The Detroit Lions made the move to trade for New York Jets wide receiver Denzel Mims on Wednesday night. The Lions executed a pick swap of late-round draft picks to acquire Mims.
What are the Lions getting in Mims?
Mims, 25, is entering his fourth NFL season. He arrived in New York as a second-round pick, No. 59 overall, in the 2020 NFL draft out of Baylor.
He was selected so highly in large part because of his athletic potential. At a hair under 6-foot-3 and a well-muscled 207 pounds, Mims showed explosive athleticism and downfield playmaking ability for Baylor. He scored 28 receiving touchdowns in his final three college seasons for the Bears, going over the 1,000-yard mark twice (2017 and 2019).
The athletic testing at the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine validated the impressive blend of size and speed from his Baylor tape. Mims clocked the 40-yard dash in 4.38 seconds, with a 38-inch vertical leap, a 3-cone time of 6.66 seconds and a clocked time of 22.4 MPH.
All those physical gifts and impressive production at Baylor have not translated to the NFL, unfortunately. He’s caught just 42 passes in 92 targets for 676 yards in three years with the Jets, and Mims is still looking for his first NFL touchdown. He’s been credited with seven drops, or one for every six catches. The career catch rate of 45.7 is nearly 20 percentage points lower than what Eric Ebron logged (64.6%) in his four seasons with the Lions.
Mims has struggled with the increased precision and timing of playing outside WR in the NFL. His poor initial releases and unwillingness to fight through jams have been notable with the Jets, never really improving despite (or perhaps because of) coaching and quarterback changes.
Last summer, I was asked about Mims in the context of the Cleveland Browns being interested in a trade at that time. The Jets were prepared to move on from Mims last August but wound up keeping him for another ill-fated year.
Here is my rather blunt assessment of Mims from last August, via Sports4CLE and Cleveland.com:
Nothing we saw from Mims in New York in 2022 changes my opinion expressed here. His lack of attention to detail, “looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane” assessment and questionable work ethic didn’t appear to get better with another chance in New York.
Depth receivers typically need to contribute on special teams, but that is not something Mims has shown he can do. He played just three total special teams snaps in his 30 games in New York, none in his first two years.
The hope is a change of scenery will coax out the best in Mims. The Lions gave up next to nothing to acquire him, and his contract expires after the 2023 season. It’s a low-risk move that builds the competition down the depth chart at wide receiver. If it doesn’t work out, the Lions can cut bait without worry.
