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Caldwell Expects Ebron To Play Much Better In 2015 Than He Did In Rookie Year

By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak

PHOENIX – As a rookie, Detroit Lions tight end Eric Ebron caught 25 passes for 248 yards in 13 games, underwhelming fans who had higher hopes for the team's first-round pick. The Lions have chalked up Ebron's lack of production to youth and inexperience, and head coach Jim Caldwell said Wednesday he expects Ebron to take a major step forward in 2015.

"He's young, he's developing, he's coming along," Caldwell said at the NFL owners meetings. "We certainly don't believe that he's hit his stride in that sense.

"I'm going to tell you something – his offseason to this point has been pretty impressive," Caldwell added. "Now I'm anticipating – just because I know kind of what he's been doing, et cetera, he's been working at it – I'm anticipating to see a pretty significant rise in his performance."

Not surprisingly, Caldwell would not divulge what Ebron has been doing, though he did offer a few areas in which the young tight end should improve.

"Familiarity with our system, the ability to run routes the way in which we'd like to see them run consistently," Caldwell said. "He's shown flashes, and so obviously those are the key things. He improved in his blocking, there's no question about that, on the line of scrimmage did a tremendous job coming along in that particular area.

"Don't get me wrong – it's not like he's all of a sudden going to be Charlie Sanders," Caldwell added, "but … obviously I think he's going to be much better than he was."

The coach insisted Ebron's trajectory is average, that first-year stars like New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. are anomalies and should not be measuring sticks for other rookies.

"You guys are looking at outliers," Caldwell said. "You're thinking about Odell Beckham, you're thinking about Sammy Watkins, you may be thinking about a couple other guys that had really good years, but that's not the norm. The norm is like some of them that you don't know exist right now that are still on the roster but yet they start to come along and mature as time goes on.

"He's in a normal progression, I think," Caldwell continued. "We'd like to see it come faster; I got patience, but I don't have a lot of time. You know how that is in this business. But I think he'll come along."

 

 

 

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