ESPN NFL Insider Field Yates doesn't necessarily agree with QB Matthew Stafford that the Lions' offense will be tougher to defend without defenses being able to key on Calvin Johnson, but he does say Detroit's receiving corps will be tough to bring down. (1:20)

The Detroit Lions are still figuring out how to replace the retired Calvin Johnson, but quarterback Matthew Stafford has a lot of confidence in what the Lions have.

How much? He thinks Detroit will be harder to defend without Johnson.

"I think we're going to do it a little bit differently than we have the in the past," Stafford said during an interview Tuesday with SiriusXM Radio. "Obviously we used to feature Calvin, and everybody kind of got theirs after that. It's going to be, I think, tougher for defenses in a certain way in that they don't know who we're going to. There's no guy to key in on.

Matthew Stafford said the Lions "used to feature Calvin [Johnson]" but then argued that he thinks it will be "tougher for defenses" to defend the Lions in 2016 without Johnson because "they don't know who we're going to." Mark Cunningham/Getty Images

"We're probably just going to spread the ball around a bunch, and a bunch of guys will get a ton of catches and we'll be all right."

The Lions signed Marvin Jones in free agency to help offset Johnson's departure, along with the returning pieces of receivers Golden Tate and TJ Jones, tight end Eric Ebron and running backs Theo Riddick and Ameer Abdullah.

Detroit is trying to replace Johnson, who holds almost every major receiving record in Lions history and is the NFL's single-season receiving yards record holder with 1,964, set in 2012.