The Lions entered last season with the worst group of wide receivers in the NFL. It might have been the worst position group in football, period. How times have changed.
Amon-Ra St. Brown is back after exploding in the second half of his rookie season. Josh Reynolds is back after arriving via waivers and unlocking the Lions' downfield passing game. Jameson Williams has arrived via the first round of the draft. DJ Chark has arrived via free agency.
At full health, Detroit's wide receiver corps could do some serious damage. Dare we say, it might be one of the best in the game.
"I agree," Chark said Thursday after his second practice of training camp. "I feel like we definitely have potential."
But right now, with the season still a month away, potential means nothing. Entering his fifth year in the NFL, Chark knows that as well as anyone.
"We just have to keep stacking these days so that when it’s time, we show up. That’s the only thing that really matters, showing up on Sundays," said Chark. "The work that we’re putting in now is great. We got Hard Knocks out here, but I feel like as long as we're working quietly, just putting in day after day, when it’s time to show what we can do, we can take a lot of people by storm."
The Lions' top three wide receivers last season were St. Brown, a fourth-round draft pick; Kalif Raymond, who arrived as a return man; and Reynolds, who didn't show up until November. As a team, they finished third to last in the NFL in yards per catch. That will change in 2022.
In a recent ESPN article ranking the best playmaking groups in the NFL -- wide receivers, running backs and tight ends -- the Lions checked in at No. 17, up from No. 31 last year. They could rise even higher by season's end. Not that it means anything to Chark and the receivers around him.
"One thing I appreciate about these guys, they’re never in the media or focused on trying to be listed as top 10 on ESPN or anything like that," he said. "It’s nothing that we ever talk about. It’s just the standard that we’re trying to set amongst each other."
Chark, who turns 26 in September, has something to prove this season himself. He was a Pro Bowler in 2019 when he eclipsed 1,000 yards, but his numbers dipped the next year and he played just four games last year due to a fractured ankle. With an expanded role in Detroit under Lions new offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, Chark sounds ready to re-establish himself among the game's top receivers.
"His vision for me, I agree with it," said Chark. "A lot of things that I do well, he feels the same way, so he moves me around more than I usually got moved around in the past in my career. It’s still a learning curve, but I’m enjoying it. I like the challenge of running different routes, being in different spots."
Known primarily as a deep threat, the 6'4 Chark said Johnson is letting him "stretch the field horizontally" as well -- "which helps a lot."
He's also enjoying teaming up with a veteran QB in Jared Goff, who knows the Lions' playbook as well as anyone after working in tandem with Johnson to design the team's passing attack this offseason.
"JG has more of a control on what’s going on, more of an input," said Chark. "The same questions that I would ask Ben or (wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle El), I can go ask him. That helps a lot when I can go straight to the source, the guy that’s throwing the ball, just on small routes, trying to figure out what he’s thinking so when I’m lining up, I'm thinking in the same way. ... Small things like that are really helpful when you have a veteran QB like him."
Listen live to 97.1 The Ticket via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Smart Speaker