Detroit would have loved to see Jones return down the stretch considering the absence of Jones has left a depleted wideout group with merely Kenny Golladay in the mix, down from the star-studded trio which they began the season with. That's been tough for the Lions, who found offense very hard to come by late last season, and Jones himself didn't dramatically impact the game late last year even while healthy.

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After Golden Tate's trade, Jones had picked up just 121 yards in two games with no touchdowns. That's a far cry from the 117 yards with two scores Jones put up just a few weeks ago against the Seattle Seahawks. As a whole, he's gone for 508 yards and five scores so far this year, which are decent totals in terms of NFL production, and was still tough for the team to be able to easily replace.

This coming season, Jones had been looking to expand upon his already solid work from 2017 with the Lions. Every year, the Lions have gotten better results out of Jones, and he's trending upward for yet another great season with the team on the field. He's made a ton of big catches for the Lions in his career already, and with a health, more opportunities and a and better running game, Jones might have only been able to take a bigger step forward statistically for the team down the stretch.

Without Tate around now and Jones gone too, Golladay and Bruce Ellington were forced to do all the heavy lifting and struggled down the stretch, and that means more changes for the future in terms of how things are considered for 2019.

If this is any indication, Jones already has his sights set on coming back and being better than ever when he does return to the field, and it looks like he will be able to get that done for the future.