Pride of Detroit
The Detroit Lions blew past lofty expectations in the 2024 regular season. Which player exceeded expectations the most?
The Detroit Lions blew past already-lofty expectations for the 2024 regular season. The playoffs were a different story, but let’s hash that out another time. As we look into what drove the Lions’ success, there are several players whose level of play was essentially their best-case scenario for 2024. Let’s dive into those.
A few come to mind. On offense, Tim Patrick had a heck of a rebound year that felt a lot more productive than his 394 yards would indicate. Even when he wasn’t receiving the ball, he played a critical role in stretching defenses downfield. Alongside him, Jameson Williams finally filled the big shoes laid out for him when the Lions traded up to draft him, finishing the season with over 1000 yards receiving.
On defense, Carlton Davis evolved into a star. He played on an island week in and week out, holding it down in the face of high turnover from the safeties unit. He excelled in run support, too. His true value was only really felt when the Lions lost him.
A couple more that come to mind are guys like Jake Bates, who had a storybook journey to get to Detroit and continued it by coming up clutch for the Lions in several games down the stretch. Christian Mahogany also had a few tremendous showings at guard when filling in for Graham Glasgow and Kevin Zeitler, but that was admittedly a small sample size.
My answer: I think Jamo stands out to me as having excelled the most. Sure, he has had lofty expectations since the moment his name was called on the draft podium. But after two seasons riddled with injury, suspension, and frustration, we heard all offseason that Jamo was finally stepping up. It felt like hot air, the kind of talk you respond to with, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Well, we certainly saw it. Jamo took a huge step forward and, in my book, exceeded expectations more than any other Lion this year.
Who do you think exceeded expectations the most in 2024? Let us know in the comments.
