Who is Kenny Golladay, the Lions’ latest breakout wide receiver?

Matthew Stafford got a handful of presents this offseason. The first, and most notable, was a contract extension that made him the highest-paid player in league history. The second was a third-round draft pick who cut his teeth on Tuesday nights playing in the Mid-American Conference.

Kenny Golladay became one of the league’s hottest rookies after an electric, four-catch, two-touchdown debut for the Lions in their Week 1 win over the Cardinals. His performance was the continuation of an impressive offseason that painted him as a Day 2 steal for the NFC North standby. While his numbers were decent, the way he found the end zone was what set him apart.

His 45-yard touchdown to ice his team’s win was massive both for Detroit and the franchise’s budding star wideout.

Last Sunday’s performance proved he has the athleticism and hands to make big plays, but the preseason showcased his field awareness and ability to adjust to the ball once it’s thrown. He’s looked every bit the kind of receiver who can bail out his quarterback on underthrown or opposite-shoulder throws. Here he is adjusting back to the ball to increase his window while a Colts cornerback overcommits and can’t make a play on the ball:

Here he is in that same game, turning to box out a cornerback and adjust back to the ball to fall into the end zone for six points:

So how did a 6’4 wideout with instincts like that last until the third round of the 2017 NFL draft?

Golladay wasn’t a blue-chip high school recruit. He didn’t have a player page on Rivals. He had just one scholarship offer to a Division I school — and that was the University of North Dakota. At barely 6’0 and with middling speed, he didn’t have special measurables — but he emerged as an immediate contributor with the Fighting Hawks.

In two seasons in Grand Forks, he made 15 starts. He led the team in receptions as a sophomore, and after growing four inches his first two seasons with the program, he had developed into one of the Big Sky Conference’s top targets. However, the coaches who lured him to the Plains had been fired, and Golladay stood at a crossroads. Knowing he’d get little attention playing for a team tucked away in North Dakota, he chose to sit out the 2014 season and transfer to Northern Illinois — the only program to respond to the highlight reel he’d sent out to prospective teams.

“The things we wanted Kenny to get better at, and he did, is to hold his line on vertical routes a little more, embrace being the big receiver,” NIU coach Rod Carey said, via ESPN.

One season on the sideline was all he’d need to catch up at one of the MAC’s top programs. Golladay instantly emerged as the Huskies’ top aerial threat. He averaged 15.5 yards per catch and scored 10 touchdowns for the MAC West champions. He followed that up with a second straight 1,100-yard season in 2016.

The rangy wideout had proved himself as a Division I standout at two different stops, but plenty of questions remained about whether that talent would translate in the NFL. He earned an invitation to test himself at the NFL Combine, but the results weren’t what the two-time All-MAC standout had hoped.

Golladay’s 4.5-second 40-yard dash ranked 19th among receiving prospects. His agility drill results were solid but unspectacular. Despite his track record of performance, he fell to the middle of the pack in a stacked class of wideouts. There were 11 receivers selected before Golladay heard his name called with the 96th overall pick.

The slide down the draft board helped him land in an ideal setting. The Lions did a solid job of replacing Calvin Johnson’s impact in the lineup with a more conservative passing attack in 2016, but a lack of depth hindered Stafford’s passing options. The young veteran helped push Marvin Jones to the best season of his career in his first year with the Lions and got a star performance from Golden Tate, but the team’s options were limited after that.

Anquan Boldin left in free agency before deciding he’d rather retire than play for the Bills. The rest of the team’s wideouts combined for just 281 yards — or 6.5 percent of the team’s total passing output. On Sunday, Golladay’s first game, he represented 23.6 percent of Stafford’s receiving yards.

The former MAC standout has earned his share of headlines, but he’s still in the infant stages of his NFL career. While he performed admirably in the preseason and during the Lions’ season opener, he’ll face plenty of struggles as opposing defenses study his game tape more carefully and begin to plan their passing defense around him.

Lions offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter has tried to temper expectations a little:

However, he’s in a great position thanks to Stafford, the Lions’ pass-heavy attack, and the presence of Tate and Jones to take defensive pressure from his shoulders. Golladay has the talent and instincts to remain a valuable piece of the Detroit offense for years. It’ll be another major hurdle for him to overcome, but that’s all Golladay has done since stepping foot on the gridiron.