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Michael Rothstein
ESPN Staff Writer
GLENDALE,
Ariz. -- Detroit Lions tight ends Jesse James and Logan Thomas were
talking before Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals and
they had an inkling of what might happen. They’d studied the tape. They’d been
around the league, and everything they had watched throughout the preseason and
the spring told them both the same thing.
They thought
Lions rookie tight end T.J. Hockenson was going to have a big day.
“All of OTAs, all camp, [Hockenson] came in with his head down and just
practiced and practiced and it was at that point we all, both of us knew,”
Thomas said. “The rest of the team was put on notice that he was going to have
a chance to be really, really good in this league.”
T.J. Hockenson set a rookie record for receiving
yards for tight ends in a debut. AP Photo/Darryl Webb
On Sunday, the rest of the NFL saw exactly what the two Lions
tight ends had been describing all along. In front of a crowd that included approximately 100
family members and friends who made the trip to Arizona from his hometown of
Chariton, Iowa, Hockenson did something better than any rookie tight end to
come before him.
In
his first game, Detroit's first-round pick caught six passes for 131 yards and
a touchdown -- the most receiving yards since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger for a
rookie tight end in his debut. This all bodes well for Detroit in its future
with the soft-spoken Hockenson, who deflected all excitement about his
individual performance because it came in a 27-27 tie that
saw the Lions blow an 18-point fourth-quarter lead.
“He’s a beast,” receiver Danny Amendola said. “He’s been
working really hard. He got a taste of what the NFL is all about today and he’s
a great player, great teammate and I’m excited to see what he does.”
It’s clear
that if the Lions' offense is going to be successful in 2019, it will be with
Hockenson playing a large role. He led Detroit in yards Sunday and -- surprisingly considering the
Lions have two of the better deep-ball receivers in the league in Marvin Jones and Kenny Golladay -- yards per
reception (21.8). Hockenson is the kind of matchup problem the Lions were
hoping for when they took him as the eighth overall pick this spring.
Few teams
will have a player who can be a good matchup against his 6-foot-5, 247-pound
frame. You just likely won’t hear about it from Hockenson, who appeared
bothered and confused by the outcome of the game; he said he had never been
part of a tie before.
There were
also obvious areas he can grow and things that will come in time. A couple of
plays, including a deep pass in the fourth quarter where it appeared Hockenson
was sitting on the route and Matthew Stafford threw
it deep, were miscommunications that will get worked on over time as the tight
end and quarterback develop a rapport.
“We’re just trying to throw it up and see if we can make a
play,” Hockenson said. “He’s scrambling back there and it’s something we need
to get on the same page, and that’s what we need to do.”
Despite
his big day, Hockenson was more down and critical than anything else. He said
he was happy to have played, unhappy with the result.
But
he did, at least, pull one veteran move even as a rookie. His first touchdown
catch? He kept the ball.
