Isaac TeSlaa: "I have some pretty lofty goals" in year two with Lions

Isaac TeSlaa was careful not to use the word relaxing -- "because I don’t think in football you can ever really relax. You always gotta have an edge about you." But at this time last year, TeSlaa was trying to learn the names of his teammates and the language of the offense. His head was occasionally spinning, and then his wheels spun for most of the season. Now that he's found his footing with the Lions, TeSlaa says he's "much more comfortable."

"I feel like I’m able to play a little bit faster and doing a lot less thinking this year," he said.

And there he went during a 7-on-7 period of Tuesday's practice, running a deep post down the sideline, shaking Ennis Rakestraw as he broke inside and catching a well-timed throw from Jared Goff. The vertical passing game was dormant at times last season for the Lions' offense, which still scored the fourth most points in the NFL. TeSlaa could help bring it to life under new coordinator Drew Petzing.

The big question: how often will the ball come his way? It was an infrequent sight in year one. TeSlaa got one target or fewer in 12 games. He finished with 27 targets total, and one fewer catch (16) than games played. From the outside looking in, it was an unsatisfying output for a player on whom the Lions spent three third-round picks.

It was also the reality for a raw rookie receiver stepping into an offense loaded with weapons. It wasn't that Goff didn't trust TeSlaa; it was that he trusted so many other players ahead of him, and that TeSlaa was generally the third, fourth or fifth option on most of the routes that he ran.

"Last year before we started the season it was always my goal to get as many repetitions with him as I can and even during the season and after practice, getting with him and a couple other receivers, because everything just comes down to timing and trust," TeSlaa said during a recent appearance on Good Morning Football. "If I can be available and I can be where I’m supposed to be at when he thinks I’m going to be there, the biggest thing to JG is just timing."

The 10th receiver off the board last April, TeSlaa finished 17th in targets and 15th in catches among rookies at his position. He finished seventh on the Lions in both, behind Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta, Kalif Raymond and David Montgomery. Only Raymond and Montgomery are gone, and the Lions brought in veteran replacements for both in Greg Dortch and Isiah Pacheco.

So, TeSlaa still has some climbing to do. And no pass-catcher on the Lions can climb the ladder quite like TeSlaa, who used his 6'4 frame, long arms and sticky hands to come down with six touchdowns last season -- a couple of the spectacular variety -- which ranked second among rookie receivers behind only eighth overall pick Tet McMillan. When the ball finds him, TeSlaa has shown that he can go up and get it.

Petzing said earlier this month that "those highlight plays are going to show up" for TeSlaa, simply by virtue of his catch radius. What could push him to the next level this year is "the consistency of getting in and out of his brakes, of using his body and his size to his advantage because it's certainly one of the things that separates him from a number of players in this league, and then just carving out any role you can."

On cue, TeSlaa's aim ahead of this season is "to just continue to work to get everything as precise as I can. Whatever that means is what I'm going to do. Because obviously," he said, "16 receptions is great, six touchdowns is awesome, but I have bigger goals than that this coming season, so I’m really looking forward to getting out there on the field."

TeSlaa's role did expand as last season wore on and he started to master the playbook. And it's worth noting that he saw significantly more action after Dan Campbell took over for former OC John Morton as play-caller. This also coincided with a season-ending injury to tight end Sam LaPorta, whose targets and routes had to go somewhere, but the splits here are extreme:

In the first eight games with Morton calling plays, TeSlaa averaged 13 offensive snaps and caught three passes on six targets for 54 yards and two touchdowns. In the last nine games with Campbell calling plays, TeSlaa averaged about 37 offensive snaps and caught 13 passes on 21 targets for 185 yards and four touchdowns. His workload nearly tripled, and his production spiked with it.

"We wanted to get him more involved," Campbell said Tuesday as the Lions work through veteran minicamp. "I wanted to get TeSlaa going a little bit. When you go back and look, it’s like, ‘Man, there's so much more meat on the bone,’ and I almost wish we could have gotten TeSlaa some more touches than he did get. His growth took off, he got a little bit better every week. He became a guy who I would tell you by the end of the year we had a lot of trust in. We believed he could do a lot of jobs."

TeSlaa said Tuesday that he "definitely felt a little bit of a shift" in how he was used in the second half of the season: "I don’t know if it was play-calling or just comfort overall, being a new guy and trying to learn my place in the offense." Truth is, it was both. And now that he knows his place, "it's exciting for me, it’s exciting for the whole offense," he said, "just because with the weapons that we have, I don’t know how you’re going to guard all of our skill positions."

"I feel like if you want to try to double a guy, then you’re just leaving another extremely skilled player wide open," he said. "I think it’s a great opportunity for the whole offense. (Defenses) gotta worry about a lot of guys, and we’re excited to punish them on the field."

That's as far as TeSlaa will go on the Hype Train, and he's not conducting it for himself. It's about the collective. That's one way in which Detroit's offense can be more effective -- more efficient -- this season after becoming overly reliant, at times, last season on St. Brown and Gibbs. The other way is by pounding the rock behind a rebuilt offensive line and opening up shots to receivers like TeSlaa and Jameson Williams.

To Campbell, TeSlaa has been a portrait of professionalism this spring. The word he uses is "steady." Campbell meant it as a compliment Tuesday when he said that "there’s been nothing flashy" about TeSlaa's work through OTAs and minicamp -- "and that is a good thing. He is just consistent."

"Where we expected him to be at this point, for year two, is exactly where we want him, and I would say probably even a little bit more, man," Campbell said. "You're impressed. He feels like a veteran right now."

Meanwhile, TeSlaa is trying to keep "that mentality of being a rookie, where you gotta do everything the right way in order for the coaches to even notice you," he said. "And once they notice you, you gotta keep building on those things, and making plays, and then they’ll be comfortable with you."

TeSlaa will keep his statistical goals to himself. (Sharing them, he laughed, would invite a "PR crisis.") Suffice to say they reflect his ambitions. He entered last year "not really knowing what to expect, or how much playing time I was going to get."

"I was really just working on earning my role," he said. "This year, now that I'm more comfortable, I have some pretty lofty goals."