Eric Ebron is under contract for 2018; Darren Fells is not.
The Lions will have Michael Roberts to use as a second tight end, but do they trust him?
Roberts, a fourth-round pick in 2017, caught only four passes for 46 yards. He earned a suspension for violating team rules in Week 17 when he disappeared the night before the Lions’ game against Green Bay and missed team meetings, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.
“Honestly, I made a few mistakes,” Roberts said, via Birkett. “I did things a little different than I’d like in my rookie year, and man, it really just taught me so many different things. I learned a lot about myself, about the organization, about how to be a professional all the way around. So just excited [about next season].”
Roberts said he expects to play next season as an “every-down tight end,” which is what the Lions envisioned when they drafted him. Fells and Ebron played the same number of plays -- 549 -- or 52.74 percent of the team’s total offensive snaps last season. Roberts played 21.13 percent, or 220.
The Lions picked up Ebron’s fifth-year option at $8.25 million for next season, which becomes guaranteed on the first day of the new league year, and General Manager Bob Quinn has said Ebron will return. But Roberts could take over Fells’ snaps if he departs.