Under-the-Radar Offensive Stars for the Detroit Lions

Matthew Stafford. Calvin Johnson. Brandon Pettigrew. Jahvid Best, if healthy.

This is basically the Detroit Lions' offense in a nutshell to the average fan, and I can understand why. All of those guys are recent first-round picks and each has proven, at least to some degree, some star potential.

But what about the role players? Those guys who don't break records or make Pro Bowls, but bring incredible value to the offense in a non-starring role?

Well, those guys deserve a mention, too. The Lions (or any other NFL team) won't be able to get by on just feeding the stars and ignoring everybody else.

They need guys like Titus Young to have breakout years. Young is, perhaps, the most likely candidate for a breakout season, in part because of his rookie circumstances.

Young was drafted in the thick of the NFL lockout, which meant he went the majority of his rookie offseason getting no mentoring, no scheme installation and nothing to bring him along into the NFL game.

Even after the lockout lifted, Young missed a big chunk of training camp with a hamstring injury. So by the time the regular season came around, Young was still in the beginning stages of learning the ropes.

As a result, Young played extremely inconsistent football all year. He had five receptions in Week 2 against the Chiefs, but his reception total decreased by one every week from there, finally culminating in a zero-catch game against Atlanta in Week 7.

He didn't catch his first NFL touchdown until Week 8, in which the Denver defense badly crossed up their coverage. But then he finished the regular season with 17 receptions and four touchdown receptions in his final four games.

And now, Young is apparently building off that success in his first career offseason training program.

But as much as Young may be primed for an explosive year in 2012, he's not the only one with breakout potential. In fact, he's not even the only Lions 2011 second-round pick with breakout potential.

Or rather, the Lions need to hope they get some production out of Mikel Leshoure. The most controversial Lions pick of 2011 currently has more arrests as an NFL player than he does minutes in a game.

Considering Leshoure is still recovering from an Achilles injury that sidelined him from training camp last year, this might just mean he's preparing for a return in Week 2 or 3 instead of the season opener.

This might even be for the best, considering the unstable nature of these injuries. That's just another couple of weeks to build strength in his foot.

Within the Lions' organization and fandom, everybody knows Leshoure needs to step up in what is effectively a redshirt rookie year.

But in the NFL at large, Leshoure is a forgotten second-round draft pick who compiled no stats during his rookie season despite being the second running back taken off the board in 2011.

He's an unknown because nobody knows how good he can be in the NFL, or how good he will be coming off injury or how soon (or even if) he'll get back to 100 percent.

He could be a 1,000-yard rusher just as easily as an injury-addled bust who never gets his explosion back after the injury.

Which brings us to Kevin Smith, perhaps the best third-string running back the Lions could have hoped for, and an equally great injury concern. Smith shocked everybody by going from another Millen pick watching the game at home to exploding for three touchdowns against Carolina

The Lions' top three running backs each have major injury concerns, and the hope is that splitting the workload between them lessens the chance of injury.

Of course, most of the injury concerns aren't really workload-related. They have a lot more to do with wrong-place-wrong-time shots, like the one Leshoure suffered in training camp last year. But at least the Lions have strength in numbers this year.

Best, Leshoure and Smith all have big-game potential, and Smith in particular has something to prove after being cut from the 53-man roster and brought back later in the season. Ideally, Smith won't be a breakout candidate, because if he is, it will likely mean Best or Leshoure are sidelined for some reason.

Still, what Smith brings to the Lions this year is depth at a position where Maurice Morris has had to step up big at some point in the last three seasons. Smith is a major step up from Morris, albeit a lot less hardy.

Beyond Young, Leshoure and Smith, we're looking at guys like Nate Burleson, Tony Scheffler and Ryan Broyles. Are these guys important to the offense? Of course they are? 

But breakout star potential? In 2012? I don't see it.

Burleson will be solid as always, but Young is on pace to pass him on the depth chart and stat sheet. Besides, Burleson may be under-the-radar, but a veteran player like him isn't likely to have a breakout year, especially with younger players creeping toward him on the depth chart.

Scheffler will be a valuable target in the short-yardage passing game, especially around the goal line. But Pettigrew gets the majority of those targets, and the Lions have been building the wide receiver corps to bolster the intermediate passing game.

Broyles is one of those players meant to bolster the intermediate passing game, but he's also a rookie coming off an ACL injury. He may be an excellent player in time, but it won't be immediately.

He is likely to follow a similar trajectory to Young, with inconsistent play in his rookie year and (presumably) much better all-around play the following year.

But regardless of who is on, off or under the radar, the Lions will need solid contributions from all of these players to field a cohesive offensive unit in 2012.

Stafford, Johnson, Pettigrew and Best should anchor the offense, but the team can't just survive on players drafted in the first round. It's time for the rest of the crew to step up.