Last year during the NFL Trade Deadline, the Detroit Lions made somewhat of a surprising move by trading for Donovan Peoples-Jones. The Lions gave up a 6th round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft to acquire him from the Cleveland Browns.
Certainly, it was a roll of the dice for a receiver who had recorded 61 receptions for 839 yards in 2022. But that roll of the dice only led to five receptions for 58 yards in Detroit. Despite resigning with the Lions this off-season, it sure feels like Peoples-Jones is on his way out.
Through parts of the summer, head coach Dan Campbell stated that he “wants to see more” from DPJ. Unfortunately, I don’t think that happened. Through the preseason, he recorded 2 receptions for 31 yards on 9 targets and he did have a drop against the Steelers on Saturday. Let’s dive into some film to look at what’s been going wrong for DPJ in Detroit.
Whenever a talented receiver is fighting for a roster spot, there’s always an assumption that the player could be competing at a position that is stacked with talent. While the Lions do have Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams sitting atop of the depth chart at receiver, it’s still wide open behind them.
Let’s look at the play above to see one of the routes ran by Peoples-Jones. The Lions come out 2×2 and you can see Peoples-Jones bunched with Isaiah Williams at the top of the screen. Him and Williams will be running a bench concept (corner route and out route) and they’re the 1st and 2nd read for quarterback Hendon Hooker.
As you can see after the snap, Hooker is staring at both receivers to his right. The cornerback is in good positioning on the out route ran by Isaiah Williams. However, the corner route by Peoples-Jones is too slow and rounded. This causes a delay from Hooker and essentially, he has to look off and throw underneath to Tom Kennedy.
Next I want to highlight a route across the middle of the field by Peoples-Jones. Looking at the play above, the Lions will be throwing out of a trips left formation. To the right of the formation (bottom of the screen) is DPJ.
Once the ball is snapped, you can see him run across the middle of the field on a shallow cross. While I may not know how long he’s supposed to run this route before looking at the quarterback, I would have to assume it’s within 2 or 3 seconds. That’s just the average time a quarterback has to get a throw off.
Certainly, the pass from Hooker is less than ideal. The pass is located somewhat low but a twist line stunt in the middle of this 5-man pressures forces him to hurry the throw. Meanwhile, it does take Peoples-Jones up to 2 or 3 seconds just to get across and he never looks to see if or when the ball is being thrown.
Lastly I want to focus on a dropped pass from Peoples-Jones. Looking at the play above, you’ll see the Lions come out 2×2 with Peoples-Jones on the right (top of the screen).
Once the ball is snapped, he runs a hitch route. While the cornerback does almost jump this pass and take it to the house, he doesn’t end up making contact with the ball at all. In fact, the ball gets by and bounces off the hands of Peoples-Jones. As a veteran receiver fighting for a roster spot, these types of drops can’t happen.
Overall, it’s been a disappointing summer for DPJ. It’s unfortunate because there’s always been so much potential with him. However, he looks slower than he ever has on a football field and the final preseason game on Saturday may be his last one in a Lions uniform.
His route running ability wasn’t crisp against the Steelers. With most of his routes being rounded or taking too long to develop, it led to him only being targeted three times. Unfortunately, he didn’t catch any of them. Adding to that, he was supposed to be one of the key blockers on a designed screen pass to tight end Shane Zylstra and he missed his block completely.
The door was wide open for Peoples-Jones to lockup the 4th receiver spot on the roster. He had the size and experience over other receivers such as Isaiah Williams, Tom Kennedy and others. However, the lackluster performances have piled up and it seemingly has closed the door on any chance for Peoples-Jones to make the Detroit Lions roster.