Pride of Detroit
The next installment in our training camp preview series looks at the Lions’ wide receivers room.
With Detroit Lions 2025 training camp just a few weeks away, we have restarted our annual roster preview series. If you’re not familiar with this series, we guide you position-by-position through the roster, examining the starting, reserve, and specialty roles, which players are competing for which jobs, and project how the Lions will approach each situation.
In this installment, we examine the Lions’ wide receivers room, speculate on current and future roles, and discuss how many players from this group could make the 53-man roster.
Previous training camp previews:
The Lions entered the offseason determined not to repeat their mistakes from the previous year, when they struggled to find a starting WR-X during training camp. With Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and Kalif Raymond all under contract, the Lions quickly re-signed Tim Patrick in free agency, cementing the return of their top four wide receivers.
As for the rest of the receiver room, the Lions’ WR5 and WR6 roles were occupied by a rotation of players, with veteran Tom Kennedy being the only receiver of the group to re-sign in Detroit. Undrafted rookie Isaiah Williams was on the roster through Week 9 but was released, and the Bengals claimed him off waivers. Maurice Alexander joined Ben Johnson in Chicago this offseason. Allen Robinson was active, but seldom used, for the majority of the season, was not re-signed, and is currently a free agent.
To fill the now vacated openings, the Lions opted for a youth movement. The Lions kicked things off by signing former Michigan receiver Ronnie Bell to a futures contract. Then, Detroit added four rookies, drafting Isaac TeSlaa in the third round, Dominic Lovett in the seventh, then signing Jakobie Keeney-James and Jackson Meeks as their two highest-paid undrafted free agents. Additionally, following a tryout at rookie minicamp, veteran Malik Taylor was signed to the roster.
In all, the Lions enter training camp with 11 receivers under contract, including their top four producers from last season, four rookies, and three veterans competing for snaps.
Under the Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell regime, the Lions have typically kept between five and six wide receivers on the active roster and at least two on the practice squad. Let’s take a look at what they’ve done in the previous four seasons:
