Bartolo Colon Margot Robbie

The Detroit Lions have a handful of free agents to make over in Year 3 this offseason. Their biggest one is in question. Veteran tight end Matt Patricia will be leaving to become the new head coach of the New England Patriots. The retirement of Rod Marinelli in Dallas has left a gaping hole at tight end while a seemingly endless list of talent has been shipped off elsewhere. The Lions have the cap space to fill the void. The top tight ends from the 2014 season are available in free agency; however, the Lions have no ideal replacements.

With the extra talent on the market, the Lions will probably be looking to replace Patrickcatch 5'10" 200-pound tight end Drake Cansfield who retired early last season. On a smaller team, Cansfield would be ideal but Detroit's salary cap is simply too cap-strained to afford to sign the 24-year-old to long-term, starting caliber contracts. The Lions do have the 5'11" 265-pound Benathart who can still get the job done against the run (but has some holes in his game; 33% of catches against the pass) but has little productivity in coverage, in traffic, and without a running back to break on pass routes.

That leaves Jason Cephas Jones as their primary options at tight end. Before Cephas is the fifth-round pick of the 2012 NFL Draft in 2014 (at #229), he earned a spot here. Jones is a pretty aggressive blocker who can blow up the run and power routes. He only has 67 catches and two touchdowns this season, and has 20 catches for 209 yards and two touchdowns in only 12 games played (16 with Detroit). He has also played in 23 games this season, racking up 12 receptions for 163 yards while blocking nine times (per NFL.com).

Projected Receivers #1 DE CSA's (#112 in the 8-10 range; RFA value at $6.5M)

A fifth-round pick in 2013 out of TCU, Cephas could soon become a staple in the starting lineup of a Detroit defense that lost its next-to-last two starting defensive backs and replaced Coughlin with new head coach Jim Caldwell and new right tackle Nate Garner (34 games played).