ALLEN PARK -- Eric Ebron has been disliked by some since the moment he was drafted 10th overall by the Detroit Lions.
He wasn't a cornerback. He wasn't a defensive lineman. He was yet another tight end, and some have held that against him.
The detractors have grown louder over the course of the season, as Ebron struggled to produce on the field and then missed three weeks with a hamstring injury. And they've grown even louder this week, as Detroit prepares to face Tampa Bay on Sunday.
The Buccaneers will start a rookie receiver, Mike Evans, who has 53 for 890 yards and eight touchdowns. That dwarfs Ebron's 19 catches for 171 yards and one touchdown.
But Ebron's spirits remain buoyed.
"I'm aight, bruh," he said when approached by reporters in the locker room Friday. "B-R-U-H. Just say I'm aight, bruh. You going to write that?"
Ebron remains his usual playful self, despite some growing pains. He prefers to look at the positives, including the playing time he's gotten in recent weeks. He's played at least 42 snaps the past two weeks and averaged more than five targets the past three games.
He had four catches in the first half of Detroit's 34-17 win against the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving.
"It's straight," Ebron said. "I mean, I'm playing. I'm a rookie and playing. I can't complain. I'm at a really tough position.
"I'm playing. I can't be more happy about playing. I think last game was, what, the most snaps I've played? Felt like it after the game, too. I can't complain. I'm playing a really tough position, and the coaches, general manager, everybody has confidence in me."
Coach Jim Caldwell said this week he believes Ebron could still finish the season with a flourish, and has confidence that the prized tight end will pan out.
Ebron shares that belief, emphasizing just how complicated the tight end position is in this offense, and just how much he had to learn when he got here. He ran a spread offense at North Carolina that is wildly different from Joe Lombardi's system in Detroit.
"Spread offense didn't have as many key points, as many details you needed to worry about," Ebron said. "Now it's very nitpicky, very detailed, and I got great help from (Brandon Pettigrew) helping me mold into the things I"m doing now to learn and progress into the tight end everyone wants and expects me to be."
"I had great coaching (at North Carolina)," he continued, "but I wasn't coached up on things that are so nitpicky in the NFL -- that can change a play, or move, or get you open and things like that because in college spacing is a lot different. Fundamentals are a lot different."
It has taken Ebron longer than he would like to get up to speed, but stresses he's getting close to turning a corner thanks to all the recent snaps, as well as his burgeoning chemistry with quarterback Matthew Stafford.
What does he want to prove in the last four games of his rookie season?
"That I can be a threat, and not waste my opportunities," Ebron said. "Just go out there and take hold of every chance I get."