The Facts: Pettigrew caught 71 passes for 722 yards for the Detroit Lions in 2010, his second year in the NFL. He followed that up by catching 83 balls for 777 yards in 2011, which are both franchise records for a tight end. Fast-forward three years and Pettigrew’s role has changed significantly for the Lions. He caught just 10 passes for 70 yards in 14 games last season. Both totals are by far the lowest of his career. “He can catch more balls than that, I think,” GM Martin Mayhew said of Pettigrew’s 10 catches last season.
Diehards Line:But can Pettigrew get back up to 70-catch territory? The Lions re-signed Pettigrew to a four-year, $16 million contract with $8 million in guarantees last offseason. Because of injuries along the offensive line, Pettigrew, who is considered one of the best blocking tight ends in the league, didn’t get as many opportunities in the passing game because he was helping to keep pass rushers off quarterback Matthew Stafford. The team drafting tight end Eric Ebron No. 10 overall in last year's NFL Draft also dipped into his pass-catching production. Pettigrew is unlikely to reach his gaudy pass-catching totals of 2010 and 2011, but the Lions do expect him to be more of a factor in that area in 2015 than he was in 2014. “I think it will be hard for him to get back to catching 60-70 balls just because of the other players that we have and how we utilize the other players that we have,” Mayhew said. “But I think he can definitely make a bigger contribution in the passing game.”