Lions head coach Dan Campbell has gone back and forth in his press conferences this training camp about the way he will use the starters in the shortened preseason. On Monday, Campbell made his first real solid declaration of how the first preseason game will get handled.
Campbell stated the starters will play “about a quarter” against the Buffalo Bills on Friday night at Ford Field. He phrased it in the tone where there is some flexibility to the one quarter, but that’s the general idea he and his staff agreed upon for the starting lineup.
With just three preseason games instead of the old standard of four, and a new regime mixing in so many new players, the Lions do project to need more time working the starters and key reserves in the exhibition season than other teams. Campbell has confirmed that status in several press conferences, but Monday’s admission is the first real concrete commitment to playing the starters in the preseason.
