The Detroit Lions have a pair of standout receivers on the outside, but beyond that the position is a bunch of questions. It’s not even clear who might end up on the roster.
With that in mind, we look at one of last year’s long-shot receiver candidates – Jace Billingsley – in today’s Lions Mailbag.
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Now, on to your question.
@mikerothstein what is the likelihood Jace B sees action next year? #lionsmailbag
— Ryan Thomas Sundry (@rtsundry) February 1, 2017
To start off, Jace B is Billingsley, the Lions' undrafted rookie receiver who started the season on practice squad before being elevated to the 53-man roster heading into Week 17. He didn’t play a snap all season, but he’s become an intriguing roster candidate for the 2017 season.
There’s no guarantee, of course, that Billingsley will make the roster, let alone have a defined role in 2017. But he’ll definitely have a chance. As of now, there are only two likely roster locks at receiver for 2017: Starters Marvin Jones and Golden Tate.
Anquan Boldin is a free agent and, at age 36, he could come back to the Lions, go somewhere else or retire. Andre Roberts, another unrestricted free agent, had a decent season as the team’s No. 4 receiver with 14 catches for 188 yards and a touchdown, but he was primarily Detroit’s kick returner. While he had a good season there, if the Lions think they have other options in the return game – Dwayne Washington could be a player to look at – the Lions might look to move on.
TJ Jones is still a question mark and not a roster lock. Ryan Spadola spent the entire season on injured reserve. While the Lions are going to add receivers potentially both through free agency and the draft, the 5-foot-9 Billingsley could end up anywhere from the team’s No. 3 receiver to off the roster or practice squad entirely.
He does have skills, though, that will tantalize the Lions. He has good speed and some of the same shiftiness Tate and Theo Riddick possess. Both are better – and quicker – than Billingsley, but he’s a player that could offer a similar level of elusiveness from the slot and potentially an emergency backfield option if Riddick were to get injured again.
Like Tate and Riddick, Billingsley has a balance of receiver and running back in his background, so some of those skills will transfer. When he was promoted before Week 17 – the same time the Lions put Riddick on injured reserve – it seemed possible he might have been called up more as an emergency running back than a receiver.
He showed flashes of his ability during the preseason – enough to become a last-minute roster bubble candidate. The front office and coaching staff wanted to keep him on the roster somehow to develop him, so they stashed him on the practice squad. In the last preseason game – one reserved mostly for roster-bubble players and those cut 48 hours later – he had seven catches for 80 yards and a touchdown and was Detroit’s primary returner.
There, he showed the potential that could make him into a roster candidate in 2017. He’ll be in the competition for the return job and in the slot – two jobs that could end up being wide-open entering training camp this summer.
The rest will be up to how much he was able to take from his year on the practice squad and turn it into second-year production.
