When the Lions traded Tim Patrick to the Jaguars at the end of training camp, hopes were high for Isaac TeSlaa. It looked like Detroit was clearing the way for the rookie receiver to step in as its big-bodied complement to Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams and Kalif Raymond. He made two one-handed catches in his first two games, albeit in a limited role.
TeSlaa has one catch on four targets in six games since. He played three offensive snaps in the Lions' loss to the Vikings last week, back to where he started in their Week 1 loss to the Packers. Meanwhile, Detroit's offense has started to sputter, especially on third down.
"I’d like to get him on the field a little bit more," Dan Campbell said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "We came out of the bye and there was a couple of things that we noticed and wanted to get Leaf more involved and we didn’t necessarily get that going last week. But we need to get Leaf involved, we need to get TeSlaa involved."
The Lions spent three third-round picks to draft TeSlaa No. 70 overall. Brad Holmes called him "my favorite receiver in this draft." It was always going to be a challenge for TeSlaa to carve out a role as a rookie in an already-loaded offense, but the Lions likely envisioned throwing him more than six passes through eight games. Two of his three catches have been touchdowns. He has the body type to potentially help the Lions on third down, where their conversation rate ranks 25th in the NFL.
"So much of that is like the perfect storm, because you talk about third down, well, if you convert, now you can get more touches for everybody and that helps everybody," Campbell said. "But yeah, I’d like to get him on the field a little bit more. He’s doing a good job for us on special teams, which is exactly one of the roles we envisioned him on, and then growing in the receiver position. So, certainly I see him playing a little bit more on offense this week than he did last week."
There's a sentiment that Jared Goff and the Lions miss Patrick on third down, where last year they ranked fourth in the NFL. Their conversion rate has fallen by more than 10 percent. It owes to a lesser offensive line and weaker ground game more than anything. Only nine of Patrick's 44 targets and six of his 30 catches last season, for the record, came on third down. He had 394 yards and three touchdowns overall in 16 games.
"I love Tim. Tim was great for us," Goff said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "But I don’t believe that that would be the difference on third down, no."
Patrick struggled with the Lions during training camp this summer, by his own admission, taking most of his reps with the second-stringers. He's been used sparingly by the Jaguars, even more so than TeSlaa with the Lions. In seven games, Patrick has four catches on six targets for 63 yards and a touchdown, while playing 20 percent of the Jags' offensive snaps. TeSlaa has played 21 percent of the offensive snaps for Detroit.
Asked about the possibility of TeSlaa getting more opportunities moving forward, Goff said, "That’d be great, if he’s out there more, that’d be great for him and great for our offense. I like throwing to him, he does a good job, and gotta find ways to get him open and get him the ball."
TeSlaa's second touchdown of the season came in the red zone late in the Lions' Week 5 win over the Bengals, when his role appeared to be growing. He played about a third of the offensive snaps that game, then nearly half the following week in the Lions' loss to the Chiefs. But he dipped to nine snaps in Detroit's win over the Bucs, then three against the Vikings.
In general, said Goff, TeSlaa has been "getting better every week" by "asking the right questions, learning, making mistakes, then learning and not making the mistake again."
"He’s a rookie, he’s figuring it out and about this time of the year is when those guys as rookies start to not feel like rookies anymore," said Goff. "They start to kind of come alive as first-, second-, third-year players and guys that can contribute, so hopefully that continues to happen for him. He’s doing a great job."