The Detroit Lions were considering potential upgrades for their receiving corps when director of pro scouting Rob Lohman approached general manager Brad Holmes with a name to consider.
“He comes to me and says, ‘Have you seen this Denver receiver?’ ” Holmes said Thursday. “I said, ‘Who?’ And he said, ‘Trinity Benson.’ And I had the same response as probably everybody else had and I said, ‘Who the hell is Trinity Benson?’ ”
A little-known receiver from East Central University in Ada, Ok., (student body: 3,900), Benson did big things for the Denver Broncos this preseason.
He led the Broncos with eight catches for 80 yards, scored two touchdowns and took a turn returning punts and kicks.
BIRKETT: Lions GM Holmes discusses roster: 10 thoughts
And when it became obvious Benson was on the roster bubble in Denver, Holmes made a move to acquire the speedy receiver and upgrade a Lions receiving room that looks to be the team’s weakest position.
“When I first watched the tape, I was like, ‘Wow,’ ” Holmes said. “He just popped off. He had juice, he had explosiveness. His upside as a route runner, it gets you really excited for a young guy. And then the more work you do from an intangible standpoint, he’s a tough kid that’s a hard worker, he’s smart, does things the right way, so that’s kind of when I called (Broncos GM) George (Paton) and kind of see if we could get something worked out.”
The Lions were seventh in the waiver priority, but Holmes was not interested in waiting to see if the Broncos released Benson — they were deciding between Benson and Diontae Spencer for the No. 5 receiver job — and trusting that the six teams in front of the Lions would not claim him on waivers.
(The Jacksonville Jaguars, who were first in the waiver order, did claim a receiver off waivers, Tyron Johnson from the Los Angeles Chargers.)
Benson’s role is to-be-determined this fall in the Lions’ unheralded but crowded receiver room.
The Lions have seven receivers on their 53-man roster: Starters Tyrell Williams, Kalif Raymond and Amon-Ra St. Brown; Benson and waiver claim KhaDarel Hodge; and backups Quintez Cephus and Tom Kennedy, who won jobs with strong training camps.
While keeping a seventh (and maybe even a sixth) receiver seems like a luxury for a Lions team thin on talent, Holmes disputed the notion the Lions have a subpar receiving group.
“I know they say these aren’t the superstars that are jumping off the table, but (Lions coach) Dan (Campbell) and I see the narrative probably a lot definitely than probably the outside,” Holmes said. “We feel really, really good and we have faith in the group that we have.”
Hodge, who signed with the Los Angeles Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2019 — when Holmes was the team’s college scouting director — and later played for the Cleveland Browns when Lions exec John Dorsey was GM, is another explosive receiver with special teams ability.
Both he and Benson should compete for gameday roles in Detroit, though Cephus and Kennedy were two of the Lions’ most productive pass catchers in the preseason.
Holmes said the Lions kept seven receivers not to make a statement about their talent at the position or the importance of the unit as a whole, but simply because they were seven of the best 53 players they could assemble, regardless of position.
The New York Jets and Washington are the only other NFL teams with seven receivers on their current 53-man rosters, according to depth charts compiled by OurLads.com. The Tennessee Titans also have seven receivers, but have one receiver on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
“We’re not going to eliminate a good football player because it’s an overkill at a position,” Holmes said.
“So when you look down and you get to Tyrell and Kalif and St. Brown, and then you get to Cephus, then you get to Tom Kennedy, and it’s like, ‘Well, Tom Kennedy, he’s had a hell of a camp.’ It’s not like, oh, we get to Tom Kennedy. ‘Well, you can’t keep him because now you’re at five and six.’ No, Tom Kennedy, earned it. He had a great camp. So he made plays, you guys saw our preseason games and he did it all out there in practice, so we’re not going to avoid (receivers).”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.