Lions film review: Breaking down WRs fighting for jobs out of KC game
Following a quick turnaround last week, the NFL has been sluggish about posting the All-22 tape from Saturday’s preseason game between the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs.
Thankfully, there’s still a play-by-play option available through the box score via NFL.com. It’s a much clunkier process, adding hours to the review process, but I wanted to give you something out of the game, even if the situation was prohibitive to offering a comprehensive look back. If there’s time once the full game gets posted, I’ll look to write up a second post.
In the meantime, after asking the audience through Substack’s chat function, I opted to zero in on the competition for Detroit’s receiving jobs beyond the roster locks.
I watched each drop back a handful of times, taking it as much detail as I could. Here is what I saw from the contenders for the fourth and potentially fifth receiver jobs.
Donovan Peoples-Jones (33 snaps)
The presumptive front-runner for the fourth job all offseason, Peoples-Jones continued to be a non-factor in the second preseason matchup. Playing much of the first half, he drew four targets, but caught just one for 5 yards.
Many of Peoples-Jones' routes were of the deep variety, designed to clear out some of the underneath traffic of Kansas City's coverage looks. That showed up most significantly on Kaden Davis' 61-yard touchdown, where Peoples-Jones' go route put the Cover-3 defender to his side in conflict, allowing Davis to come open on the deep dig pattern for the lengthy catch-and-run score.
On the three incompletions, Peoples-Jones was targeted for a back-shoulder fade, a short out route and a post pattern. The back-shoulder ball was awful, sailing way over his head and out of reach, preventing the receiver from showcasing his ability to make a contested catch. The out route was also wide of its target and uncatchable, but there was no separation through the break and it would have been a tough grab.
The post pattern was intercepted and I’m not sure how much blame Peoples-Jones deserves. I’m more inclined to credit Chiefs cornerback Keith Taylor, who fell into trail position on the veteran receiver's inside release, but did an outstanding job reading Peoples-Jones' hips on the inside break. That allowed Taylor to mirror the route and be in position for the relatively easy pick.