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Detroit Lions’ Eric Ebron Must Play to His Potential in 2015

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Eric Ebron Needs To Improve His Game

Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

There is no question that the Detroit Lions have one of the best passing offenses in the league and will continue to have one for the foreseeable future. However, after a less-than-stellar start to his rookie season, Lions tight end Eric Ebron needs to step up this year if the Lions want to make a deep playoff push and a potential run at Super Bowl 50.

A rookie last season, Ebron was supposed to be the next coming of the unstoppable tight ends in the league. He was supposed to be in the ranks of Jimmy Graham and Rob Gronkowski. He was supposed to put up insane numbers while being paired with Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford.

That didn’t happen. Ebron wasn’t even the starter for half of the Lions games last year. He ended up finishing the year with 25 receptions and 248 yards with only one touchdown. For being the tenth pick in the 2014 NFL Draft and with all the expectations behind him, Ebron failed miserably during his rookie season.

However, that is where everyone should cut him some slack. It was his rookie season and he was adjusting to the pro game as opposed to the college game. A lot of rookies struggle their first year while they learn to adjust.

Now there is no excuse for Ebron. It’s time to perform in his sophomore season. The Lions have Johnson and Golden Tate, who surprised many last year with his play, drawing most of the attention in the passing game. Ebron has every chance in the world to make a difference for the Lions’ passing attack. The only question is, can he do it?

From what we saw of him last year, the easy answer is no. Statistically speaking, his best game was against the New York Jets in Week 4 when he caught three balls for 34 yards and one touchdown. Unacceptable for a guy who possesses as much talent as Ebron.

Ebron does have one aspect going for him that makes me feel confident that his game will get better this upcoming season and that is offensive coordinator, Joe Lombardi.

Obviously last year it looked like Lombardi did nothing to help Ebron. However, Lombardi came from the New Orleans Saints, where he was the quarterbacks coach during some dominating seasons that included tight end, Jimmy Graham. Lombardi has been around a dominant, playmaking tight end and should know how to get him involved in the offensive game planning.

Lombardi will give Ebron chances to make plays with the Lions offense and will come up with plays and formations suited for him. The fact that he will also be on the field with Johnson and Tate will give him many opportunities to make plays. But it’s up to Ebron to put in the work this training camp and preseason in order for the coaches to feel comfortable in giving Ebron opportunities to perform.

For one, Ebron needs to improve on his dropped passes. That was a knock on him coming out of college at North Carolina and it continued in his rookie season where he dropped four passes on only 47 targets. For comparison, Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson dropped four passes on 151 targets. Even though Nelson had the same number of drops, his targets were much higher than Ebron’s, which means that Ebron had a much higher drop percentage.

Also, Ebron needs to get comfortable with the offense. The Lions may have given Ebron too much to handle last season. It was evident at times throughout the whole season that the offensive line was still adjusting to Lombardi’s new offense. Now, with a full year under his belt and another offseason, Ebron should be able to handle the load the Lions want to give him.

 

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