ALLEN PARK -- People began ripping Eric Ebron from the moment Detroit took him with the 10th pick in the 2014 draft. And four years later, many haven't stopped.

Ebron didn't help himself with an immature and unproductive rookie season. He dropped too many passes. He couldn't block. Throw in the instant success of the guys taken after him -- All-Pros like Odell Beckham and Aaron Donald -- and it's not hard to figure out why he was so derided.

But then he doubled his production in Year 2. Then he doubled it again in Year 3. And then he made up for a slow start last year by gassing defenses in the final eight games. He was among the hottest tight ends in the league.

Total it all up, and Ebron -- probably the most hated player in Detroit -- has put up historically good numbers. Seriously.

He has 186 catches for 2,070 yards and 11 touchdowns through four seasons with Detroit. As ProFootballFocus pointed out, the only other tight ends in NFL history with a line of 185/2,000/10 through their age 24 season were: Kellen Winslow, Rob Gronkowski, Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten.

For those scoring at home, that's one guy in the Hall of Fame (Winslow), two others who are headed there (Gonzalez and Witten) and another on pace for it (Gronkowski). And then Ebron.

You don't have to be Vince Lombardi to figure out which of those is unlike the others.

Listen, nobody is saying Ebron is on track for Canton. He did drop too many passes, especially early in his career. Although he's improved his blocking, nobody's going to confuse him for Mike Ditka anytime soon. But those saying he's a bust are misguided too.

He ranked among the top 10 tight ends in the league in both catches and yards in 2016. And he managed to finish top 11 last season despite a horrendous start to the season.

He caught 38 passes in just the final nine games. Extrapolated for a full season, that pace would have made him the third most productive tight end in the league. And he did it while having his playing time cut by 7.6 percent.

Bob Quinn noticed, too.

"Eric had a good year," the Lions GM said. "I think Eric, really, the last seven or eight weeks of the season really turned it on. When you look at his playing time, it actually went down over the course of the season, but his production went up. So I think he was used effectively. He gained some confidence over the course of the season, and he performed better."

Quinn was impressed enough to say after the season he intends to bring back Ebron, despite a price tag that soars to about $8.25 million. And if the tight end plays like he did in the second half of 2017, he'll absolutely be worth it.

But the first half of the season also happened too, which serves to underscore why Ebron is so hated in the first place despite some big numbers. He's always been a matchup nightmare. He can tear up the practice field. Yet he can also vanish for weeks at a time.

Did we see a new Eric Ebron in the second half of the 2017? Or was this just another peak that will be followed by yet another valley? That remains very much to be seen.