Lions' Offensive Snap-Count Predictions

With the Detroit Lions' season opener against the Chicago Bears just a few days away, the roster has been cut down, and roles are starting to become more apparent.

However, it’s been difficult with no preseason games to really get a feel for how Lions head coach Matt Patricia is going to utilize his players.

On top of that, the depth chart is still fluid at many spots, and certain players could see more playing time than others.

Here is my best guess as to how frequently each offensive player will be on the field in Week 1.

The percentages will be roughly the number of snaps played on their respective side of the ball -- not including special teams.

Quarterbacks

1.) Matthew Stafford – 100%

2.) Chase Daniel – 0%

Not much explanation needed here. Barring injury or a massive blowout, there shouldn’t be any reason Daniel takes a snap.

Running Backs

1.) Kerryon Johnson – 35%

2.) Adrian Peterson – 30%

3.) D'Andre Swift – 25%

4.) Ty Johnson – 10%

There is a decent chance that the Lions would only dress three running backs and a fullback, which I did not include for this exercise.

You could expect roughly 10 percent of the offensive plays to have a fullback anyway.

But, the fullback position doesn’t necessarily pull one of the other running backs off the field.

Depending on Swift’s health and Peterson's ability to catch up with the playbook, this running back-by-committee could go a lot of different ways.

Fortunately, for Peterson, he comes into a familiar offense, and the running back position is one of the easier playbooks to pick up.

From the sounds of it, Peterson is going to get his opportunity with the ball.

Ultimately, I believe Johnson and Peterson will split early-down work, while Swift will be more of the change-of-pace type.

Wide Receivers

1.) Kenny Golladay – 95%

2.) Marvin Jones Jr. – 90%

3.) Danny Amendola – 50%

4.) Marvin Hall – 10%

5.) Jamal Agnew – 5%

6.) Quintez Cephus – 0%

Given the number of wide receivers, it’s very possible that Cephus will not dress.

Agnew is a lock to play due to special teams. But, it will be interesting to see how much he is used on the offensive side of the ball.

With two slot options ahead of him, playing time may be tough to come by, other than a few gadget plays.

The top three options are pretty straight-forward.

Tight Ends

1.) T.J. Hockenson – 80%

2.) Jesse James – 35%

3.) Hunter Bryant – 0%

This year, Hockenson should be locked in as a true TE1.

James saw plenty of playing time in 2019, and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell loves his two-tight end sets.

In saying that, the Lions were more productive last year when spreading the ball out. Hopefully, that trend continues and the Lions use more three-wideout sets and only bring in James for heavier packages.

Bryant has been battling an injury. But, the good news is he wasn’t put on injured reserve, which means he could be healthy enough to play.

Considering he is more of a glorified receiver with potential right now, don’t expect too much game action -- if any at all.

You have to wonder if the Lions would call up Isaac Nauta from the practice squad to give them a third option.

It sounds counterintuitive to bring up a practice-squader over a player that made a 53-man roster. But, Bryant was probably more likely to get picked up on waivers than Nauta.

Offensive Line

1.) Taylor Decker – 100%

2.) Frank Ragnow – 100%

3.) Halapoulivaati Vaitai – 100%

4.) Joe Dahl – 100%

5.) Jonah Jackson – 100%

6.) Oday Aboushi – 0%

7.) Logan Stenberg – 0%

8.) Tyrell Crosby – 0%

9.) Matt Nelson – 0%

Will Patricia still deploy the three-man guard rotation? I’m going to guess -- and hope -- that he doesn't.

The rookie Jackson has been playing plenty with the starting O-line in training camp, and doesn’t have much of a fight behind him.

Aboushi was cut, and then re-signed.

Stenberg has some expected developing to do before competing for meaningful snaps.

As with most NFL teams, my prediction is that the front-five plays every snap it can, while the reserves maybe get a few plays as a big tight end or a sixth offensive lineman.