Ugly Stat Shows Lions Biggest Offensive Challenge for 2021

D'Andre Swift

Getty D'Andre Swift drops a pass in the end zone.

Most fans know the Detroit Lions have lost tons of talent from their wide receiver group this offseason, and many think that the team might be worse off without the players they lost.

An interesting stat proves why that might not actually be the case, however. For as good as the Lions were with names such as Marvin Jones, Kenny Golladay and Danny Amendola, the wideout group as a whole actually struggled badly during the 2020 season with catching the ball.

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In fact, the Lions had the second-highest total of drops in the NFL with 36. While that was a full seven drops behind the Pittsburgh Steelers, it was still an awful total considering the average amount of drops is in the 20s, and teams with low drop totals are usually in the teens.

As problems for the team go, this was a quiet one, but had the Lions managed to simply cut this number nearly in half, they would have been much better off for the 2020 season. It’s going to be one of the top goals the team and Anthony Lynn have this year.


Lions Working on Fixing Wideout Depth

The Lions came into the offseason in an unsure position in terms of their wide receiver depth, but during free agency, have taken some steps to make some decent upgrades to the position. Detroit signed wideouts Tyrell Williams and Breshad Perriman to short-term deals in free agency, and with the addition of Damion Ratley and Kalif Raymond, could be in good position to ensure that they have depth ahead of the NFL Draft, where the team is expected to be active hunting for wideout talent for the future.

Detroit’s 2021 draft was not very active in terms of wideout, but the team did add Amon-Ra St. Brown to the team as well as Sage Surratt. They also have players still on the rster lik Quintez Cephus and Tom Kennedy looking to make a jump. Though Golladay, and Danny Amendola were major talents, the team has already taken an aggressive approach in looking for their replacements and adding a few younger options to the mix.


Lions Must Catch Ball During 2021 Season

This year, there’s really going to be nowhere to hide for the Lions and their pass catchers. The wideouts have a new quarterback in Jared Goff, and the team is going to have to find a way to meet Goff halfway in terms of making plays. The good news is they’ve signed a couple guys in Tyrell Williams and Breshad Perriman who can catch the ball. Amon-Ra St. Brown can also be seen to have sticky fingers, so it’s possible the Lions looked at this stat when deciding what to do at wide receiver. Getting players to catch passes is often the difference between winning and losing as D’Andre Swift found out last year.

Detroit hasn’t been good nor consistent at catching passes recently, so they will attempt to make their bobbles a thing of the past in 2021.

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