Ask Kyle: A defense of Eric Ebron, and what to expect from him in Year 3
Q: In an effort to silence the Eric Ebron haters out there, can you track his progress compared to other TE in first 2 seasons?
A: Ebron continues to disappoint many fans, which I understand, given the incredible amount of talent selected right behind him. Odell Beckham anyone? Aaron Donald? There's no question Martin Mayhew screwed up that pick.
But I think it would surprise some to see how Ebron's production stacks up against the top tight ends in other draft classes. Because according to those guys, he's right on track, and perhaps even slightly ahead of schedule at his position.
Continued...
Now let's look at Year 2. Our pool of 10 tight ends averaged 45.4 catches for 480.8 yards and 4.1 touchdowns in their sophomore campaigns. (Not including Cincinnati's Tyler Eifert, who was limited to one game by injury.)
Ebron in Year 2: 47 catches for 537 yards and five touchdowns
In other words, for as much hate as Ebron has taken some of his own doing, given his early immaturity he's actually produced at a pretty regular level for a highly drafted tight end. And last season, he was actually better than average.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ss...se_of_eric_ebr.html#incart_river_mobile_index
I think Ebron will be good for around 700-800 yards with potentially double digit TDs given how big of a threat he is in the red zone. His numbers would possibly be higher on another team but Stafford will be dishing the ball to Golden Tate, Marvin Jones, Theo Riddick so statistics will be dispersed pretty evenly among those four players, IMO.
More at the link also discussing extensions for players drafted in the Lions 2013 draft.
ESPN recently ranked the top draft class of 2013 and for some reason the Chargers came out #1 on their list with the Lions at #2.
Ezekial Ansah, Darius Slay, Larry Warford, Devin Taylor, Sam Martin and Theo Riddick. All expect Devin Taylor are Pro Bowlers or borderline Pro Bowlers and Devin Taylor made a huge leap last year with 8 sacks or so opposite of Ansah who had 14.5 sacks.
The Lions 2013 draft class is one of the best draft classes of the last 20 years.