Anytime a team unexpectedly loses a player who was on the field for half the snaps, there is a void. The Detroit Lions are facing that now with wide receiver Marvin Jones Jr. stepping away from the team and being released to tend to family matters.
The Jones release happened a week before the NFL’s trade deadline, and that will lead to questions about potentially replacing Jones. Lions head coach Dan Campbell got one of those in his pre-practice press conference on Thursday.
“Certainly appreciate Marvin and what he brought to the table,” Campbell said respectfully. “Wish him the best of luck and he’s always welcome here.”
Campbell was asked about the state of the wide receiver room now that Jones is gone.
“We’re doing pretty good in the receiver room,” Campbell enthused. “We’ve got the five that were up last week. We’ve got some young guys there on the (practice) squad that have been practicing and working. So we feel pretty good.”
The five who were up last week were Amon-Ra St. Brown, Josh Reynolds, Kalif Raymond, Jameson Williams and Antoine Green. Detroit also has Dylan Drummond, Daurice Founain and Maurice Alexander on the practice squad.
The team did host former Lions slot receiver Tom Kennedy on a visit on Wednesday. To this point, that’s the extent of any potential addition to the Detroit receiver room.
