^with another team *college stats
Best competition: Who is No. 2 behind Hockenson?
Entering his fourth season, Hockenson has risen to become one of the better young receiving threats at tight end in the NFL. He’s expected to play a big role in Ben Johnson’s first year as offensive coordinator. Don’t forget Johnson was the tight ends coach before he was elevated to pass game coordinator and eventually OC this offseason. He knows Hockenson and how his skills translate to the field better than anyone.
The real question mark is who will be the No. 2 guy in Detroit, and then subsequently No. 3.
The Lions didn’t use two tight end formations a lot last year. They were in two-plus tight end formations 19 percent of the time. The league average was 28 percent. Johnson was definitely exploring the idea of moving Hockenson around more in the spring, which could mean him lining him up wide or in the slot and using the No. 2 guy in-line in some situations. Hockenson has missed nine games due to injury over his first three seasons, so depth is important at those second and third spots.
Wright went from an undrafted free agent, who was mostly thought of as a block-first player, to Detroit’s No. 1 tight end at the end of the season filling in for Hockenson (thumb). He made a couple nice touchdown grabs down the stretch and showed he can make plays in the passing game. He should come back even better in year two.
Mitchell, the team’s fifth-round draft pick this offseason, played in only two games last season for Virginia Tech because of a torn ACL. He didn’t take part in the offseason training program and could start training camp on the PUP list, but he’s got a nice skillset.
Zylstra had a really good spring and will be in the mix as well. The wildcard here is the veteran Funchess. He’s had some productive years in the NFL, and his size could make for an interesting threat as a receiving tight end.
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