Alex Reno

Special to the Detroit Free Press

The Detroit Lions did their best in free agency to find an immediate replacement for the retired Calvin Johnson by signing wide receiver Marvin Jones to a five-year, $40-million contract.

But to truly replace a superstar like Johnson, you can’t do it with a single player. Many, including myself, thought that the Lions would draft a receiver with at least one of their 10 picks in the 2016 NFL draft. But that did not happen. Instead, they signed a few undrafted wide receivers, one of which, I believe, has a legitimate shot at making the final roster: Baylor’s Jay Lee.

Not many media outlets had Lee going undrafted, including nfl.com’s Lance Zierlein, who pegged him as a fourth- or fifth-round prospect.

Let's take a look at his game.

Size

Like most receivers who don the Baylor uniform, Lee is a spectacular athlete. His combination of height, weight and speed makes him an intriguing prospect. He has great size for the position (6-feet-1, 214 pounds), and that’s something that the Lions desperately need.

Corey Fuller is the only receiver over 6 feet from last year’s roster who remains with the team. Add Jones (6-feet-2), and that makes two. Lee’s best shot at making the team is to use his size to his advantage, and he might even challenge Fuller for the final receiver spot when it’s all said and done.

As Lions fans, you’ve seen this type of play countless times. Matthew Stafford and Johnson had built a chemistry and were able to connect on timing routes and back-shoulder fades with ease.

In Lee’s case, he does a perfect job of using his size to run through contact and adjust to the ball in midair.

In years past, the Lions struggled to find receivers would could separate from defenders, which was one of the many reasons offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi was fired last year. He often failed to “scheme” players open. But it’s always nice to have a player like Lee who can make a contested catch or bail out the quarterback on a broken play.

Lee is the furthest thing from a polished route runner, but he does have a knack for outmuscling defenders, and his freakishly long arms (33 inches), relative to his size, give him the innate ability to snatch balls away from his body.

No Yards Left Behind

Lee’s ability to stretch the field and break tackles in the open field are a couple of perks to his game and explain why he was able to finish with an impressive 19.9 receiving yards per reception, good for third in the Big 12 last year.

In the play above, Lee shows off his lightning-quick feet to avoid the first defender and manages to lower his head and muscle his way past the first-down marker. I love his north/south attitude; there aren't many yards left on the field with this kid.

So if Jay Lee is so talented, why wasn’t he drafted?

Baylor Offense

There are several reasons, the most important being the system he comes from. Sure, Baylor's Corey Coleman was selected with the 15th overall pick, but that’s because he can do things like this.

Baylor’s offense is fun to watch if you’re a casual football fan looking for barn burner, but for an amateur scout like myself, there isn’t anything more frustrating to watch. It’s like scouting safeties without coach’s film. A lot of it is guesswork.

For one, Baylor coach Art Briles likes his receivers to conserve their energy when they’re not a key part of a particular play.

Here is a screenshot of two Baylor receivers standing around and making zero effort to block downfield. It's pretty tough to tell whether a receiver is capable of blocking on the perimeter when his coach tells him to take plays off.

Baylor’s offense also asks its receivers to run a very limited route tree. I saw Lee run no more than three different routes (curls, slants and go routes) in the 10-plus games that I watched. There certainly will be a learning curve for him in Jim Bob Cooter’s Lions offense.

Drops

One final critique with Lee is his inconsistent hands. I don’t know what it is with Baylor receivers, but you’d think that they were taught to drop easy, uncontested throws.

To his credit, Lee did a better job of securing the ball during Senior Bowl practices. Perhaps some drops can be attributed to the lackadaisical approach of Baylor’s offense.

Outlook for 2016

Obviously, as an undrafted free agent, there is no guarantee that Lee makes the final 53. He has his work cut out for him. But with Megatron retiring and the Lions’ need for a bigger receiver, Lee couldn’t have picked a better situation for himself.

Coming from Baylor’s nontraditional offense, Lee is as raw as it gets and will have to start from scratch on some of the fundamentals. But he has plenty of tools that suggest that he can develop into a solid contributor for the Lions. I expect that there will be a close competition between Fuller, Lee, Andre Caldwell and maybe another UDFA for one of the final receiver spots and my gut tells me that Lee escapes that group as the favorite.

Baylor's Jay Lee vying for No. 5 WR job with Detroit Lions