Lions: Offseason Acquisition TE Jesse James a bust

Where on earth is the Detroit Lions tight end Jesse James?  The free-agent acquisition is nowhere to be found, and it doesn’t bode well for Detroit.

The last thing you want is to be described as is a bust.  At the moment, tight end Jesse James is an offseason addition that’s been undoubtedly a bust for the Detroit Lions.  Detroit signed James and drafted rookie T.J. Hockenson with the eighth overall pick in this past NFL Draft to re-tool the TE position, and the entire offense for that matter.

Both TE’s were welcomed additions after not receiving much production last season from Luke Willson or the teams’ leading receiver from that position Levine Toilolo who only snared 21 balls totaling 263 yards and a touchdown.

Luke Willson graded out as an average run-blocker, but in ’19 with newly appointed Darrell Bevell as the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator ‘average’ wouldn’t be good enough.  The fact that Bevell had coached Willson in Seattle in the past and still elected to go in a different direction tells us all we need to know.

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The problem is, Jesse James whom the Detroit Lions signed to a lucrative four year, $22.6 million deal during the offseason has yet to produce, and we are on the eve of week 12.

Throughout the first ten games of the season, the 6’7 monster of a TE has only been targeted a mere 15 times.  That’s unbelievable when you think about it.  The Lions have only thrown James’ way 15 times throughout 10 games?  It simply doesn’t make sense.

He’s made 8 catches totaling 64 yards in 2019.  That’s it.  Sure he’s used in many blocking scenarios, but he’d undoubtedly be beneficial to the Lions in the Red Zone.

The Lions currently sit 14th in the NFL with a Red Zone efficiency of 60.71%.  That only includes touchdowns.  It’s a 7% increase from just a season ago, now imagine if Detroit had any type of run game in ’19?  Or perhaps used James’ 6’7 size to their advantage?

James wasn’t even targeted last week and has only been targeted three times over the previous three weeks making just one catch for 3 yards.  Even Logan Thomas is having a more productive year catching the football than James.  Thomas has caught 9 balls for 96 yards in 2019.

When Detroit signed Jesse, they were surely expecting somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 yards on 35 catches, and maybe 5 scores one could assume.  Last season in Pittsburgh, James made 30 grabs totaling 423 yards and 2 scores.  In the two previous seasons, he recorded 3 touchdowns in each.

Rookie T.J. Hockenson is, without a doubt, Detroit’s number one TE.  He’s made 26 catches on 46 targets for 349 yards and 2 touchdowns.  With Matthew Stafford being injured, I expected both of these TE’s to be much more involved with backup quarterback Jeff Driskel at the helm.

At this point, I’ve been very disappointed with Jesse James.  Although the blocking stats don’t always find their way to the forefront of a person’s mind like the receiving stats do, the Lions run game has been atrocious in 2019, only elucidating the term bust.