After his disappointing first season in Detroit ended with 10 paltry catches for 103 yards and a measly 48 offensive snaps played in the final eight games, Detroit Lions wide receiver Trinity Benson went straight to the source to figure out what he needed to work on this offseason
Benson sat down with Lions coach Dan Campbell for an exit interview last January and asked point blank how he could earn more playing time.
Campbell’s answer: Get a better grasp of the playbook.
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“That was No. 1,” Campbell said Wednesday on Day 2 of Lions minicamp. “And we’ve got to know that you’re going to be where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there, because then the quarterbacks will trust you and build that rapport. And when you do that, then you’re going to play that much faster, which you’re seeing right now in spring. And he’s done that.”
Benson, who looked to be the odd man out in the Lions receiving corps after the team signed DJ Chark in free agency and traded up to get Jameson Williams in the first round, was singled out Wednesday by Campbell as a player having “a hell of a spring.”
On Tuesday, Benson caught a long pass from David Blough to spark a blink-and-you-missed-it touchdown drive in the Lions’ end-of-half situational period, and he followed up Wednesday with a sliding touchdown catch in the back corner of the end zone on a Tim Boyle throw in an end-of-game period.
Neither Chark nor Williams practiced Wednesday; Williams is recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in January and his availability for the start of the season is in question.
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But Benson has shown glimpses this spring of why the Lions traded a fifth-round pick and swapped sixth- and seventh-rounders with the Denver Broncos to acquire him last summer.
“He’s playing faster,” Campbell said. “He is running, and our defense feels it. Look, to this kid’s credit — I know its early. There again, I know we’re in pajamas (with no pads), but he came up after the season, he’s like, ‘Coach, what do I got to do? What do I really need to do?’ And we talked about it and he took it serious, and he’s always put in the work. But that’s a credit to him so we’re happy where he’s at right now.”
Benson was thrust into what he admits now was a “challenging” situation with the receiver-needy Lions last summer.
He played 49 snaps in the Lions’ opening-week loss to the San Francisco 49ers just 12 days after his trade from Denver, then spent the next month learning an entirely new playbook.
When Benson failed to make an immediate impact — he caught six passes and did not play a special teams snap in the Lions’ first five games — he slid down the depth chart and was de-activated for eight of the final 12 weeks of the regular season.
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“I definitely know I can play at this level, it was just last year just I was really just out there thinking,” Benson said. “So the mind was just tying up the feet, so now that I’m learning the offense, I’m getting those reps that I really needed last year, I’m getting them this year so now I’m just playing freely and just making the plays.”
Lions receivers coach Antwaan Randle El has been strong advocate of Benson’s since last fall, telling reporters in February not to count Benson out of the receiver mix.
Still, with improved depth at the position, Benson, who said he was not invited to quarterback Jared Goff’s offseason throwing session in California, will need to carry his eye-opening spring into training camp to earn a spot on the 53-man roster.
Unlike last year, the Lions have good depth at receiver. Along with Chark and Williams, they return Amon-Ra St. Brown, Josh Reynolds and Kalif Raymond at the position, and Quintez Cephus has had a similarly impressive offseason in his return from a broken collar bone.
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“Every time the ball comes my way I look at it as an opportunity,” Benson said. “Every time I’m out there on the field it’s an opportunity to make a play so I just make the most of every opportunity.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.