deep. Matt Stafford still maintains one of the strongest arms in all of football, under Bevell’sdirection it will likely get a good workout this season.
If Kenny Golladay is as advertised–and I think he is, defenses won’t be able to double cover both outside receivers. If the defense tries to do that I think Danny Amendola, TJ Hockenson, Jesse James, Theo Riddick, and Kerryon Johnson will have a heyday underneath the coverage. I expect another 1100 yard season from Jones that should include about 8 touchdowns on the season.