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Darren Fells

Lions add guy who catches touchdowns

The Lions signed Darren Fells yesterday. It's his second stint with the team; he's actually played for four different teams in the last five years. I don't think anyone hoping to select T.J. Hockenson should be terribly concerned about Fells' presence, but it is something to factor into his projection.

Fells most famously filled a red-zone threat role for Houston, catching 7 touchdowns in 2019. But it's long been a strength of his: he's caught 21 touchdowns in 102 career games. Aside from that he's never been a huge part of the passing game; just 123 career receptions. But with over 17 percent of those catches going for score, he leads all tight ends (among those catching at least 99 balls) in that regard over the past seven seasons. (Data compiled using the search tools at pro-football-reference.com.)

TIGHT END RECEIVING, 2014-2020
PlayerGRecYdsTDTD%
Darren Fells10212314832117.1%
Julius Thomas4816016132415.0%
Jonnu Smith6011413021614.0%
O.J. Howard4210516021413.3%
Tyler Eifert5918220562413.2%
Cameron Brate9822324382913.0%
Rob Gronkowski8134052294412.9%
Mark Andrews4515621052012.8%
Josh Hill10311010271412.7%
Antonio Gates7323626482912.3%
Marcedes Lewis9710612211211.3%
Zach Miller3310111611110.9%
Hunter Henry5519623222110.7%
Richard Rodgers8514515181510.3%
Jimmy Graham10739844764110.3%
David Njoku491121279119.8%
Kyle Rudolph1013443433339.6%
Austin Seferian-Jenkins431161160119.5%
Eric Ebron983393753329.4%
Trey Burton981591532159.4%
Hayden Hurst4499108399.1%
Coby Fleener591772191169.0%
Dallas Goedert421371465128.8%
Mike Gesicki471261475118.7%
Vance McDonald861731917158.7%
Jared Cook1033234285288.7%
Larry Donnell3810793898.4%
T.J. Hockenson2899109088.1%
Jordan Reed663103103258.1%
Jack Doyle992612408218.0%
Travis Kelce1106127881487.8%
Lance Kendricks911421426117.7%
Austin Hooper722602679207.7%
Gary Barnidge451471811117.5%
Logan Thomas5810798787.5%
Jesse James881501460117.3%
Martellus Bennett522282342167.0%
C.J. Uzomah63114109887.0%
Tyler Higbee781731927126.9%
Ryan Griffin901601653116.9%
Delanie Walker693213852226.9%
Ben Watson742072056146.8%
Greg Olsen893614503246.6%
Darren Waller542152519146.5%
Jason Witten963493247226.3%
Gerald Everett61127138986.3%
Jermaine Gresham731591490106.3%
Zach Ertz1015255609326.1%
Evan Engram502162420136.0%
Noah Fant31102123565.9%
Rhett Ellison86106106365.7%
Mychal Rivera45108100665.6%
Vernon Davis791862361105.4%
George Kittle532643579145.3%
Charles Clay832542664135.1%
Heath Miller31126129654.0%
Nick Boyle73120104743.3%
Dennis Pitta1910285422.0%

I cropped the list at 99 to sneak in Hockenson, who's caught exactly that many his first two seasons. He shows up in the middle of the pack on this list. Reasonable to think that Fells will take a red-zone look or two away from Hockenson along the way this season.

Again, I think it's pretty hard to dock Hockenson too much -- there aren't so many fantastic, involved receiving tight ends in the league to move too many ahead of a player like Hockenson. But maybe he catches slightly fewer balls, especially in the red zone.

--Andy Richardson

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