For the earlier part of February, we’ll be looking at some of the Lions free agents who’s potential of coming back to Detroit seems up in the air right now. We’ll be doing these as pros and cons pieces. So far we’ve covered Jonah Jackson, C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Emmanuel Moseley. Today we cover Josh Reynolds.
Pros
Josh Reynolds is a playmaker out there. You might be made that he didn’t catch a couple balls in the NFC championship game, but that’s such anomaly for him that I’m not even going to put it in his cons segment.
Reynolds caught 40 passes in 2023 and 32 of them were for first downs. 17 of those catches were for 20 yards or more. So Reynolds was doing damage to a lot of defenses this season.
There’s also a clear rapport there with Jared Goff and Reynolds. The two have spent much of their careers together in both Los Angeles and Detroit. There’s a trust there that is hard to replace.
Cons
The con is that while Reynolds does good things and he’s worth having around, this is the ceiling for him. It’s in no way a bad ceiling by the way. This is what you call a successful NFL career, but there’s not a lot more growth that Reynolds can have at 28-years-old.
If the Lions brought back Reynolds to play a similar role in 2024, they’re going to be just fine. But what if they took a shot at someone that’s proved to have a higher ceiling or a guy that’s a bit younger and can do the same things? Would that be a better use of their funds?
My Ruling
I think the Lions should bring back Josh Reynolds. There’s better receivers out there than he is and the Lions may still try to take a shot at them. Reynolds has a built in trust and an ability to make the big plays when needed. You can’t turn that away unless you find something that is way better. The Lions will likely be too focused on another side of the ball this offseason to go receiver shopping.