DETROIT – Jace Billingsley stepped out of the tunnel in Pittsburgh last month and for a moment, it really hit him. The Detroit Lions receiver had never been to an NFL game before. He played at a small school in front of relatively few fans.
And now, here he was, inside Heinz Field, wearing an NFL uniform, getting ready to play in an NFL game. Understand for a second why Billingsley might have struggled soon after he signed. This was all so new to him. It was all somewhat unexpected.
He knew it, too.
“Early on in camp it was a big stage and I was a little nervous,” Billingsley said. “I think that kind of affected some of my play. But I got my confidence back and I just went out there and played and I’ve been improving and it’s been a fun preseason.”
Players rarely describe preseason as “fun.” For veterans it is a necessary evil to prepare for the regular season. For others, it is their livelihoods at stake. For rookies like Billingsley it’s a first experience into what they hope is a long career.
And at first, it didn’t go well for the 5-foot-9 receiver from Eastern Oregon. He’s tiny compared to other receivers. He was undrafted. His actual name was eye-catching but no one knew much else about the man who came from Winnemucca, Nevada, population 7,887.
He’s an athlete whose best sport growing up wasn’t football. It was wrestling, where he was a four-time Nevada state champion (his last match is on YouTube) and finished with a record of 223-8, still a state record. Yet he gave up wrestling after high school and continued with a sport with a higher ceiling but less chance for real success: Football.
“I come from a big-time wrestling family, a big-time wrestling high school,” Billingsley said. “But I kind of knew I could hang with the best in wrestling and I wanted to give football a shot. I was a little burnt out on wrestling, so I just went with what my heart was telling me to go.”
He was all-state in football as a quarterback, but 5-foot-9 players, they have a rougher road to success. And he was going to Eastern Oregon, an NAIA school. Despite the early struggles in camp, he started to make plays once he settled down.
And the coaches began to notice. He moved up the depth chart at slot receiver, eventually passing veteran Jeremy Kerley, who was traded to San Francisco last week. And his progress culminated in the last two preseason games, where he received second-team reps against Baltimore and played almost the entire game against Buffalo, finishing with a team-high seven catches for 80 yards and a touchdown. He was also the team’s primary returner.
He and fellow undrafted rookie Jay Lee (six catches, 78 yards, one touchdown) might not make the Lions roster, but they both put themselves in position to be discussed over the weekend with veteran Andre Roberts because of their play.
Two plays stood out for Billingsley – a catch-and-run for 47 yards where he took smart angles upfield and a one-handed touchdown catch where he fooled the cornerback by putting up his hands late as quarterback Jake Rudock scrambled to buy time. Rudock would later call it “a little rookie luck,” perhaps for both quarterback and receiver.
“Both guys caught the ball well, ran with it, made some things happen after they got it in their hands,” Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. “They certainly showed ability too and some run-after-the-catch, but they can also get open. They can create separation, both in a little different way.
“Bigger guy, bigger body type, smaller, quick guy that can get open. Those guys, what we’re concerned with more so than anything else is guys that can make plays for us. That’s what we look at.”
Billingsley knows that. It is part of what kept him focused when he was struggling early in camp. It is part of why he is where he is now – having put his best performance as a final one. So he is going into this weekend of waiting to find out whether he’ll still be employed by the Lions or another NFL team.
From where he started this preseason – undrafted, unknown, unlikely to make much noise – he already has done a lot. And he had fun doing it, by seeing his first-ever NFL games live by playing in them.
“It’s kind of a relief to get all these games out of the way,” Billingsley said. “Because all my work’s been put out there and now it’s in their hands.
“And I can live with whatever decision is made.”
