After barnstorming to the NFC Championship Game last season, and taking the San Francisco 49ers to the brink with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line, the Lions’ exciting young core has the potential to take one major step toward hoisting the franchise’s first Lombardi this season.
The Lions also committed $212 million to Goff this season, through the 2028 campaign, on the heels of the former No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 draft passing for 4,575 yards with 30 touchdowns to 12 interceptions in 2023.
As the 2024 season looms, Pro Football Focus suggests the Lions’ biggest remaining priority should be bolstering a receiving corps that already features playmaker Amon-Ra St. Brown, downfield burner Jameson Williams, and Kalif Raymond.
“While Amon-Ra St. Brown has emerged as one of the league’s best receivers over the past two seasons,” Thomas Valentine writes for PFF. “The Lions are still hoping Jameson Williams can live up to his draft billing. He caught 24 passes for 354 yards and two touchdowns in 2023 but has yet to really put the pieces together.
“Donovan Peoples-Jones and Kalif Raymond can be tertiary contributors, and Sam LaPorta will see his fair share of targets. Still, Detroit needs a true outside receiver. The free-agent market doesn’t offer much in that archetype, but could the Lions be a potential landing spot for Brandon Aiyuk, Tee Higgins or Davante Adams?”
Valentine’s point that the Lions offense would benefit from one more consistent big-play threat, it may be difficult to pry the likes of Aiyuk, Higgins, or Adams away, not to mention perhaps prohibitively costly in any potential blockbuster trade.
However, there might be an ideal free agent target the Lions could look to sign before the 2024 season kicks off.
Detroit Lions Could Be Ideal Match for Hunter Renfrow
Hunter Renfrow is an experienced veteran slot receiver, who could potentially feast on underneath routes over the middle of the field along with emergent star tight end Sam LaPorta in the Lions’ offense.
Renfrow also recently made Bleacher Report’s list of the most underrated remaining free agents.
“There’s no All-Pro nods on Renfrow’s resume’,” Ryan Fowler points out for Bleacher Report. “Nor is he ever discussed as one of the premier slot weapons in football, but Renfrow’s lateral quickness, hands and toughness could serve as the final piece to an offensive architecture.
“A former fifth-rounder of the Raiders back in 2019, Renfrow has remained consistently productive in his first handful of seasons in the NFL. While his production and target share have tailed off the last two years following three consecutive seasons of 49+ receptions and 600 yards receiving (including a 111-catch 2021 campaign), Renfrow’s comfortability in the intermediate areas of an offense is matched by few primary slots in today’s game.”
Last season, Renfrow averaged a healthy 6.1 yards after the catch per reception which could make him an ideal and reliable target for Goff, to benefit from the space created by the attention defenders must pay St. Brown and Williams over the top.