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BAGSHOT, England -- The Detroit Lions often have an advantage when they face top wide receivers mostly because of who they face every day in practice. It’s a nice luxury to have Calvin Johnson around every day. And depending who you ask on the Lions, Atlanta receiver Julio Jones has some comparisons to Johnson. “They are a little bit different,” Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. “He’s more powerful, in terms of build, because he’s not as tall as Calvin, but his speed and the threat he brings to ya is the same.” The 25-year-old Jones has been dynamic since coming into the league when he hasn’t dealt with injuries. Over four seasons, he has played in 41 games, caught 223 passes for 3,413 yards and 23 touchdowns. This season, he’s on pace to have more yards -- he’s at 676 already -- than he has in any other year of his career. So what do the Lions think about him? We ask them in this week’s Know the Enemy: Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin: Have you seen him? He’s big. He’s fast. He can catch. He can do just about anything, and that’s probably what makes him special. Had an opportunity, the one year I was at Florida, we played against him and you could see what type of talent he was then, and he’s done nothing to change my perspective of him. He’s come into this league and been a star in this league. He’s done it all. Safety James Ihedigbo: He’s built like a tight end and can run like a gazelle. I guess that would make it. He’s a pretty big guy, honestly. He’s 220, but he can run like a 4.3. He’s a fast, big target, has a big catch radius and Matt Ryan does a great job of getting him the ball in multiple situations. Linebacker DeAndre Levy: He’s a big, fast guy. Can run routes. Get open. Wide receiver Calvin Johnson: Very talented, young, explosive, and physical receiver. Staying healthy, I would expect him in the next couple years to be one of the top two receivers in the league. Quarterback Matthew Stafford: He's big, physical guy like Calvin and has speed, down-the-field speed. There's very few guys in the league [who] have that speed and power combination. Obviously, Calvin has been doing it for a lot longer than Julio, but when they're both healthy, they're both fun to watch. They're talented players.
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