Detroit Lions trading Tim Patrick to Jacksonville

(Getty Images)

Allen Park — Offseason speculation that the Detroit Lions might move on from receiver Tim Patrick has come to fruition.

Early Wednesday morning, multiple reports have the Lions shipping the veteran to the Jacksonville Jaguars in exchange for a sixth-round pick in next year’s draft.

Patrick joined the Lions ahead of the start of the 2024 season after he was released by the Denver Broncos. He initially signed to the team’s practice squad before he was promoted to the main roster less than a month later.

After missing the previous two seasons with serious leg injuries, Patrick brought much-needed stability to Detroit’s No. 3 receiver position. The 6-foot-5, 210-pounder caught 33-of-44 targets for 394 yards and three touchdowns. He was also a reliable blocker on the outside, an important facet of the position in Detroit’s scheme.

The Lions re-signed Patrick, 31, this offseason to a one-year deal. The fully guaranteed $2.5 million contract included $1.245 million signing bonus and the potential to earn another $1.5 million in incentives. Following the deal, the Lions will retain the dead cap hit tied to the bonus money.

Despite expectations that he'd continue to fill the same role, Patrick had a sluggish training camp, further marred by a quad injury that cost him more than a week of practice time. In a media session prior to suffering the injury, he talked about how he was struggling to adjust to the higher physical demands of an offseason with the Lions.

“Look, Tim’s hard on himself,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said after those comments. “Look, he hasn’t been targeted a bunch. That doesn’t help when you’re doing a lot of the dirty work and you really haven’t had that many balls go your way. …But I would tell you it’s not as bad as he’s portraying it. We know what Tim is. He’s just a steady, reliable veteran guy, plays big, he’s smart, hard worker and he's going to put his days back-to-back and he’s going to be just fine.”

When Patrick returned to practice from the injury, he primarily repped with the second-team offense, where he put together a couple of his stronger days. Still, it didn’t offset the red-hot camp of rookie Isaac TeSlaa, who was effectively drafted to be Patrick’s replacement after this season.

TeSlaa played the first halves of Detroit’s four preseason games, catching 10 passes for 146 yards and three touchdowns, with a score in each of the final three games.

“I feel pretty good,” Campbell said. “…He’s no different than any young player. He’s just going to have some growing pains. He’s going to continue to get better and better. But I’m very pleased, we’re very pleased with where he’s at after six weeks of camp.

“…I’d say, if you took most (rookie) receivers, he’d be in the upper echelon of those, as far as development. It’s pretty good. It’s not easy to develop as a receiver in this league and be ready to go, and I think there’s a place for him to help us early in this season.”

With the Patrick trade, the Lions now have five receivers on their roster — Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Kalif Raymond, TeSlaa and Dominic Lovett, a seventh-round pick in the most recent draft.

Raymond was the recipient of most of the first-team reps following Patrick’s mid-camp demotion.