The Detroit Lions finished up one of its most successful seasons -- record-wise -- in franchise history. Now, the offseason begins with the combine, free agency and the NFL draft.
To start that process moving, we'll look at each position group over the next two weeks analyzing what worked, what didn't and projecting what could happen between now and training camp, a little over six months away.
Previous analyses: Quarterbacks; Running backs; Wide receivers
2015 Free Agents: Kellen Davis
The good: There wasn't much. Before his injury, Joseph Fauria showed signs of becoming a more complete tight end after a rookie season where he was primarily a red zone pass-catcher. First round pick Eric Ebron improved his blocking and route running as the season progressed, but needs to find consistency in both areas. Brandon Pettigrew turned into a blocking tight end for the most part. Kellen Davis was also a blocking tight end who barely ran routes.
The bad: There's a lot. In terms of play calls and separation, the tight ends were barely used in Detroit's offense. When they were thrown to, catching was sometimes an adventure as they accounted for seven of the Lions' 23 drops. Injuries were plentiful as Pettigrew, Ebron and Fauria all missed at least one game and Fauria lost most of his season due to ankle injuries. The blocking wasn't great as a group as Pro Football Focus rated both Pettigrew and Fauria in the negative as run-blockers and Pettigrew in the negative as a pass-blocker. Despite offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi's insistence that this would be a tight end friendly offense, the results did not match up with that assessment -- although injuries had something to do with it. Overall, this might have been the worst position group on the Lions this season despite pouring free agent money and a first-round pick into the spot.
The money (using 2015 cap numbers from ESPN Stats & Information): Pettigrew is scheduled to have a $3.8 million cap number. If he is on the roster on the third day of the new league year in March, $2 million of his base salary in 2015 becomes fully guaranteed. Ebron's cap number is $2.783 million and his base salary of $776,779 and roster bonus of $200,000 are fully guaranteed for 2015. Fauria has a small cap number of $589,168 in comparison to Pettigrew and Ebron. None of it is guaranteed and he only counts as $4,168 of dead money for 2015 -- after which he becomes a restricted free agent.
Potential cuts: Likely none, although Pettigrew would be the most likely of the three either as an early or post-June 1 cut. With only two other tight ends on the roster and none of them as strong a blocker as Pettigrew, that seems unlikely.
Draft priority: This isn't a high need, but there could be some need here, which is surprising considering Detroit has two first-round picks at the position. This would not be an early-round selection or even one in the middle rounds, but if the Lions pick up a blocking or combination tight end late, it would not be stunning.