Tag: Brock Wright

Lions vs Commanders: Best and worst PFF grades from Week 2

Here are this week’s best and worst PFF Week 2 performers for the Detroit Lions against the Washington Commanders.

The Detroit Lions secured their first victory of the season against the Washington Commanders with the help of impressive performances in every facet of the field. The grit and fight that the players showed were nothing short of inspirational.

Amon-Ra St. Brown put on a clinic on offense setting NFL records left and right, turning in the Lions top playmaker. Hutchinson secured his first three sacks of his short NFL career so far, while Rodriguez continues to impress for a sixth-round rookie. The coaches are designing and scheming to allow their players to succeed, especially when injuries wreaked havoc on certain areas. Still, they overcame as a team and walked away as the victors.

Here are this week’s best and worst PFF performers for the Lions in Week 2.

Predicting the Detroit Lions player stats for 2022

Projecting the stats for Detroit Lions players in the 2022 regular season

The 2022 regular season kicks off in a few short days for the Detroit Lions. The roster is set, the plays installed and the gameplans ready to roll for Dan Campbell’s second season in Detroit.

Projecting the stats for the key players in Detroit is a difficult challenge. There are new schemes on both offense and defense, with each unit efforting to be more aggressive and proactive than they were a season ago. Many of the key players return, with some high-end newcomers also impacting the depth chart and stat projections.

All of these statistical projections are calculated on the assumption of each player participating in all 17 games. Injuries unfortunately will derail that, but predicting injuries is even harder than forecasting stats.

Here are the fearless predictions for Lions player stats in 2022.

Every Notre Dame player currently on an NFL training camp roster

Lots of former Irish talent in the NFL

Part of being an alumnus of a supremely successful collegiate football is seeing them getting an opportunity at the next level. For Notre Dame, the list of former players getting their shot in the NFL is large, very large. Find out below every former Irish star (in alphabetical order) and which NFL team they are with in training camp.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Mike on Twitter: @MikeFChen

Lions stock report after the 1st week of training camp

Which players have helped themselves in the first week of Lions training camp and which have not?

We’ve now had seven practice sessions and the mandatory day off at Detroit Lions training camp. Three days in pads and four with less contact have revealed some players moving up, with others fading a little in the depth chart quest.

Here are some of the players who have helped themselves the most, as well as some who haven’t started training camp as well as possible.

Look: T.J. Hockenson, Brock Wright rep the Lions at TE University

T.J. Hockenson and Brock Wright rep the Lions at the second annual TE University

Tight End University is here to stay. The inaugural summit of many of the NFL’s top tight ends commenced a year ago, and it was a scene that saw Detroit’s T.J. Hockenson rise up and assert himself as one of the best. He even has a wrestling-style title belt to show for it.

Hockenson is back in Nashville for the second edition. This time he brought along Lions teammate Brock Wright for the more expanded collection of tight end talent. Wright is currently slated to be Detroit’s top backup behind Hockenson after showing promise as an undrafted rookie in 2021.

Hockenson posted an action shot to his Instagram page as well,

https://www.instagram.com/p/CfPSv_-uZRM/

89 days until Notre Dame football returns vs. Ohio State

Under 90 to go!

Congratulations as you’ve made it to under 13 weeks until Notre Dame kicks off their 2022 college football season with a humdinger of a contest at Ohio State.

That means we’re closer to the start of the actual season than we are the actual length of the regular season once the games actually start.

Well, sort of, as Notre Dame will wrap up the regular season at USC 12 weeks after starting it at Ohio State, but you get the point.  Conference championship games will be going on in that extra week so technically I’m sort of right.

Anyway, in honor of it being 89 days until the start of the season let’s take a look back at a recent number 89 in Notre Dame history, tight end [autotag]Brock Wright[/autotag].

In four years at Notre Dame, Wright was used primarily as a blocker in a loaded tight end group that included NFL draft picks [autotag]Cole Kmet[/autotag] and [autotag]Tommy Tremble[/autotag].  In blue and gold he secured just seven receptions for 78 yards and one touchdown.

Wright went undrafted in the 2021 NFL draft but was signed as a free agent by the Detroit Lions.  Was Notre Dame’s talent at tight end during Wright’s career better than what the Lions had in 2021?

When you take into account that Wright pulled down 12 receptions for 117 yards and a pair of scores in 10 games for the Lions last season, it’s a conversation worth at least having.

Take a look back at Wright’s time at Notre Dame as well as his first year with the Lions below:

5 returning Lions who are now fighting for their jobs

Between draft picks, adding free agents and scheme changes, these five Lions from 2021 face uphill battles to stick in Detroit in 2022

One of the inevitabilities of a draft cycle is that there are current players who will lose their jobs to the new additions. For the Detroit Lions in 2022, the draft class and free agency work from GM Brad Holmes and his crew have set up several holdover players to be fighting for their Lions lives.

The improved overall roster comes at a cost for the players at the bottom of the roster, or those who might not fit with the new scheme or regime. Here are five such players who will have to show a lot more in 2022 to remain in Detroit.

 

Athletic player comparisons for the Detroit Lions 2022 draft class

The Detroit Lions 2022 draft class athleticism compares favorably to strong NFL players and gives an idea what might be on the horizon

The dust has settled on the second Detroit Lions draft class under Brad Holmes, and a theme is starting to become quite clear. Under the Holmes/Campbell regime, they value high character players, especially those who were team captains. On top of that, they covet prospects with primer athleticism.

Detroit walked away with one of the top athletic classes in the 2022 draft and will look to continue building its foundation with potential cornerstone players and strong depth rounding out the roster. We will get our first glimpse of these prospects with minicamp right around the corner, but what kind of comparisons can we make on these players?

Using Player Profiler’s best player comparison feature and the Relative Athletic Score (RAS) tool, we can create a picture of what we could expect from these prospects from an athletic perspective.

Here are the best comparisons for the Lions 2022 draft class.

Tom Kennedy, Brock Wright sign their Lions free agent tender offers

Kennedy and Wright will earn the veteran minimum for 2022 as ERFAs for the Lions

Tom Kennedy and Brock Wright are officially back with the Detroit Lions. Kennedy and Wright signed their exclusive rights free agent contract tender offers on Monday when they arrived in Detroit for this week’s offseason workouts.

Kennedy, a wide receiver and special teamer, and backup TE Wright were both exclusive rights free agents. The Lions made them the required offer to keep them, a one-year deal at the veteran minimum. If they finish the season with Detroit, Kennedy and Wright will be restricted free agents following the 2022 season.

Kennedy played in 12 games in 2021, seeing action on 20 percent of the offensive snaps. The former collegiate lacrosse player from Bryant caught six passes for 54 yards.

Wright emerged as the No. 2 TE for the Lions as an undrafted rookie out of Notre Dame in 2021. He caught 12 passes for 117 yards and scored two TDs.

Lions make contract tender offers to 13 exclusive rights free agents

The Detroit Lions make contract tender offers to 13 exclusive rights free agents, including all 3 starting specialists

In a move that is best described as a contractual formality, the Detroit Lions made the required contract tender offers to 13 pending exclusive rights free agents on Wednesday.

Exclusive rights free agents, more commonly known as ERFAs, are players who were on the active roster for just one or two seasons and have an expiring contract. Practice squad players do not count. The players are offered the league-minimum salary for the upcoming season.

The 13 players feature the three starting specialists and several young players who have played quite a bit on special teams:

  • LS Scott Daly
  • P Jack Fox
  • CB Mark Gilbert
  • S JuJu Hughes
  • RB Godwin Igwebuike
  • WR Tom Kennedy
  • G Tommy Kraemer
  • OLB Jessie Lemonier
  • T Matt Nelson
  • K Riley Patterson
  • LB Anthony Pittman
  • CB Bobby Price
  • TE Brock Wright

Not all of the ERFA players were brought back. Detroit did not make offers to three: OLB Rashod Berry, S Jalen Elliott and OL Ryan McCollum. They are now street free agents free to sign with any other NFL team.