Who Should I Start? Marvin Jones or Ian Thomas

Wednesday, October 25, 11:01 AM

Detroit Lions wide receiver Marvin Jones Jr. announced on Tuesday that he was stepping away from the team due to personal family matters. Jones was then released by the team. "To be brief, I am stepping away from the team to take care of personal family matters," Jones wrote in part in an Instagram post. "Although this was no easy decision, I cannot be the person/player that I need to be for this team as well as tend to my family from afar." The veteran pass-catcher did not travel with the team to Baltimore in Week 7 and had very little production to begin the season, catching five passes for 35 yards on 10 targets. The 33-year-old didn't mention anything about retirement. The former fifth-rounder has played in 151 career games and has 547 catches for 7,421 yards and 58 touchdowns. With Jones out of the picture, Kalif Raymond could have a bigger role as wideout depth in Detroit.

Sunday, April 7, 1:31 PM

The Athletic's Bruce Feldman predicts that the Arizona Cardinals will trade down to pick No. 11 in a swap with the Minnesota Vikings in the first round of this year's NFL draft to take LSU wide receiver BrIan Thomas. The 21-year-old pass-catcher has been in the shadow of fellow wideout Malik Nabers, but he was terrific at the scouting combine in February to raise his draft stock tremendously. He also had 68 receptions for 1,177 yards and led the FBS with 17 touchdowns in 2023. "Potentially, I think can be really good in the NFL. He was a red zone nightmare. Even if you were in great position, he could still win those 50-50 balls. But he didn't scare you with (yards after catch) like Nabers did," one coach said. Adding another receiving weapon for quarterback Kyler Murray makes a lot of sense, especially when considering Arizona's top-three receivers are currently Michael Wilson, Chris Moore and Greg Dortch.