Getty Jayron Kearse makes a play for the Vikings.
Iron sharpens iron is a key theme this time of year during training camp practices, and in the case of the Detroit Lions, that could be showing to be the case already.
Detroit boosted a ton of positions across the roster, and as a result, they’re seeing some great competition play out during training camp. A spot that the team has seen this play out is safety. Jayron Kearse was signed this offseason, and he’s already fitting in well as could be expected. As he tweeted, he’s loving the battles against T.J. Hockenson.
Hockenson, apparently, has been appreciating the battle on the field just as much as Kearse as he said in his response.
Yessir!!! 😤
The duo battling it out is great to see, and so too is the respect being shown between teammates. Just this past weekend, the Baltimore Ravens had to cut Earl Thomas loose thanks to an in house fight with a teammate. All credit to the players here for keeping their focus on important issues and getting the job done.
It will be fun to see how much better the team can get on the field for 2020 with all of this in mind, and nice to see everyone getting along.
Lions’ T.J Hockenson Looking Buff
It’s been a big offseason for Hockenson. The tight end wasn’t small to begin with, and appears to have bulked up significantly more ahead of the 2020 season and is showing off some impressive new muscles to the masses during training camp. It caught the attention of the internet prior to Lions camp getting underway.
Look at Hock 👀😳
Obviously, the Lions need Hockenson to be ready for the 2020 season, and it’s clear with this update that he took the offseason very seriously en-route to that goal. Hockenson didn’t have a bad start to his career, but inconsistency and injury cost him in 2019, and clearly, he doesn’t want that to be the case again whatsoever.
A stronger Hockenson could be the key to making the entire offense go this season, and it will be fun to watch and see what he can do with his stronger look when it comes to catching passes and making plays.
Jayron Kearse Statistics
Coming into the league out of Clemson as a seventh round pick, Kearse was well decorated during his time with the Tigers as a first team ACC player in 2014 and 2015. In the NFL, Kearse has put up decent stats with 79 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 1 interception and 8 passes defended. Kearse hasn’t played a huge role to this point in his career, but with the Lions, he will get a chance to do plenty of things within their scheme and show why he’s a great player.
Kearse will be sidelined with suspension for the first 3 games of the year, but there is no doubt he will be ready to road back after that as this shows.
T.J. Hockenson’s Role With Lions
There is simply no understating the importance of Hockenson to the Lions in the future. The team didn’t get much of anything from any of the other tight ends on their roster, and while he hasn’t had the most dramatic statistical impact, Hockenson has easily been one of the team’s top rookies in 2019 and a player capable of impacting both the run and the passing games.
During the season, many fans chided Hockenson for not making a bigger impact on the game. He had only 367 yards and 2 touchdowns on the year which is not the statistical impact that many people expected from him as a top 10 selection for the team.
Safe to say if Hockenson was able to play the end of the season, his stats could have ended up different. The Lions will hope he can get things on the right track for 2020.
Right now, Kearse and Hockenson are both helping to get that done.
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