Lions Players That Could Have Most Benefited from Preseason
Life has been drastically different in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Seemingly everyone -- no matter the individual's race, socioeconomic status or upbringing -- has been affected in some way or another by the virus, including employees of the National Football League.
The NFL's offseason was completely virtual for the first time in league history.
Out were minicamp and in-person team and position group meetings, and in were meetings conducted via Zoom and player workouts and training sessions from home.
Subsequently, players weren't able to get a jumpstart on getting in front of their coaches and proving their worth.
The latest change to the offseason is the fact that there won't be any preseason games.
In the past, the exhibition season has served as a great way for late-round draft picks and players on the bubble to earn roster spots.
It also has helped organizations determine who would win starting jobs entering the regular season.
With that being said, some guys will definitely be more affected than others by the absence of the preseason.
Here are the three Lions players that I believe will be most impacted by it.
WR Quintez Cephus
The Lions' first of two fifth-round draft picks this year enters a crowded receivers room in Detroit. He'll have to fight veterans Kenny Golladay, Marvin Jones Jr. and Danny Amendola for reps, as well as the likes of Marvin Hall, Geronimo Allison and converted defensive back Jamal Agnew.
Cephus, a product of the University of Wisconsin, is going to have a tough time cracking Detroit's 53-man roster for the regular season, and subsequently, could have benefited from taking part in some preseason action.
OG Logan Stenberg
Another acquisition of the Lions this offseason via the draft, Stenberg enters training camp with the chance to succeed the departed Graham Glasgow as the organization's starter at right guard.
However, he'll be battling for the job along with the player picked directly before him this past April, Ohio State product Jonah Jackson.
Jackson was picked with the Lions' second of two picks in the third round, while Stenberg, a Kentucky product, was Detroit's lone selection in the fourth round.
It gives Jackson a clear-cut leg up for the gig. If the preseason was still intact, the narrative could have been more easily changed in favor of Stenberg.
However, without even a single exhibition contest, it makes it that much more difficult for Stenberg to be able to enter the 2020 campaign as the starter at right guard.
WR Jamal Agnew
Agnew, a former defensive back, could've definitely benefited from getting in some preseason reps at his new position of wide receiver.
It's tough enough to change positions in the NFL, let alone to go from defense to offense or vice versa.
It likely will hinder Agnew's ability to smoothly make the transition, and bump him further down the organization's depth chart at receiver to start the season.
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