Getty Image / Otto Greule Jr
Last season, the Detroit Lions were one of the NFL’s biggest surprises as they went from one of the league’s worst teams to nearly securing a playoff spot.
This offseason, they have been making moves to try and finally get themselves back into the playoffs.
Today, they added another veteran to that list of signings and it’s a player Lions fans should already be pretty familiar with.
Marvin Jones Jr announced today that he would returning to the Detroit Lions.
BACK & IM STILL BUZZIN!!! BZN “#”?? pic.twitter.com/eoqw2cMmQ7
— Marvin Jones Jr (@MarvinJonesJr) March 29, 2023
His deal will reportedly be for 1 year and $3 million with the possibility that it could get to $5 million with incentives.
Veteran WR Marvin Jones Jr headed back to the #Lions, where he played from 2016-20. Source says it’s a one-year deal with a $3 million base value with incentives that can push it to $5 million. https://t.co/jeiQsVFIPV
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 29, 2023
Marvin Jones Jr had a pretty successful 1st stint with the Lions. After spending the 1st 3 years of his career with the Bengals, he headed to the Lions in free agency and ended up spending the next 5 years of his career in Detroit.
Over the course of those 5 seasons, Jones racked up 289 catches for 4296 yards and 36 touchdowns as one of Mattew Stafford’s top targets. His time with the Lions saw him hit 900 receiving yards on 3 different occasions including one season where he finished with 1101 yards.
For the last 2 years, he has been a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars and has continued to be a productive receiver. In his first year with the Jaguars, Jones had 73 catches for 832 yards. In his 2nd year with the team he saw a downtick in his numbers, dropping to 46 catches for 529 yards as Christian Kirk took over as the team’s top option.
Now he’ll head back to Detroit to join a passing game that features two of the league’s most promising young receivers.
Jones won’t be quite as big of a part of the offense this time around as he competes with Amon-Ra St Brown and Jameson Williams for targets, but his return will give the offense a solid veteran presence who should be able to contribute throughout the 2023 season.