Team news: Detroit Lions

The Rams ultimately lost a heartbreaking game against the Eagles in which they had a double-digit lead and had two kicks blocked, but the silver lining is that their offense looks like an elite unit with room to get even better. When Matthew Stafford got traded to the Rams in 2021, Sean McVay started to shift from the under-center, compressed formations, run-heavy offense that he ran with Jared Goff. The offense became more spread out, used shotgun and pistol more, and passed at a higher rate because it had Stafford. The offense started to shift back last season to McVay’s original approach, going under center on 45 percent of plays, which ranked second only to the Detroit Lions.

So far, this season, they’ve shifted even more in that direction, going under center on 65 percent of snaps.

Related players: Kyren Williams, Puka Nacua, Davante Adams

Part of the reason for this shift is in direct response to Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, who has influenced the league’s 2-high meta, the story explained. The trend of keeping two safeties deep to stop explosives left them vulnerable upfront, so McVay countered with more under-center, gap-scheme runs and using more play action when throwing. The story said despite the loss, the scheme worked as intended against Fangio’s defense. The Rams had the second-highest success rate that any offense has had against Fangio’s Eagles defense (54.8 percent) and ran for the third-most yards against them as well, the story went on to say.

Lions OC John Morton on Isaac TeSlaa: "His role will be expanded."

Said he has confidence in TeSlaa's understanding of the offense.

Related Players: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam LaPorta, Jameson Williams, Kalif Raymond

TeSlaa turned three offensive snaps into an insane late-game touchdown catch, so it's fair to say that he's earned it. We would expect more playing time to come at Kalif Raymond's expense, but it's still too early to consider TeSlaa a fantasy consideration.

The Detroit Lions are ready to get rookie receiver Isaac TeSlaa more involved in their offense.

Lions coach Dan Campbell said Monday in Allen Park he hopes to give TeSlaa a bigger role going forward.

Related players: Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Sam LaPorta

TeSlaa is probably a more familiar name to those in dynasty leagues, but he was considered a later round sleeper who was perhaps blocked a bit by those in front of him on the Lions depth chart. TeSlaa played just three of 67 offensive snaps but scored the Lions' lone touchdown against the Packers. It's easy to see TeSlaa working his way up to the team's WR3 role behind St. Brown and newly-extended Williams. But the Lions also have a quality tight end in LaPorta and of course Gibbs at running back who will both demand targets. It's at least a good sign the Lions will look to get him more snaps, and having fantasy stock in what should be a high-powered offense in Detroit is never a bad thing. TeSlaa is still probably best owned in slightly deeper leagues.

The Lions reached an agreement with WR Jameson Williams on a three-year deal worth up to $83 million.

The Lions lock up their No. 2 wide receiver just before the season opener against the Packers. Williams effectively had two years left on his deal, as the Lions had exercised the fifth-year option on the No. 12 pick in the 2022 draft -- the Lions had traded up from No. 32 to No. 12 to select Williams. Williams recorded his first 1,000-yard season in 2024 and is primed to repeat that performance in 2025.

Lions TE Sam LaPorta, who missed time in training camp because of injury, isn't listed on the initial injury report, putting him on track to face the Packers.

Related Players: Brock Wright, Shane Zylstra

It was a disappointing season —in terms of ADP payoff— for LaPorta last season, but it looks like he'll be a full-go in this divisional matchup to start the year. Consider him an easy top-10 option for Week 1.

The Jags acquired Tim Patrick in a trade with the Detroit Lions, NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported Wednesday morning, per a source informed of the deal.

The 31-year-old receiver, who missed all of 2022 and 2023 due to ACL and Achilles' injuries, respectively, played 16 games in Detroit last season, corralling 33 passes for 394 yards and three touchdowns.

Related Players: Dyami Brown, Isaac TeSlaa

This likely impacts TeSlaa more than anyone else, who has shot up the depth chart since being selected in the third round of this year's Draft. He's probably not going to make much of a fantasy impact as a week-to-week starter, but he has been an interesting last-round dart throw in best ball stacks.

Sources: The Lions are releasing QB Hendon Hooker.

Related players: Jared Goff, Kyle Allen

Allen will now be the backup to Goff. The Lions were hoping Hooker would take over the QB2 duties, but it wasn't a good sign when Hooker played behind Allen in the final preseason game. Hooker is a former third round pick.

The Lions drafted quarterback Hendon Hooker in the third round in 2023, but through two NFL seasons Hooker has played only in garbage time, and late last season the Lions brought in veteran Teddy Bridgewater and put him ahead of Hooker on the depth chart to back up Jared Goff.

As the Lions open training camp this year, Bridgewater is no longer on the team and Hooker is competing with Kyle Allen to be the Lions’ No. 2 quarterback. Lions head coach Dan Campbell says it’s time for Hooker to take the next step in his career.

The story indicated the team could bring back Bridgewater, but that seems like it will only happen if Hooker doesn't take control of the QB2 job. There have been indications recently on X that Hooker has looked good, so if Goff owners are thinking about a handcuff, keep an eye on how Hooker progresses in camp.

The Jets ran the ball less than any team last season. The biggest reason for that (Aaron Rodgers) is gone. It would not shock me if the Jets went from last to first in terms of rushing attempts — the product of a run-first scheme led by offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand, and the dynamic, dual-threat quarterbacking of Justin Fields in the fray. The Jets are modeling their offense after the one Engstrand and Aaron Glenn came from in Detroit, where, in theory at least, Breece Hall would play the Jahmyr Gibbs role while Braelon Allen would step in as the David Montgomery, power-running type. — Zack Rosenblatt

Those are pretty big expectations, but the thought of it is exciting. Rosenblatt went on to say Allen was a training camp breakout last year who never got a chance to get going in a bad offense, but he’ll have plenty of opportunities in 2025 to make his mark and prove he can be the long-term starter with Hall in the last year of his contract.

John Morton replaced Ben Johnson as the team’s offensive coordinator this offseason and Jahmyr Gibbs revealed one of the new wrinkles he’s installed into an offense that scored the most points in the league last season. It involves Gibbs lining up outside of the backfield more frequently than he did in his first two seasons.

“Nothing too much changed, so a lot of the stuff is the same,” Gibbs said, via WXYZ. “I gotta learn the formations for this, but I’m being split out, I guess, like way more than I was the past two years. That’s good, that’s going to be fun. I’ve been waiting on that. He wants me to be more involved in it, so that’s what he plans on doing.

The story pointed out Gibbs caught 104 passes over his first two NFL seasons, but it looks like the team has plans to make him an even bigger part of the passing game. Owners are hoping to not see a TD regression this season after the back scored 20 TDs total last year, and this may be a chance for Gibbs to keep up that pace.