Getty Travis Fulgham celebrates with Carson Wentz.
The Detroit Lions made a cut which many overlooked in early August in the form of Travis Fulgham, but now that Fulgham is making a huge splash with the Philadelphia Eagles, that is no longer the case.
Fulgham has burst on the scene in a big way in the NFL after a few amazing weeks on the field, leading folks watching the Lions to be confused about how he got away. At this point, it looks like a huge gaffe in talent identification by the staff and front office.
Speaking on Monday, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell was asked about Fulgham and admitted he was a bit surprised by his success since leaving the Lions. Even such, he said he is happy for
Darrell Bevell on if he’s surprised at Travis Fulgham’s success: “I would say, yes, a little bit surprised. … Travis did OK while he was here. I don’t want to get into all the reasons behind what happened but we’re happy for his success.”
Many forgot about Fulgham when he was cut by Detroit, but the former 6th round pick wasted little time making his presence felt on another NFL roster. As the stats have said, that’s probably something more people including Bevell and the Lions should have seen coming.
As Pro Football Focus explained a few months back, Fulgham is one of the best deep ball wideouts in his entire class.
Could Travis Fulgham be a perfect fit for this Bevell-led offense that predicates itself on the deep ball?
Highest Deep REC grade in 2019 Draft Class (2018 season):
1. Andy Isabella, 97.8
2. Hakeem Butler, 96.6
3. Travis Fulgham, 96.0 🦁
4. JJ Arcega-Whiteside, 95.2
Thus far, Fulgham has flexed his muscle in a big way on deep passes, mirroring these stats pretty decently.
In Detroit, how would Fulgham have trended? Entering camp, it seemed as if Fulgham could be one player on the bubble that could advance forward considering the team’s overall depth at wide receiver. The Lions and Bevell always want to dial up the deep passes, and Fulgham could simply slide into the role that Geronimo Allison was slated to occupy on the team.
The young wideout seems to have everything in his hands to break out, and it will be fascinating to watch and see if he can continue to seize upon the chance and the snaps he will likely be given.
For now, Lions fans are left to wonder why Bevell is surprised by his success, or why Bob Quinn let his own draft pick get away in the first place.
Travis Fulgham Stats
In college, Fulgham put up a solid 2,044 yards and 18 touchdowns playing for Old Dominion. He didn’t make the Detroit roster in 2019, but was on the roster late in the season as injuries ravaged the team. He played in 3 games and did not register a stat. In the preseason, however, Fulgham was one of the team’s brighter stars. Even in spite of that, the Lions elected not to keep him. Their loss was quickly Philadelphia’s gain, as they picked up the former 6th round pick and have since turned him loose. Fulgham has put up 209 yards and 2 touchdowns in his first 2 weeks with the team.
Lions Wide Receivers
The Lions have a trio of pretty good wideouts in Kenny Golladay, Marvin Jones and Danny Amendola. Beyond that, the Lions have Marvin Hall, who’s been a deep ball specialist. They have rookie Quintez Cephus who hasn’t seen much run in recent weeks. Moving forward, the Lions need to keep Golladay under contract but the future of Jones and Amendola are up in the air given their contracts. Beyond Golladay and Cephus, Detroit doesn’t have a young wideout on the roster that they have developed themselves.
Certainly, the Lions could use someone like Fulgham emerging at this point on their own roster. They’ll have to hope they can continue to find the right mix of talent in the future. Perhaps they can snap up their own Fulgham somewhere else.
The frustrating thing? They already had one on the roster, but couldn’t find a way to maximize his talent.
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