BLOOMINGTON, Min. – Kenny Golladay's rookie season in Detroit was filled with highs and lows, but former Detroit Lions receiver and current NFL analyst Nate Burleson believes Lions fans will see a lot more of the highs moving forward.
"This may be the hottest take of the year, but I feel like Golladay has the possibility to be a No. 1 receiver," Burleson told detroitlions.com between interviews at Super Bowl's radio row.
View photos of the Detroit Lions wide receivers in 2017.
That's certainly high praise thrown Golladay's way from Burleson, who spent 11 years in the NFL playing receiver, the last four with the Lions. Burleson pointed to Golladay's immediate impact (scoring twice in his first NFL game) and then being able to make impact plays throughout the year despite having limited opportunities because of injury, and playing as Detroit's third option at receiver.
Golladay caught 28 passes for 477 yards and scored three touchdowns on 48 targets in 11 games. He missed five games in the middle of the season because of a hamstring injury that limited him some even after he returned to the lineup Week 10 vs. Cleveland.
Burleson thinks Golladay is in a perfect situation to excel in Detroit behind 1,000-yard receivers Golden Tate and Marvin Jones Jr.
"It's the perfect position to be in," he said. "You have two guys ahead of you that are taking all the attention and teams are game planning for. Golladay can go in and really shock the world if he can just stay healthy, be patient, take advantage, don't rock the boat."
That's an opinion also shared by Lions legend Herman Moore, who also spoke to detroitlions.com about Golladay at the Super Bowl.
"What I really enjoy about Kenny -- and I've spoken to him on several occasions -- the thing I've talked to him about is patience and continuing to work on creating tools," Moore said.
"He has confidence. That's there. The other thing is he wants to make plays and has playmaking ability. Wanting to make plays and having the ability are two different things. He has both."
Golladay simply has to accept his role, according to Moore ... truly embrace it, and the rest will happen naturally over time.
"Kenny's in a prime position right now," Moore said. "He suffered through some injuries, but the benefit is the fact that he's not the guy they're depending on right now.
"Right now, this is a good opportunity for him to learn and then to grow within the system. Marvin Jones and Golden Tate, you can't ask for better guys mentoring him along that process."
