The Detroit Lions are off to a tough start to a tough week. After playing on Sunday, the Lions now turnaround and immediately go into preparation for a Thursday game against the Bears on Thanksgiving. They may have to do it without some key players.
The big ones for this particular story are Amon-Ra St. Brown and Kalif Raymond. Right now it seems like there’s a better chance that St. Brown plays than Raymond, but it’s a bit of a waiting game at the moment.
Either way, an opportunity for a breakout moment has presented itself. This is where rookie running back Sione Vaki can truly have his chance to shine in multiple areas.
For starters, wit Raymond down, the Lions are going to need a punt returner. Having a starter do it is a horrible idea. Having Vaki do it the right way to go. We saw Vaki return kicks and punts during camp and he did fairly well with it.
The big thing though is to get him involved in the offense as a pass catcher. We saw what Vaki could do in that area at Utah and we also saw it at camp and in the preseason. This guy is a down hill pass catcher. He gets it and is able to go out there and move.
He’s not St. Brown or anything like that, but for one game he can go out there and make plays for this team while they rely on Jameson Williams, Sam LaPorta and Tim Patrick to take on the brunt of the work.
This is what the Lions drafted Vaki for. They wanted a guy that could play all three phases of the game and do it well. Here’s a chance to go out there and do that.
Other guys to watch for are Allen Robinson, Donovan Peoples-Jones and Maurice Alexander.