The Lions moved quickly to secure wide receiver Marvin Jones’ services as a free agent when the 2016 league year opened up last month, giving themselves a receiver who could fill the hole on the depth chart that opened when Calvin Johnson decided to retire.
Jones will be stepping into the lineup across from Golden Tate, but it would be asking a lot for him to replace the production that Johnson gave the Lions over the course of his career in Detroit. Jones said Tuesday that he doesn’t feel any pressure to do that and is concentrating on making the most of whatever the Lions throw his way.
“I don’t have any pressure whatsoever on my shoulders. I know what I can do,” Jones said, via MLive.com. “Obviously I’m here for a reason, and that goes back to the opportunities. Throughout my career, I’ve capitalized on my opportunities the best I can, and I know that’s what I’m going to do. So there’s no pressure.”
Jones was targeted 103 times by the Bengals last season, which was good for second on the Bengals and less often than both Johnson and Tate were targeted in the Lions offense. It’s reasonable to assume that number is going to go up as long as Jones is healthy and a proportional rise in his results would likely leave the Lions happy with the initial payoff on their deal with the wideout.