Tight ends have torched the Detroit Lions this year.
Through three games, the Lions have allowed 29 catches for 351 yards and six touchdowns to tight ends. Juwan Johnson and Noah Fant had touchdowns for the New Orleans Saints. Dalton Kincaid caught seven passes for 95 yards and one score for the Buffalo Bills. Rookie Kenyon Sadiq had career highs in receptions and yards for the New York Jets. So did veteran Jeremy Ruckert, a third-round pick in 2022.
Last year, the Lions allowed the 16th-most yards (932) and eight touchdowns to tight ends all season, according to Pro Football Reference. This year, they’re worst in the league in both categories.
“We've got to do a better job,” linebacker Jack Campbell said. “I feel like most of the Buffalo stuff,
a couple of explosives in the Saints game, we've just got to be better at the point of attack to win. So know your matchup. That’s the thing going into it. Each tight end’s so different nowadays. You've got tight ends who are receivers, you've got tight ends who are inline blockers, you've got tight ends who are combos. You've got guys who are more crafty than fast. You've got fast. You've got to know who you’re going against.”
Every type tight end has given the Lions fits this season, and the Carolina Panthers could look to exploit the matchups in their tight end room this week when the Lions visit Bank of America Stadium for "Sunday Night Football."
Darren Waller is one of the top receiving tight ends in the NFL and has been Bryce Young’s third-favorite target (10 catches, 112 yards, 2 TDs) this year, but the Panthers have four other tight ends on their 53-man roster and use three heavily in their offensive rotation.
Waller (43.6%), Tommy Tremble (53.1%) and Mitchell Evans (40.8%) all play at least 40% of the snaps, while No. 4 tight end Feleipe Franks has played in all three games but primarily on special teams.
Fifth tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders has been a healthy scratch every week.
Carolina uses “11” personnel with one running back, one tight end and three receivers on the field at the fourth-highest rate of any team in the league, but the Panthers could be without two of their top three receivers (Xavier Legette and Jalen Coker) because of injuries and already use multiple tight ends on 32% of their offensive plays, according to SumerSports.
“They got a couple good ones,” linebacker Trevor Nowaske said. “They’re physical, physical at the point of attack, and then obviously Waller, he’s basically a wide receiver. So it’ll be a good matchup. I’m excited. They kind of got the best of both worlds where they’ve kind of got a range, balance of receiving threats, people that are good in the run game.”
Linebacker Derrick Barnes said he isn’t too concerned about the success opposing tight ends have had against the Lions defense so far.
A lot of that production has come against zone defense, not in man coverage, Barnes said; defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said Sadiq’s biggest gain for the Jets last week, a 43-yard pass on an over route, came when the Lions failed to get timely pressure from their defensive line.
And while Nowaske said the Lions have gotten out-leveraged at times by opposing tight ends, he said some of the numbers they’ve put up are a byproduct of having more tight ends on the field.
More NFL teams are featuring two- and three-tight end sets as part of their offense this season, and the Bills rank second in the league in the use of “13” personnel, or three tight ends.
“I think a lot of teams like to get into '12,' so we go big and then they can try to do some mismatch stuff,” Campbell said. “If they can go and get '12' that plays like '11' and make their one tight end a receiver, that’s what teams are looking for nowadays.”
And against the Panthers, that’s just one of several things the Lions will have to be on the lookout for when their defense is on the field.
“They’ve got kind of the perfect blend of what they can do,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “Waller is their guy, get down the field, vertical threat, range. Tremble can do it all. And so can 84 [Evans], for that matter, but he’s relied on a little bit more in the blocking, inline stuff. But all three of those guys, when you have the versatility, you can do a lot of different jobs, a lot of different schemes.
“And so look, it’s something we’re aware of, but that’s not the only thing that our defense has got to prepare for. And there again, the secret sauce is this quarterback. He’s the one who makes it go. He’s extremely dangerous.”
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tight ends are having their way with Detroit Lions. Does that continue in Carolina?
