Undrafted rookie WR Teo Redding turning heads at Detroit Lions minicamp

The look on the scouts’ faces was unforgettable.

Bowling Green assistant coach Seth Doege was in the middle of practice one day last fall when he gathered his receivers near the goal line for a red-zone drill.

Doege, a former Texas Tech quarterback who played briefly in the NFL and CFL, grabbed an arm shield to simulate a defensive back fighting for position, and one by one Bowling Green’s receivers went to work catching jump balls.

When it was Teo Redding’s turn, Doege said the Michigan native made a play so acrobatic it made everyone’s jaw drop.

“It’s not like a perfect throw, so he has to jump up and get it where he jumps up and I’m telling you his knees are over my head,” Doege said Thursday. “He goes and gets it, comes down with it, and I look over at the scouts, there was like three of them, they just look at me like, ‘Ho-ly cow.’ ”

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Redding turned in a handful of highlight-reel plays at the Detroit Lions’ just completed mandatory minicamp, including laying out to catch a deep pass Wednesday that was perhaps the week’s most memorable play.

An undrafted rookie who signed with the Lions in April, Redding has done enough in his four official weeks with the team that he should enter training camp this summer with a chance to earn a full-time job.

The Lions have four receivers locked into roster spots this fall, Marvin Jones, Golden Tate, Kenny Golladay and TJ Jones. Even if they don’t keep a fifth receiver on their 53-man roster, they should have room for one or two pass catchers on the practice squad.

“He’s a highlight-film type player,” Doege said. “There’s going to be some special moments. He’s just got to be — and I think he knows this is he’s got to become that more routine, consistent player, where the routine plays look easy, too.”

Redding finished second on Bowling Green with 45 for 624 yards last season, but Doege said he might have topped 1,000 yards if not for a knee injury that kept him out of one game and limited him in several others last year.

Redding had a breakout eight-catch, 197-yard, two-touchdown game the week before his injury, then had just 208 yards receiving the rest of the year.

“Just a young guy trying to learn right now,” Lions coach Matt Patricia said. “A guy that’s out there trying to see how much he can handle from the mental part of it and what he can do physically as we get a little bit more experience with him. Just like all those guys that are out there, we’re trying to get a better feel for what they do well and what we think we can push them to do more of.”

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Listed at 6 feet 1 and 181 pounds, Redding is a developmental receiver who’s raw in his route running and rail thin, but who has rare deep-ball skills and an impressive 38.5-inch vertical jump.

Doege said Redding “played in a system in college where his first three years they wanted him to run verticals, really that was it.”

Bowling Green changed coaches and offenses in 2016, and Redding’s route tree expanded as a receiver, though he was still limited in what he was being asked to do.

“We have a few different routes that we’d like him to run, but nothing like he’s going to run in the NFL where there’s route adjustments, there’s sight adjustments, there’s all these different type of combos that he’s having to think about,” Doege said. “In our system it was playing fast, it was snapping the ball fast. He was running the out, he was running the dig, he was running the go, he was running the post-curl. He was running some different routes, but they were always locked. It didn’t matter what the coverage was, it didn’t matter what the defense was doing, he was running that route. So him learning some different stuff in the NFL will only progress his career.”

Redding showed some of his versatility in practice Thursday, catching a pass in traffic over the middle of the field while working with the third-team offense in 11-on-11 drills.

He called it “a dream” to be playing for the Lions, the team he grew up rooting for and occasionally attending games, and he said he’s still a work in progress as a receiver trying to learn the nuances of the NFL game.

“I’m just happy that I’m making plays right now,” Redding said. “Any play that I can get, any opportunity I get I’m just trying to take full advantage of it and just try to help the team offense as best as I can.”

Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Download our Lions Xtra app for free on Apple and Android!