It’s not going to be fair to T.J. Hockenson or, to a lesser extent, Bob Quinn, but the Lions’ pick of Hockenson at No. 8 Thursday night is destined to be framed by what came before it, and what came after.
The former casts the shadow of Eric Ebron, the top-10 tight end Detroit selected back in 2014, only to leave the likes of Odell Beckham Jr. and Aaron Donald on the board. Ebron wasn’t as bad as local lore will forever tell, but he certainly did not play up to a level that justified the team’s faith in him or its decision to bypass Donald.
This year, the top of Round 1 fell almost exactly as the Lions should have wanted it to — a pair of quarterbacks in picks 1-6 (Kyler Murray and Daniel Jones), an absolute stunner at 4 (Clelin Ferrell to the Raiders) and a laundry list of premium options sitting there at No. 8. Among them were Ed Oliver, Devin Bush and Jonah Williams, all considered potential Lions picks. Those were the next three players off the board.
So, through no doing of his own, Hockenson will arrive in Detroit with pressure built-in. Fans will be quick to recall the Ebron flop and they’ll likely keep one eye cast on the players drafted after Hockenson, for point of comparison.
“In all due respect to the fans out there, I can’t take the fan sentiment into who I draft and who I sign for this team,” Quinn said at his pre-draft news conference. “I wasn’t the person who drafted Eric, so I think it’s a completely different … two different conversations.”
Complicating matters further is that, according to both ESPN’s Adam Schefter and the NFL Network’s Gil Brandt, the Lions fielded calls for their No. 8 pick on Thursday night. Brandt declared Quinn had “good offers” on the table. And leading up to the draft, Quinn had said the Lions were “open for business.” Sources told The Athletic earlier in the week that Detroit preferred to move back and add extra picks.
It appears now that the contingency plan may have been Hockenson’s availability. The Jaguars, picking at No. 7, had been heavily linked to the Iowa tight end. But they also benefited from the chaos above them, with Kentucky edge rusher Josh Allen falling into their lap.
When Hockenson was there, the Lions decided to stay put and take their guy.
Once everyone gets beyond all the hysterics that come with draft night (and with this pick in particular), the move certainly fits with what the Lions have been trying to build. In Hockenson, the Lions added an ultra-athletic player who should help them run the football and could be the middle-of-the-field, up-the-seam threat that didn’t really exist on the roster beforehand.
From The Atheletic’s draft guru, Dane Brugler: “Hockenson has a complete skill set for the position with outstanding athleticism, pass-catching traits and blocking skills, projecting as an immediate NFL starter with Pro Bowl potential.”
His addition comes on the heels of Detroit signing ex-Steeler Jesse James to a five-year, $22.6 million deal. Hockenson doesn’t do anything to shift James’ role — the organization still views him as a proven inline blocker and an ascending pass-catching threat. During a recent sit-down interview, Lions VP of player personnel Kyle O’Brien said that James has “grown into his frame, he’s gotten significantly bigger. And his game, to his credit, not only has his body evolved but his game has evolved as well. He’s a guy where literally you can kind of see the grades on a steady increment.”
The theory moving forward will be that Hockenson and James together can form a versatile, potentially dominant 1-2 punch.
“Put ’em on the field together,” Quinn said at the end of Day 1. “Two really good tight ends, probably a lot of 12 personnel. … I think that’s something that our offense can really work through, and I think we can be very multiple. We can switch to 11 personnel and have Danny (Amendola) out there with our receivers, then pick your poison as to which tight end you want to put out on the field. …
“It’s going to give us a lot of versatility to do a lot of different things on offense, that’s one of the things that kept pointing us back to T.J.”
Again, this is a spot for caution when comparing to the past: The Lions aren’t trying to recreate the Rob Gronkowski-Aaron Hernandez duo that helped New England carry on its dynasty. Gronk just retired as one of the game’s all-time greats at his position.
Still, Matt Patricia and his staff are well aware of what that type of presence can do. Last year, his offense ran 12 personnel (one back, two tight ends) about 12 percent of the time. His new offensive coordinator, Darrell Bevell, rolled with it on closer to 15 percent of snaps during 2017, his final year with Seattle.
As the defenses have had to get lighter and quicker as NFL offenses have opened up, there’s been an increasing opportunity to counter with a more physical look up front. Bank on seeing Hockenson and James on the field together a ton. Patricia wants his team to impose its will via the ground game.
“There’s a lot of plays on tape where you’re watching this guy and he’s blocking somebody, and all of a sudden you can’t see him anymore on the tape because he’s got his guy over on the sideline, he’s dumping him on the bench,” Patricia said on Thursday night. “Just a tenacious guy, a tough guy. A blue-collar, hard worker and that’s really what we’re all about. He’s a real tough guy to tackle, does a good job of turning small plays into big plays. Gets the ball vertical on the defense. He’s just another threat out there.”
How much the Lions then lean on Hockenson in the passing game could depend on how quickly he gets up to speed. Tight ends have faced a notoriously difficult transition to the NFL, but that stigma has lessened some as offenses have grown more creative in feeding that position. Hockenson’s predecessor at Iowa, George Kittle, just posted 88 receptions for 1,377 yards in his second NFL season.
