Donovan Peoples-Jones was traded to the Lions at last year’s deadline, and after being in the system for a full offseason, the Detroit native seemed like an obvious choice to fill the void of departing receiver Josh Reynolds.

But so far, Peoples-Jones has not grabbed the brass ring. He joined training camp a day late because of a failed conditioning test and has yet to stand out — all while receiving reps with the second and third teams for a large portion of his snaps.

Guys like Daurice Fountain, Antoine Green and Kalif Raymond have all gotten their chance to grow their chemistry with Jared Goff on the first team. To get those opportunities, head coach Dan Campbell said, Peoples-Jones simply needs to show more.

“(The expectation) was to come in here and compete for that third, fourth receiver. That’s what it was,” Campbell said. “So much of it is, ‘All right, who’s going to fill in for Josh Reynolds? Who’s going to take that? Is it by committee or is there a guy that…is going to step up and become that for us?’”

Peoples-Jones, a Detroit Cass Tech grad who went on to play his college ball at Michigan, was active for eight games with the Lions last year and made five catches on seven targets for 58 yards. Some of them were tough, important catches, too; three of the receptions resulted in a first down.

But with his track record in Cleveland — he had 839 receiving yards in the 2022 season — there was a thought that he would slide in seamlessly to Reynolds’ role as a big-bodied player who can make the big play when called upon. After all, his last full season in Cleveland produced more yardage than any one of Reynolds’ seven NFL seasons.

Yet, if camp were to end Friday, it would be hard to believe that there’s a spot for Peoples-Jones on the Lions roster. He has a long road ahead of him to make his hometown team. The good news for him is that this is the first year the NFL has eliminated roster trim-downs prior to the 53-man roster needing to be finalized. Teams will get the full camp to evaluate, meaning Peoples-Jones does have time to turn it around.

Next week’s joint practices against the New York Giants, and the ensuing preseason game, will be big opportunities to change the trajectory of his training camp.

“He’s a guy I expect more out of too, and he knows that,” Campbell said. “Now, he’s working, he works at it, man. He wants it, but we just need him to take another step here.”

Jefferson churning out good camp

Earlier this week we mentioned how Levi Onwuzurike — one of two players from the 2021 class to not contribute much through their first three years — has returned to Allen Park a completely changed man. The other member of that class to not get much burn is running back Jermar Jefferson, who was drafted in the seventh round and made seven appearances in 2021 but has not been able to get up from the practice squad in the two years since.

The reality is that Detroit’s stacked running back room — which now includes a fourth-round pick in Sione Vaki — is going to be tough to crack. But Jefferson has been one of the more impressive players in camp so far, Campbell said.

“I almost don’t want to answer it because I feel like…I say something about a guy and I feel like it’s the kiss of death,” Campbell said. “Jefferson is in a really good place right now. He’s in a really good place. Really good place.”

As it turns out, Campbell’s fear of jinxing Jefferson was unfounded. Jefferson had one of the plays of the day at Friday’s practice, beating Brian Branch to the edge after getting to the second level for a touchdown run from around midfield.