The Detroit Lions have an opening in their wide receiver corps with Josh Reynolds’ departure, but one veteran is falling behind in the race to fill it. The team acquired receiver and Detroit native Donovan Peoples-Jones in a trade last season, but he made only five catches for 58 yards in eight games, incPeoples-Jones has struggled during training camp, with Jeff Risdon of USA Today’s Lions Wire saying that he “isn’t consistently getting open or stressing the defense” as the organization had intended. This week, Lions head coach Dan Campbell issued a somewhat blunt warning to Peoples-Jones, stating, “I expect more” from the veteran.ludingone start.
Donovan Peoples-Jones Losing Ground in WR Battle
Campbell mentioned that multiple receivers had the opportunity to fight for the targets that went to Reynolds, last year’s second-best wide receiver behind Amon-Ra St. Brown. He stated that Peoples-Jones has worked hard during training camp but has yet to produce satisfactory results.
“It was to come in here and compete for that third, fourth receiver, that’s what it was,” Campbell said of the expectations on Peoples-Jones when he joined the team, via Lions Wire. “We’re looking for – so much of it is, ‘Alright, who’s going to fill in for Josh Reynolds? Who’s going to take that? Is it by committee or is there a guy that can – is going to step up and kind of become that for us?’
And so that’s kind of what we were looking for. He’s a guy I expect more out of too, and he knows that. Now, he’s working, he works at it, man, he wants it, but we just need him to take another step here.”
