Most improved position groups in the NFL heading into the 2019 season

#2 Lions tight ends

I know Lions fans were unsure about spending another top ten draft pick on a tight end after Eric Ebron was a big disappointment in Motown and even had his own fans booing at him, before breaking through in a Pro Bowl year in Indianapolis last season. However, I think Detroit really got a blue-chip contributor when they decided to select Iowa’s T.J. Hockenson. He is an excellent all-around football player, who is so much more than those modern-day move tight ends, who don’t bring you as much value when playing in-line.

A good month before that the Lions had already signed Jesse James from Pittsburgh, who was their number one for most of his career and is a really good TE2. Add to that a seventh-round pick in Isaac Nauta, who fell that far due to poor combine numbers but was a dependable target at Georgia, and last year’s fourth-rounder Michael Roberts out of Toledo, who is a highly athletic 270-pounder who had 16 touchdowns his last year in college even if he was rather inconsistent.

You cannot even compare that to the tight end room from last season, which only produced 450 yards altogether as a group. Matt Patricia is clearly trying to build a second Foxborough in Michigan with some of the draft picks they have made defensively and how they are trying to change this offense.

From Matt Stafford lining up in shotgun 40 times a game and trying to work his magic, Lions will now be using different personnel packages and staying on schedule with the run game and timing-based passing concepts. All those tight ends will play a big role in that transition and you could see several 12 and maybe even 13 personnel packages, as they grind away games with Kerryon Johnson.