ALLEN PARK -- Like Andy Dufresne, it once looked like a stiff breeze would blow TJ Jones right over. Four years later, not so much.

The Detroit Lions receiver is still listed at 6 feet and 190 pounds, but insists he's beefed up this offseason. And he sure looks it, both in physique and performance.

"I feel the difference, especially in the physicality of the game," Jones said after practice Wednesday. "Certain hits and bumps and bruises that I may have felt a lot more last year, especially in practice, and this year they're flying off of me. It's not anything I'm having to think twice about.

"So I definitely see way more positives in the weight that I'm at this year as opposed to where I've been."

Such statements are not exactly unusual this time of year, when nobody's been cut, nobody's lost a game, and optimism abounds. He isn't even the first T.J. to do it in Lions camp this week.

But Jones indeed appears to be playing the position differently. He's tougher. When Quandre Diggs -- who is having an excellent camp himself -- bodied him up in the end zone during red zone drills on Wednesday, Jones didn't flinch. He scored.

Jones also caught a touchdown over Charles Washington, who has been making moves at safety. And he did all of it after going to the ground with a minor injury.

"If it's not major, if you can walk, if you're not dead, you've got to play," Jones said. "That's the mind-set I'm taking. If I can get up, shake it off, take a couple seconds, come back, make a play -- because that's the way the game works, especially once you're going full go, full tackle and it's not your teammates you're going against."

A sixth-round pick in the 2014 draft, Jones has caught just 15 passes for 225 yards in three years in Detroit. But he's been good enough this offseason to continue repping alongside Golden Tate and Marvin Jones in the starting lineup.

With rookie Kenny Golladay also assured a roster spot, Jones is fighting Jace Billingsley, Keshawn Martin, Jared Abbrederis and others for the last job or two at the position. It's a fight he appears to be winning.

"It's going to be a real battle," coach Jim Caldwell said. "There's a lot of guys playing well. A lot of guys doing some things. Keshawn had a good day today. TJ Jones is playing it well. You know, those guys, Jared Abbraderis is doing a great job. It's a real competitive situation. We got some other young players that are doing well. So we'll see how it shakes out."