Instant Analysis: Motown Marvin

George Kritikos Posted On March 11, 2016

Tasked with the impossible quest of replacing Calvin Johnson, the Detroit Lions added Marvin Jones in an effort to help shore up a thin wide receiver depth chart. The team inked him to a five-year, $40 million dollar contract with half of it guaranteed.

While no one expects Jones to become Megatron 2.0, he could be a pivotal piece for the team (Starscream perhaps?). With Golden Tate opposite him, Jones should operate further down the field while Tate continues to eat up targets underneath. For Matthew Stafford, he is just relieved that the team has another receiver with starting experience.

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Marvin Jones

Jones enjoyed the combination of good health and a starting role in 2015 for the first time in his career. Marvin managed 65 catches (on 103 targets) for 816 yards and four touchdowns. Remember, Jones was coming back from a season-ending injury in 2014 and had to battle Mohamed Sanu to regain his starting role. Digging deeper, Jones was third among receivers with a 72.2 percent catch rate on contested catches (18 targets), using his agility and length to win in those situations.

Jones should become the guy Stafford relies on for big plays down the field. Granted, Jones does not have the fifth gear that Calvin had, but Jones compensates with strong hands and a keen understanding of how to position himself for those passes. He also possesses a craftiness which shows when he stems his routes and leans on defensive backs to create separation. Allen Hurns wins downfield in similar ways.

Barely 26-years-old, Jones should fit in well with the team and give them a reliable option in a pass heavy offense. Not only is he a threat for 1,000 yards if the current roster holds, but he could also approach double digit touchdowns again as he has converted 70 percent of targets in the red zone (and 77 percent inside the ten yard line) for his career. Oh yeah, Stafford was second in the NFL last year in red zone pass touchdowns (27).

Golden Tate

Tate had a strange 2015, to put it simply. For the fourth-straight year, his yards per reception have declined, down to 9.0, a career low. He does have two years in Detroit where he has managed 90+ catches in each and remains one of the most difficult wide receivers to bring down after the catch. With Jones on board, “Showtime” Tate should continue to run plenty of shorter routes but I expect some correction where he manages some more big plays.

Eric Ebron

In two years, Ebron has shown massive improvements in his catch rate and flashed the advanced route running he was touted for coming out of college. Ebron is not known as a red zone threat but contributed there in 2015 (six of eight caught with five touchdowns). Jones will be a good running partner for Ebron as a guy who will open up more lanes for the young tight end and help in the red zone, where Ebron is more of a second or third option.

Matthew Stafford

The Lions were fourth in pass attempts last year and with that running game, I do not expect major philosophical changes despite Calvin’s retirement. Stafford put up his fifth straight 4,000-yard passing season and set a career high in completion rate (67.2 percent) in 2015. A big reason for the latter number had to do with an increase in shorter passes, evident by his two yard drop in average depth of target (via PFF) to Alex Smith levels. Jones gives Stafford a player he can confidently target down the field in 2016 to maintain a balanced defense in passing situations.

Ameer Abdullah and the “running” game

The reason I put “running” in quotation marks is because I am not sure I would call what the Lions do in the backfield “running.” Abdullah led this pack of mutants with 4.2 yards per carry, the only running back to surpass four. Theo Riddick, on the other hand, led the position with 80 catches, contributing to Stafford’s accuracy improvements and forcing the defense to account for him on passing plays. Jones is not much of a run blocker, so his contribution here will be purely as a decoy.

Cincinnati Bengals

There was a very real possibility that the Bengals would let both Jones and Sanu walk after the 2015 season and here we are, watching it happen. Now, the team will look to the draft as the depth after A.J. Green was worse than Detroit’s before they signed Marvin. While the Bengals are run heavy (seventh most attempts vs 26^th in pass attempts), Andy Dalton is efficient, noted by the team’s third highest net yards per pass attempt. The team will likely add two or three receivers before the end of the offseason, even with Tyler Eifert returning from injury at tight end.

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