Detroit Lions wide receiver Tim Patrick entered training camp with high expectations after completing his first fully healthy offseason in years.
After suffering a torn ACL in 2022 and a torn Achilles in 2023, Patrick spent the entire 2024 offseason rehabbing. He followed that up by playing in 16 games in his debut season in Detroit, finishing with 33 catches for 394 yards and three touchdowns. The veteran wideout also had a productive spring, yet he has struggled to find his rhythm thus far in camp.
It’s made his early-camp struggles all the more frustrating.
“I feel great. That’s why I’m just frustrated that it’s not showing right now, because in OTAs, it did,” Patrick conveyed. “Training camp is a little different, I just gotta pick this ‘s**t’ up.”
Patrick finds himself in the No. 3 slot on the Lions’ wide receivers depth chart, which is headlined by All-Pro Amon-Ra St. Brown and rising talent Jameson Williams. Patrick, for one, believes that Williams is ready to take the next step and become an even more all-around receiver this upcoming season.
“People looked at him as just a deep threat, but if you’ve been watching this camp, he’s run every single route,” Patrick said of Williams. “I think most of his routes have been short routes that he’s been catching. So, everybody knew he could do it in the deep game, but now he’s finding that short range and that’s what’s going to make him impossible to stop.”
Meanwhile, Patrick, despite his slow start to camp, still believes he has what it takes to win his one-on-one battles against opposing defensive backs.
“My job is going to be easy,” he said. “I just gotta beat the number, what, 4 cornerback? I should win that every single time.”
While Patrick has experienced his fair share of challenges this summer, he’s had little-to-no difficulty in picking up the concepts of new offensive coordinator John Morton. Patrick and Morton spent the 2023 season together with the Denver Broncos, before Patrick moved on to the Motor City a season ago.
“It was stuff he brought from Detroit to Denver and now back to Detroit again,” the veteran receiver said of the concepts brought by Morton, who was a senior offensive assistant with the Lions in 2022. “So, there’s some similarities from last year from Denver. It’s pretty easy to pick up for me.”
While that has been the case with learning the playbook for Patrick, he has encountered a difficult time adjusting to the high-level intensity of Lions camp.
“It’s just not something I was accustomed to in my years of playing,” Patrick said. “So, it’s just something I got to pick up on. It’s just new, that’s it.”
Though it’s been a tough start, Patrick’s veteran savvy and knowledge of Morton’s system should prove valuable as the regular season nears.
