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The Detroit Lions were sorely lacking at tight end last season. After Marvin Jones was lost to injury and Golden Tate was traded away, the Lions' receiving corp was a mess as a whole last year. But the tight end position was consistently missing any sort of production the entire season.
Detroit used the tenth overall pick on Ebron back in 2014, and then let him walk in free agency last year after deeming him not worth the money, a decision which isn't looking too wise after Ebron's career year with the Colts.
The Lions are wisely doing their due diligence on this year's crop of tight ends available in the draft, and are bringing in Iowa tight end Noah Fant for a visit, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Fant is an athletic freak who recently blew up the combine. Last season, he had 39 catches for 519 yards and seven touchdowns.
He's a tremendous redzone threat, and the year before that had 11 touchdowns on just 30 catches. The Lions own the eighth overall pick, and could take Fant as early as then or try and trade down and get him later in the first round.
The Lions' leading tight end last year was Levine Toilolo, who finished with just 263 yards. Toilolo is a former backup Falcons tight end who has never topped 264 yards in a season. He's a free agent now, and doesn't appear too likely to be back in Detroit next year.
Detroit signed former Steelers tight end Jesse James to a big contract this offseason, and are starting over at the position in 2019. James is serviceable, but the Lions should be looking for someone with more upside to be their tight end of the future.
Fant fits that bill, and it's no surprise the Lions are interested.
