Getty Mohamed Sanu celebrates with the Patriots.
The Detroit Lions are in need of some wide receiver depth following an untimely injury to Kenny Golladay, and have gotten a closer look at the best free agent option on the market.
Detroit worked out free agent wide receiver Mohamed Sanu according to ESPN’s Field Yates. Sanu is a free agent in 2020 and hasn’t been playing since suiting up with the San Francisco 49ers earlier this season but getting released in October.
The Lions are hosting veteran WR Mohamed Sanu on a tryout. A potential depth option as the team deals with Kenny Golladay’s hip injury suffered on Sunday.
Detroit’s predicament is an interesting one. The Lions clearly need some help at wideout if they are worried about Golladay’s injury being bad news moving forward. Marvin Jones and Danny Amendola are Detroit’s next best wideouts, but Sanu could come in and give the group some solid depth. He’s no Golladay of course, but Sanu might be able to give the Lions some catches and production that they’ve otherwise lacked minus Golladay in the recent past.
Golladay has been said to be out Week 9 and then be day by day and week by week after that point. With the Lions looking at Sanu, there could be a hint being dropped that Golladay might be a bit worse off than many could think.
Mohamed Sanu Stats
A 31 year old veteran, Sanu has been productive in the league after being a 3rd round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2012. He stayed with the Bengals for 4 seasons before signing with the Atlanta Falcons in 2016. Sanu helped the Falcons to the Super Bowl that year, but was traded in 2019 to the New England Patriots for a 2nd round pick. He was released this offseason, then signed by the 49ers. They kept Sanu for a month before releasing him in early October. Since, he’s been making the workout rounds, but nobody has taken a chance on him for their roster to this point.
In Detroit, Sanu would be a solid No. 2 option for the Lions the rest of the 2020 season. To that end, it would be a great fit for the player if the Lions deem it’s a good fit for them.
Lions Pass Catching Depth Being Tested
Minus Kenny Golladay, someone else is going to have to step up for the Lions if they want their offense to have a chance at leading them in the second half of the season. Detroit is 0-3 when Golladay is on the sidelines injured, so something is going to have to change. Obviously, Marvin Jones is capable of playing a key role for the team, but behind him someone is going to step up. The pressure will be on Danny Amendola, Marvin Hall and perhaps others like rookie Quintez Cephus tight end T.J. Hockenson to step up and deliver some results.
A player like Sanu could come into the mix and give the Lions a stable veteran presence to rely on. His elite days might be behind him, but there’s no reason that Sanu couldn’t give the Lions the depth they needed to tide the roster over until Golladay was completely healthy.
Likely, that’s the reason the Lions are looking at him in the first place.
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