After four padded practices in a row, the Detroit Lions have seen some of their players nicked up as they acclimate back to contact football. As a way of taking some of the stress off the player’s bodies, coach Matt Patricia elected for a non-padded practice on Saturday — shifting the focus to more situational football.
Two-minute drill efficiency
In the Lions two-minute drills the offense looked solid if not above average.
When the first team took the field, Matthew Stafford drove the team down to the goal line and looked like they scored three different times. An acrobatic catch by Kerryon Johnson looked to cross the line but coaches set the ball on the one-yard line and had them go again. Marvin Jones Jr. caught one in the back of the endzone, again looking to have scored, but coaches set the ball on the one and called for third-down, which went to the defense. On fourth down, Stafford looked Jones Jr.’s way again, this time for a called score.
The second team looked even better. Chase Daniel hit Jamal Agnew out of the slot over the middle. Then he looked Quintez Cephus’ way, and the rookie showed amazing body control 30-yards down the sidelines, high pointing the ball and shielding it from the defender. Then right back to Agnew over the middle for the score. Three plays, three passes, three catches, and six points.
This team had a plethora of players who could reliably catch the ball in 2019 and after adding Cephus, Agnew, D’Andre Swift, and Jason Huntley to that group, Stafford will have a lot of options in 2020.
Running backs
Kerryon Johnson and Ty Johnson split reps with the ones, but when things got serious in the two-minute drills discussed above, it was clear coaches preferred Kerryon on the field.
While Ty Johnson has been getting early reps, it will be interesting to see what happens when D’Andre Swift and Bo Scarbrough return from injury and if Jonathan Williams can get time with the ones as he continues to play well.
Wide receivers
This was clearly Marvin Jones Jr.’s day to shine. Not only did he show out in two-minute drills but he commanded the ball on several other occasions, making multiple difficult sideline grabs look routine today.
If you want to know how good a reserve player is, take him off the second team and line him up with the third group and see how he does. If he blends in, that’s not good news, but if he’s better you’ll know very quickly.
That was the case with Cephus today. Near the end of practice, they ran him out with the third team and the difference was immediately noticeable. You can mark him in pen in your roster projections.
Tight ends
We’ve seen this in camp before, but T.J. Hockenson looks incredible.
The Lions are throwing all their safeties at him in drills and 11-on-11s and he’s beat them all. Tracy Walker and Jayron Kearse give him the most trouble but no one else has been close to handling him.
In the TE vs S one-on-one drill, Hockenson lined up against Kearse for the first rep. He ran straight at the safety and when he got to the top of his route, he pushed into the safeties body, pivoted inside, cutting the route, and separating away from the defender. He did this in college as a way of getting open (example below) but with his added strength he has perfected this move. It’s almost uncoverable when timed right.
T.J. Hockenson ran 4.70 and frankly he could have run 5.70 for all I care. He’s like a Jason Witten threat in the pass game…
Hockenson understands the dirty work of getting open. Pressing into & snapping away from defenders. Making junk catches for 12yds on 3rd & 9 in the 4thQ pic.twitter.com/Mc5MYsYjtJ
— Ben Fennell (@BenFennell_NFL) April 20, 2019
The safeties are getting frustrated at the frequency at which Hockenson is winning but they appreciate the competition. Hockenson and Walker routinely acknowledge each other after the reps with high-fives, while Kearse even took to Twitter to shout out the young tight end.
Loving these battles with @TheeHOCK8
— JK (@Jayronkearse8) August 22, 2020
Hunter Bryant left today with an apparent hamstring injury, Isaac Nauta still has yet to take an on-field rep, and Matt Sokol is in a red (non-contact) jersey but taking reps, leaving the Lions with only two healthy tight ends: Hockenson and Jesse James.
Offensive line
Five practices in and five starts for Jonah Jackson at right guard. At this point, it’s safe to start calling him their starter.
His primary competitors, Kenny Wiggins and Oday Aboushi, continue to flip guard spots with Wiggins on the left and Aboushi on the right for today’s practice. This continued exposure to both guard spots reinforces the fact that they appear to be training for a reserve role.
Logan Stenberg continues to rep with the second team at center and in the rare cases the Lions used a third offensive line, he remained in the middle.
In those rare cases where the Lions lined up their third offensive line, we saw Dan Skipper at left tackle, Caleb Benenoch at left guard, Stenberg at center, Wiggins at right guard, and Matt Nelson at right tackle. Beau Benzschawel remains on the sideline.
OL depth chart for Saturday:
| Left tackle | Left guard | Center | Right guard | Right tackle |
| Taylor Decker | Joe Dahl | Frank Ragnow | Jonah Jackson | Hal Vaitai |
| Tyrell Crosby | Oday Aboushi | Logan Stenberg | Kenny Wiggins | Dan Skipper |
| Dan Skipper | Caleb Benenoch | Logan Stenberg | Kenny Wiggins | Matt Nelson |
Defensive line
With no pads on the defense is put in a difficult position of being asked to cover for the entire practice. For some this is natural, but others struggled as expected — and for the defensive line, there’s not a lot of info to be gained.
The Lions two-deep remained the same from yesterday, with the only change being a shift to a modified NASCAR formation in the 2-minute drill — with Flowers anchoring the line and flanked by the Okwara brothers.
Linebackers
Asking the Lions linebackers to cover has been a challenge in the past but we have seen some improvement.
Jamie Collins held his own covering Danny Amendola. Jalen Reeves-Maybin confidently ran step for step with Ty Johnson. Jahlani Tavai put himself in a great position for an interception but dropped it. And even Jarrad Davis got a pass break up when dropping into zone coverage on a pass intended for Hockenson.
It’s a work in progress but there were some positives today — which is more than could be said in previous camps.
Corner
Jeff Okudah tweaked something on one of the first reps of the day and was kept out of practice. With Marcus Trufant also sitting out, it opened the door for Darryl Roberts to get first-team reps opposite Amani Oruwariye, with Justin Coleman in the slot. The second team consisted of Mike Ford and Dee Virgin on outside with Tony McRae in the slot.
Coleman has had a low key good camp this year and is probably someone we should be talking more about. I’ll be looking for him tomorrow.
Safety
The Lions continued their cross-training at safety on Saturday. That means Duron Harmon was at single-high and Will Harris was at JOKER on the first-team, while Tracy Walker manned the single-high spot with Jayron Kearse at JOKER with the twos.
Harmon is the best single-high safety on the team but after him, the next best player at this spot is Walker, who is the best JOKER on the roster. When it comes to an actual starting lineup, I’m confident it will be Harmon and Walker on the field, with Harris and Kearse competition for the third role. But with Kearse suspended for the first three games, the Lions need to get Harris ready to contribute as soon as possible — thus his current run with the starters.
Something to keep an eye on. On Friday, Harmon did some positional drills with the corners, then today was manned up with running backs in 11-on-11s. The single-high spot is typically a deep zone coverage position, but he is getting some extra work in expanding his skill set.
By giving Harmon reps covering backs, and Walker reps at single-high, the Lions could end up with a pair of safeties who can swap roles at a moment’s notice. Interchangeable safeties would give this team another level of deception.
Special teams
After not being able to secure his three punt returns yesterday, Jason Huntley found his groove on Saturday and fielded all three with ease. Jamal Agnew and Danny Amendola were also fielding punts again, but the Lions also threw Marvin Hall into the mix, and had Victor Bolden on hand watching — he is still recovering from injury but could be given a shot when healthy.
One final note: Miles Killebrew has been working with the linebackers since Patrica took over two years ago, but this camp he appears to be attempting to expand his role. In addition to seeing some snaps at WILL linebacker, he has also some looks in a hang defender/strong safety role. This is an ideal spot for him and a potential opportunity to show coaches he can do more than just win on special teams.
