Pride of Detroit
With the Detroit Lions moving on from wide receiver Kalif Raymond, there’s a shift in the wide receiver room. The Lions drafted wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft with the intention of moving up the depth chart and becoming the third option in an offense that has weapons all over. He wowed with his touchdown catches in 2025, but the time to prove himself is in 2026.
Lions General Manager Brad Holmes moved up in the draft to take TeSlaa as a future investment, and the time for him to prove his worth is in 2026. How will he look with the move up the depth chart and the spotlight shining a little more on him? Let’s take a look at what Isaac TeSlaa’s 2026 could look like.
Previous season previews: RB Jahmyr Gibbs, RB Sione Vaki, OT Penei Sewell, WR Jameson Williams, EDGE Aidan Hutchinson, DL Levi Onwuzurike, CB D.J. Reed, and S Brian Branch
With the Lions moving up in the draft to take TeSlaa, expectations were a little higher than most third-round picks. Detroit already had three established receivers in Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and Kalif Raymond, but could TeSlaa take over that third spot?
At most, he was seen as a possible upgrade over Raymond as another big target for quarterback Jared Goff and a red-zone threat for the Lions. If he moved up, Raymond could focus on being another slot option and special-teams weapon that he was at punt returner. If he couldn’t, well, it could be the fourth option and get a year under his belt to learn the game at the next level and aim to improve in 2026.
17 games (3 starts)
Stats: 16 catches for 239 yards and six touchdowns
Isaac TeSlaa didn’t meet the minimum requirement of 40 targets.
PFF offensive grade: 63.1
PFF passing grade: 63.3
PFF pass blocking grade: 65.7
PFF run blocking grade: 52.3
TeSlaa didn’t have that much of an impact in 2025. He played in every game, but only got three starts and didn’t receive as much attention as people expected from Goff. What he became known for was coming up with ridiculous catches on the field. It started in the season opener as TeSlaa snagged a one-handed catch for a touchdown to try and give the Lions some life before they lost to the Green Bay Packers.
As the season progressed, TeSlaa wouldn’t get much playing time, but he kept finding the end zone, coming up big when the team needed a score. He would wow folks with his great hands, never dropping a pass that went his way. He did the most he could with the time he was given on the field and gave the Lions another head on the beast that was their offense.
After injuries to several tight ends, however, TeSlaa’s role starting to increase drastically. After averaging just...
