A recent article about new Lions receiver Danny Amendola talked him up as a "safety blanket" for Matthew Stafford. And that's fair, because he's definitely a reliable receiver at close range (and Stafford will be working without Theo Riddick this season). Scoring punch, though, is something he lacks.
Among all the league's wideouts with 50 catches a year ago, only two players caught a higher percentage of their targets than Amendola: Michael Thomas and Tyler Lockett. That's good. But at the same time, among that same group of 50-catch receivers, nobody caught fewer touchdowns.
| WIDE RECEIVERS, 2018 (50-PLUS CATCHES) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tgt | Rec | % | Yds | TD |
| Antonio Brown, Pitt. | 168 | 104 | 61.9% | 1297 | 15 |
| Davante Adams, G.B. | 169 | 111 | 65.7% | 1386 | 13 |
| Tyreek Hill, K.C. | 137 | 87 | 63.5% | 1479 | 12 |
| DeAndre Hopkins, Hou. | 163 | 115 | 70.6% | 1572 | 11 |
| Tyler Lockett, Sea. | 70 | 57 | 81.4% | 965 | 10 |
| Calvin Ridley, Atl. | 92 | 64 | 69.6% | 821 | 10 |
| Michael Thomas, N.O. | 147 | 125 | 85.0% | 1405 | 9 |
| Adam Thielen, Minn. | 153 | 113 | 73.9% | 1373 | 9 |
| Stefon Diggs, Minn. | 149 | 102 | 68.5% | 1021 | 9 |
| Julio Jones, Atl. | 170 | 113 | 66.5% | 1677 | 8 |
| Mike Evans, T.B. | 138 | 86 | 62.3% | 1524 | 8 |
| Tyler Boyd, Cin. | 108 | 76 | 70.4% | 1028 | 7 |
| Amari Cooper, Oak.-Dall. | 107 | 75 | 70.1% | 1005 | 7 |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster, Pitt. | 166 | 111 | 66.9% | 1426 | 7 |
| Chris Godwin, T.B. | 95 | 59 | 62.1% | 842 | 7 |
| Zay Jones, Buff. | 102 | 56 | 54.9% | 652 | 7 |
| Keenan Allen, LAC | 136 | 97 | 71.3% | 1196 | 6 |
| Alshon Jeffery, Phi. | 92 | 65 | 70.7% | 843 | 6 |
| Julian Edelman, N.E. | 108 | 74 | 68.5% | 850 | 6 |
| Robert Woods, LAR | 130 | 86 | 66.2% | 1219 | 6 |
| T.Y. Hilton, Ind. | 120 | 76 | 63.3% | 1270 | 6 |
| Odell Beckham, NYG | 124 | 77 | 62.1% | 1052 | 6 |
| Larry Fitzgerald, Ariz. | 112 | 69 | 61.6% | 734 | 6 |
| Robby Anderson, NYJ | 94 | 50 | 53.2% | 752 | 6 |
| Adam Humphries, T.B. | 105 | 76 | 72.4% | 816 | 5 |
| Doug Baldwin, Sea. | 73 | 50 | 68.5% | 618 | 5 |
| Brandin Cooks, LAR | 117 | 80 | 68.4% | 1204 | 5 |
| Demaryius Thomas, Den.-Hou. | 89 | 59 | 66.3% | 677 | 5 |
| Dede Westbrook, Jac. | 101 | 66 | 65.3% | 717 | 5 |
| Kenny Golladay, Det. | 119 | 70 | 58.8% | 1063 | 5 |
| Emmanuel Sanders, Den. | 98 | 71 | 72.4% | 868 | 4 |
| Mohamed Sanu, Atl. | 94 | 66 | 70.2% | 838 | 4 |
| Nelson Agholor, Phil. | 97 | 64 | 66.0% | 736 | 4 |
| Golden Tate, Det.-Phi. | 113 | 74 | 65.5% | 795 | 4 |
| Sterling Shepard, NYG | 107 | 66 | 61.7% | 872 | 4 |
| Allen Robinson, Chi. | 94 | 55 | 58.5% | 754 | 4 |
| Corey Davis, Tenn. | 112 | 65 | 58.0% | 891 | 4 |
| Jarvis Landry, Clev. | 149 | 81 | 54.4% | 976 | 4 |
| Cole Beasley, Dall. | 87 | 65 | 74.7% | 672 | 3 |
| Jordy Nelson, Oak. | 88 | 63 | 71.6% | 739 | 3 |
| Michael Crabtree, Balt. | 100 | 54 | 54.0% | 607 | 3 |
| Chester Rogers, Ind. | 72 | 53 | 73.6% | 485 | 2 |
| Taylor Gabriel, Chi. | 93 | 67 | 72.0% | 688 | 2 |
| D.J. Moore, Car. | 82 | 55 | 67.1% | 788 | 2 |
| Willie Snead, Balt. | 95 | 62 | 65.3% | 651 | 1 |
| Danny Amendola, Mia. | 79 | 59 | 74.7% | 575 | 1 |
This is not a new thing for Amendola. He's been in the league 10 years, playing at least 11 games in all but one of them, and he's never caught more than 4 TDs. In 10 NFL seasons, he's caught 20 TDs. As the table shows, six different wideouts caught at least half that many last year.
Some PPR value in Amendola, I'll grant you; the team doesn't have many other short-range targets, with Riddick gone and Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones more likely running deeper routes. But he won't be a big scorer.
--Andy Richardson