When the Detroit Lions announced their 53-man roster, it was a bit surprising that they only had 4 wide receivers on the roster. Those receivers are Amon-Ra St. Brown, Isaiah Williams, Kalif Raymond and Jameson Williams. This makes it likely that they’ll add another receiver at some point. Especially since the Lions announced their roster with only 52 players on it.
After cuts were made and rosters were announced across the NFL, the speculation started to build on what direction the Lions would go for that additional player.
Just a few short hours later, it was announced that the Lions signed wide receiver Tim Patrick to their practice squad. That doesn’t take up the final roster spot that the Lions have open. However, it does open the door for Patrick to prove that he’s healthy and able to earn that spot before the first game against the Los Angeles Rams.
Patrick spent 7 seasons with the Denver Broncos but over the last two seasons, health has become a major concern. He last played a regular season game in 2021 with Teddy Bridgewater and Drew Lock as his quarterbacks. In 2021, he had a career high of 53 receptions for 734 yards and five touchdowns. All signs were pointing to Patrick becoming a potential star in the Broncos offense after consecutive seasons of 50+ receptions.
The chance for stardom diminished as he suffered a torn ACL in 2022 and then tore his achilles in 2023. Now, he appears fully healthy and seems ready for another chance to prove what he can do. In fact, he has played this summer for the Broncos. In two preseason games, he recorded 5 receptions for 44 yards and a touchdown. Let’s jump into some tape from the 2021 season to take a look at what Tim Patrick could provide the Detroit Lions offense.
When looking at the film from 2021, one of the first things that stood out was how the Broncos constantly motioned Tim Patrick before the snap. Using motion is becoming very common in the NFL. Last season, the Lions used motion 62.1% of the time and their 28.9% snap motion percentage was 5th most in the NFL (per ESPN).
Looking at the play above, the Broncos come out under center with their ’12’ personnel (one running back and two tight ends). Prior to the snap, the quarterback motions receiver Tim Patrick (#81) tight to the offensive line. This gives the Broncos a condensed set to the right of the quarterback and it appears that Patrick is aligned as an H-back. However, it’s all for show.
Once the ball is snapped, the quarterback fakes the hand-off to the running back. In the process, you’ll see Patrick spilling out over the middle of the field on a deep crosser. As the defense bites on the play-action, Patrick is wide open and this ends up being an easy completion. You’d have to imagine that Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson will have interest in using him in a similar way at times.
The next play I want to highlight is Patrick setting up to block. The play above, the Broncos come out with a trips left formation and in the middle of the trips side is Patrick.
On this play, it’s a designed screen and Patrick is looking to block the #2 defender. If blocked correctly, it creates a rushing lane between the numbers and the sideline and ultimately, the receiver that catches the ball could score.
That said, Dallas Cowboys defender Micah Parsons (#11) does a great job pursuing and making the tackle. However, you can see Patrick prepared to block. While he can’t really arc block due to the defender running hard downhill on a 45-degree angle, he does a good job making contact with the defender that he has to block. Overall, he’s in a good enough position to make the block and uses his length to force the defender into the sideline.
Staying on the Broncos and Cowboys game from the 2021 season, we’ll see an easy pitch-and-catch from Teddy Bridgewater to Tim Patrick. Looking at the play above, the Broncos come out with their ’11’ personnel (one running back and one tight end). Bunched to the left of the quarterback is Tim Patrick (#81) and Jerry Jeudy (#10).
On this play, the Broncos are running Hi-Lo Crossers and in the middle of that is Patrick. Despite a defender playing in the flats and being right underneath Patrick’s route, the quarterback throws with good touch for the completion.
As for Patrick, he runs a fairly clean route with a good pace. Meanwhile, he is able to concentrate on the catch despite the defender jumping in the air to try and break up the pass. Seeing Patrick running these types of crossing routes could become a weekly thing in this Lions offense.
Watching this Broncos 2021 offense, there seemed to be a lot of ’12’ and ’13’ personnel. That’s something we see quite a bit from the Lions under Ben Johnson, so having similar run and passing concepts could ease his transition to the team.
Looking at the play above, you’ll see the Broncos aligned with their ’13’ personnel and Patrick is out wide (bottom of the screen). Once the ball is snapped, he uses an inside release before throttling down and breaking his route back to the quarterback on a hitch route.
Despite not having a ton of separation and fighting through some contact from the defender, Patrick does a good job working back to the quarterback. He sees the quarterback getting outside of the pocket and as he comes back, that makes the throw easier. With plenty of space due to the cornerback falling down, Patrick makes the catch and runs this in for a touchdown.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the Tim Patrick signing is a low-risk move for the Lions. For the last two seasons, we’ve seen them gamble on bigger-bodied receivers such as Denzel Mims and Donovan Peoples-Jones. They even brought back Marvin Jones and while none of those moves worked out, you can’t write this move off just yet.
When healthy, Patrick is a solid number two or number three receiver for an offense. He showed that in 2020 and 2021 with 31 starts and almost 1500 yards receiving. The Lions don’t need him to be Amon-Ra St. Brown; they just need him to take some of the pressure off St. Brown, Jameson Williams and Sam LaPorta.
If Patrick can stay healthy, I would assume we’ll see him sprinkled into the offense each week. He’ll work in with Kalif Raymond and Isaiah Williams and it wouldn’t be surprising if he ended up being a key perimeter blocker on run plays.
The odds have been stacked against Tim Patrick for the last two seasons but isn’t that the type of player that fits Detroit? Defy the odds and show the world that you’re still good enough.