When the Detroit Lions traded for wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones at the trade deadline last fall, the hopes were that the man known as “DPJ” would provide a big boost to the WR room as well as the special teams units. While that didn’t exactly happen in the second half of the 2023 season, Peoples-Jones showed enough for the Lions to bring him back as a free agent and compete for a higher spot on the depth chart in 2024.
Through the spring workouts and the first nine practices of training camp, that just hasn’t happened for Peoples-Jones. He’s had his moments and strong plays, including some impressive run blocking, but No. 19 isn’t consistently getting open or stressing the defense in the way the team hoped.
Head coach Dan Campbell was asked about Peoples-Jones before Friday’s practice. Campbell effectively challenged the former Michigan wideout to step up his game.
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“It was to come in here and compete for that third, fourth receiver, that’s what it was,” Campbell said of his expectations for Peoples-Jones when the Lions signed him. “We’re looking for – so much of it is, ‘Alright, who’s going to fill in for (Broncos WR) 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.”
Campbell referenced a similar comment he made earlier in the press conference about wideout Daurice Fountain, who has earned more first-team reps and made more plays than Peoples-Jones throughout camp. Neither Fountain nor Peoples-Jones or second-year Antoine Green have stepped up and seized the role vacated by Josh Reynolds as the Lions prep for the first preseason matchup and joint practices with the Giants next week.