TeSlaa will enter the season as the Lions' No. 3 receiver despite a poor showing during training camp and going without a reception on three targets over 44 snaps during his two preseason appearances, Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press reports. "I'm not too concerned," wide receivers coach Scottie Montgomery said last week, regarding TeSlaa's lackluster camp. "I do want our guys making every single play. And we did hold him accountable for some of the things that went on, and that's the difference in being in the room and being outside of the room."
TeSlaa operated primarily as the Lions' No. 4 receiver during his 2025 rookie campaign, appearing in all 17 games and finishing with a 16-239-6 receiving line on 27 targets. Even on the limited volume of targets, the 6-foot-4, 214-pound wideout made a number of highlight-reel grabs during his first NFL season, but he hasn't shown the same ability to win on contested balls during his second training camp. He also made a couple of critical blunders in the Lions' preseason-opening loss to the Bengals, dropping a pass that led to an interception and failing to reel in another catchable target on a fourth-down pass. Montgomery noted that getting more exposure to facing No. 1 cornerbacks in both camp and the preseason has likely played a part in TeSlaa's lack of output, but the Lions apparently saw enough growth from him beyond his box-score contributions to hand him the No. 3 job and are keeping just four total receivers on the 53-man roster heading into Week 1. TeSlaa will still face a difficult path to fantasy relevance as the fifth option in the Detroit passing game when all of Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta (hip) are available.