The Detroit Lions have a lot of depth at skill positions on offense and wide receiver is arguably the deepest of those positions. Lions veteran receiver Marvin Jones Jr. joined local media on Thursday, and he discussed his excitement over such a talented group of players.
“We’re definitely excited,” Jones said. “It’s going to be big, because (of) the people that we have. You look to the left, you look to the right, and we have ballers. That’s something that’s very exciting. An obviously, this is our second year in (offensive coordinator Darrell) Bevell’s offense, which we love. So, excitement is definitely up.”
One of those exciting players is rookie receiver Quintez Cephus and Jones has already gotten an up-close look at him.
“We got acquainted this offseason,” Jones said of Cephus. “He came up to the BZN training facility (Jones’ training area set up at his home in San Diego) and got some good work in.”
My young 👑s @QoDeep_87 & @vicbolden came to the Estate & got #BZN Certified!!! 🙌🏽🙌🏽 pic.twitter.com/WqHRgx07R7
— Marvin Jones Jr (@MarvinJonesJr) May 31, 2020
“He definitely has the tools,” Jones continued. “His strength. His explosiveness. Dude can jump out of the gym. So, it’ll be great to see him go once we start picking everything up (in training camp).”
Like with Kenny Golladay three years ago, Jones plans on taking Cephus under his wing during training camp to help the rookie further acclimate to the NFL.
“That’s what we do,” Jones said. “When you’ve been in the league for this long, and the type of people that we are, it’s always to help. Because if you help somebody, that’s just going to make the team better. Especially when you see potential in somebody. We saw that with Kenny (Golladay) – and you obviously know how that turned out.
“But it’s not just for one person, we do that for everybody, all rookies. We treat them all the same. We (tell them) stick with us and you’ll know the way. And the people who are motivated will do that. And we see that in him (Cephus) and we’re going to go out here in training camp and let the young man do what he does.”
The Lions have begun phase 2 of training camp and have been getting in some light fieldwork, are headed towards non-padded practices, and are likely to put the pads on as early as Monday.