By all accounts, based on what has not been done to add someone, the Detroit Lions seem perfectly content to replace Josh Reynolds from within. Jameson Williams is being counted on to emerge in his third season, but he's the Lions' No. 2 wide receiver and we're talking replacing Reynolds as the No. 3 guy.
We looked at the best internal options for the Lions to replace Reynolds. Since then, part of what head coach Dan Campbell (via SI.com) had to say about one of those options, second-year man Antoine Green, didn't shine a great light on him.
"He (Green) had a little bit of an injury last week, so we didn’t get to really see him. He’ll be back up doing a little bit of individual and stuff, so it’s hard to say. That progress is on hold because we weren’t able to get him out there last week. But certainly, we like the player and there’s enough – let’s see what happens in camp. He’s another guy, let him go compete.”
That's hardly a complete indictment of Green, who is simply an unknown quantity after not playing much as a rookie last year. But Campbell's comments do reflect the broader question marks around every Lions' wide receiver not named Amon-Ra St. Brown. Yes, there are questions about Williams until we see him get it done consistently in games.
The Lions don't seem overly compelled to make a notable addition at wide receiver. On a national scale plenty of outlets feel like the lack of proven depth at the position could hold them back, and that's not necessarily the wrong idea
So, on the flip side of the internal options to replace Reynolds, of which there may only really be two good ones, let's rank some potential external options.
Ranking potential external options for the Lions to replace Josh Reynolds
5. Russell Gage
Gage missed all of last season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after suffering a knee injury around this time last year. The Buccaneers had reworked his contract to make 2024 an option, which they did not pick up and he remains a free agent.
4. Treylon Burks
Due in significant part to injuries, Burks has simply never gotten on-track with the Tennessee Titans since being a first-round pick in 2022. In 22 career games, he has 49 catches for 665 yards and a touchdown. He also seems to be the odd-man out in the Titans' wide receiver corps now, with Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd added this offseason to join DeAndre Hopkins.
Hopkins staunchly praised Burks publicly, suggesting no one in the Titans' locker room has given up on him. Head coach Brian Callahan has tried to deny a lack of faith in Burks, but comments this week confirm the reality for a first-round pick of the previous regime who has been bumped down the depth chart.
"He's going to have to contribute," Callahan said Tuesday after Burks got reps as a gunner. "You know you only get so many hats on game day, and if he's one of those guys on game day, we're going to have to find a place for him. Guys like him should be great special teams players on top of it, just because of his size and speed. And so the gunner thing is something I think he's very capable of doing, there might be some more roles for him in the other phases, as well."
Burks clearly needs a change of scenery. Which isn't to say he'll turn into a star elsewhere, that ship has almost surely sailed. But the physical tools that made him a first-round pick presumably aren't gone, and it's not as if the Titans have had a great quarterback situation.
Burks is a dictionary definition of a low-risk (low-cost) potentially high-reward acquisition. The Titans would do well to get anything for him, and they may take just about anything for him.
3. JuJu Smith-Schuster
As of this writing, Smith-Schuster is still a New England Patriot. But there's been plenty of talk in about him as a cut candidate. After an injury-hampered first season with the Patriots (29 catches for 260 yards and one touchdown in 11 games), and even without the ability to clear cap space, it makes a lot of sense for a team that's looking to reset with younger players.
Smith-Schuster had a fine season with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022 (78 receptions for 933 yards and three touchdowns). Chalk that up to the Patrick Mahomes effect if you want, but as Mike Payton of AtoZ Sports noted he brings a lot of the same qualities to the table that Reynolds did/does. New England also had an awful pass offense last year, which deserves mention.
Payton also noted how the Rams, with Lions' general manager Brad Holmes as their director of college scouting then, showed a lot of interest in Smith-Schuster heading into the 2017 draft. The Steelers took Smith-Schuster seven picks before they took Cooper Kupp, so it worked out in the end.
Smith-Schuster should have multiple suitors if/when the Patriots let him go, including a potential reunion with the Steelers. The Lions could easily be in that mix too.
