Summer Series: Detroit Lions

By: Josh Frey-Sam

The buzz around the Detroit Lions in the NFL sphere has died down after the club took a step backward and missed the playoffs last season.

While there is still immense respect for the team in the Motor City, which will continue to be anything but a doormat under head coach Dan Campbell, the Super Bowl hype effectively left once Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn left for their respective head coaching positions.

Although expectations have cooled in real life, there is still plenty of talk around the fantasy world about what should once again be a high-powered offence that delivers weekly upside.

The biggest change for this offence is on the coaching staff: John Morton was fired after a failed season as offensive coordinator and replaced by veteran coach Drew Petzing, who will handle play-calling duties.

To find out how this offence will look under their new coordinator, I interviewed beat writer Jeremy Reisman (@DetroitOnLion) of SB Nation.

I’ve included a few key takeaways from our conversation below, but if you’d like to hear everything Jeremy said, listen to the audio above.

Jahmyr Gibbs is the bell cow, but will he maintain his role in the passing game?

Takeaway: There shouldn’t be any worry about Gibbs’ volume in the passing game, but it is possible that he peaked last season.

Gibbs had a career high in targets and receptions last season — 77 rec, 94 targets for over 600 yards — as he began to take over the Lions’ backfield, but Jeremy thinks part of that uptick in targets was due to the injury of Sam LaPorta late in the season.

Nevertheless, the Lions drafted Gibbs 12th overall to feature him in both the run and pass game.

They’ve toyed with aligning him out wide in the past, and that’s something Jeremy could see continuing under Petzing.

With that said, there are a lot of mouths to feed in this passing attack, so while Gibbs will get his touches, it’s not like the Lions need to force feed him.

As a result, we could see a slight regression in those career-high numbers, but Jeremy doesn’t view it as something the Lions are going to actively stray away from.

One interesting side note is that RBs haven’t put up those kind of receiving numbers in Petzing-led offences, granted he hasn’t had a RB like Gibbs before.

James Conner had the most prolific receiving year when he drew 55 targets in 2024.

What would a breakout season from Isaac TeSlaa look like?

Takeaway: Jeremy is buying a TeSlaa breakout season, but says the number of weapons in this offence likely put a cap on what a “breakout” actually looks like.

A 1,000-yard season isn’t in the cards, but the Lions are talking him up like a key part of the offence. They have also been invested from the beginning, trading up to select him in the third round last year.

Jeremy said he wouldn’t expect more than 50-60 catches and 600 receiving yards from the second-year pro, but he where he could hold some value is in the red zone, where he showed last season that he can be a huge weapon en route to six receiving touchdowns.

TeSlaa could see more field time, but it may be because of his prowess as a run blocker.

Could Sam LaPorta return to an elite TE option?

Takeaway: Probably not.

Jeremy figures LaPorta will finish with better numbers than TeSlaa and be the third-leading receiver on the Lions this season, but with the number of mouths to feed, it feels like a stretch to suggest LaPorta could have another massive season.

It’s a fair question to ask, though, given Trey McBride’s usage during Petzing’s time in Arizona. However, the personnel that Petzing had available pointed toward a consolidation of targets to McBride.

LaPorta might be more reliable for the Lions than he is for fantasy, and while he will surely have his spike weeks, it will be tough to depend on him for weekly upside.

Currently going in the fifth round of drafts, LaPorta is a clear avoid for me. There are QBs and WRs going in this range that I would much rather have, and if I’ve waited that long for a TE, I have no problem waiting a couple more rounds to get some potential late-round gems.

Sleeper pick?

Takeaway: Isiah Pacheco.

There is a world in which the Lions continue to use two RBs inside the 10-yard line, and Pacheco has proven to be a physical runner who can grind out tough yards.

Last season, Gibbs had 22 attempts (and four receptions) and seven touchdowns inside the 10. David Montgomery had 23 attempts and six touchdowns.

Rewind to 2024, Montgomery had 33 attempts and 11 touchdowns to Gibbs’ 25 attempts and nine touchdowns.

With the Lions likely wanting to keep Gibbs fresh, there are opportunities for Pacheco to vulture touchdowns, but it would take more than that for him to be a weekly starter.

Pacheco is going undrafted right now.

Thanks for reading and, as always, have a great day.

Josh