The rain from Detroit Lions training camp practice Day 7 was gone and Day 8 welcomed 91-degrees of sunshine and humidity. It was uncomfortable enough that an hour into practice, coach Matt Patricia had the entire team exit the playing fields and go over to the cooling tent to reset before the final half-hour of practice.
Theme of the day: Get it right
In a two wide receiver versus two cornerback drill, the defensive backs are asked to cover the goal line as the receivers deploy an array of routes to get open. This drill puts stress on communication between corners.
When Jeff Okudah and Darryl Roberts paired up, the receivers crossed and Okudah passed off his man but Roberts didn’t, resulting in a wide-open receiver for the easy score.
Instead of rotating out, Okudah called off the next defensive back and wanted to go again, this time pairing up with Justin Coleman. The receivers crossed again, and this time Okudah stayed with his man, but Coleman passed his man off and it resulted in another wide-open receiver.
Coaches called Okudah over and he talked with them, asking questions right up until it was his turn in the rotation again. This time Okudah read the play, communicated effectively, and was credited with a pass break up.
Okudah is going to make mistakes, just like every rookie in the league, but his ability to take coaching and make corrections is impressive.
Special teams coach Brayden Coombs contributed to this theme as well. The Lions worked on punts quite a bit today and when someone made a mistake blocking, Coombs halted everything, took an extra 30-seconds to point out necessary changes, and made a correction.
At one point, he had the team demonstrate what he was asking of them at three-quarter speed, and the improvement was noticeable.
With a fixed amount of time to practice, stopping to make this change isn’t something all coaches would take the time to do. Historically, coaches would rather opt to point out and make changes in the film room, but there’s a lot of value in doing it this way.
By taking the time to make the change during the drill — and to really make sure it’s understood and digested by the players — Coombs is getting ahead of the problem and getting better reps on film today instead of tomorrow.
I’ve been incredibly impressed by how Okudah and Coombs have handled themselves during camp. Both make a conscious and determined efforts to take the time to get it right.
Quarterbacks
Matthew Stafford is great. The backups are fine. But I don’t want to see anyone but No. 9 on the field in the regular season.
Running backs
D’Andre Swift and Bo Scarbrough have both been out for a long enough period of time it’s fair to start wondering if they will be ready for the start of the season. They still have 17 days to get ready — which could be plenty of time — but at this point, they are only starting to run and workout with trainers, which means they are just at the start of the re-acclimation process.
Kerryon Johnson is locked in as a starter, but if Ty Johnson was on the bubble, his ability to contribute when injuries happen is a nice reminder for coaches of what he can do.
Wide receivers
Kenny Golladay has been the Lions star wide receiver on game day, but this camp has been the Marvin Jones Jr. show. He has always been an impressive leader and contributor, but this camp, he seems to be operating at another level.
Jamal Agnew’s head fake is legit. He continues to use his skill set like he has been playing receiver his whole life.
Quintez Cephus has now had drops on back-to-back days, and it’s a good reminder he is still a rookie and is going to make mistakes. That being said, he’s just too talented to keep on the bench and he’s going to play and produce.
Tom Kennedy probably isn’t going to make this roster with the top-six receivers playing so well, but he is a lock for the practice squad and I would feel comfortable calling him up if one of the top guys was ruled out due to injury/COVID-19.
Tight ends
T.J. Hockenson bounced back after an average day yesterday, splitting victories with Tracy Walker and winning most other reps. His ability to use his body to gain leverage and protect the ball is remarkable.
Jesse James had his best day of camp by far. He cleanly beat Jayron Kearse, Will Harris, and C.J. Moore in on-on-one reps, and looked solid in team drills. Let’s hope he is turning a corner.
Isaac Nauta has had more positive than negative moments since he returned from injury but overall he’s looked like a third tight end and not much more. If Hunter Bryant wasn’t nursing an injury, this battle would be a lot closer than it is right now.
Offensive line
Left tackle Taylor Decker worked out during warmups and then took off his helmet and followed the offensive line around the rest of the day — this looked like a scheduled rest day, rather than injury-related. With Decker getting a rest, Tyrell Crosby was at left tackle with the ones, and Matt Nelson was at left tackle with the twos.
The Lions need Decker healthy, not just because he has been a brick wall this camp, but the offensive line is dealing with some dinged-up players.
Right tackle Hal Vaitai went down at the end of practice, got attention from a trainer but was able to walk off on his own. He’ll be on the watch radar tomorrow.
Left guard Joe Dahl had a maintenance day yesterday and returned to the lineup in full today. He was given a few breaks at random points and Kenny Wiggins stepped in with the ones during those times. It’s worth noting Oday Aboushi was in for Dahl yesterday, so the Wiggins-Aboushi battle is still ongoing.
Defensive line
Trey Flowers has now missed consecutive days of practice but it’s still too early to jump to conclusions on if he is injured or just resting. Desmond Trufant, for example, rested three consecutive days last week and has been back in full this week.
With no Flowers, Romeo Okwara continues to rep with the ones and as I have mentioned previously, is putting together a very nice camp. Okwara moving up with the ones has given newcomer Will Clarke and opportunity to get reps with the twos, but he looks like he is still a ways away from being ready to contribute.
Coach Patricia stated in his morning press conference that Da’Shawn Hand wouldn’t play today, but at this time it’s unclear if it’s a rest day — like many have gotten — or an injury. Tomorrow should provide more answers.
No Hand, meant there was an opportunity for Kevin Strong — he is starting to come on after a slow start to camp — and Frank Herron.
Favorite play of the day: Danny Shelton wrecked Bezschawel in one-on-one pass-rushing drills. Quick off the snap, Shelton got the early angle, stuck one hand into Benzschawel’s chest, and pushed him back five-yards within a second and a half. Each practice Shelton has flashed this level of insane power at least once.
One last thought: If you were worried about John Penisini making the roster, today’s roster move of releasing Olive Sagapolu in favor of Kevin Wilkins should help you feel more comfortable — as Penisini and Shelton are the only nose tackles remaining on the roster.
Linebackers
Not a ton of changes from what has been reported all week. Jarrad Davis and Jahlani Tavai continue to cycle through the MIKE and WILL, Jamie Collins is all over the field, Christian Jones and Reggie Ragland are multi-faceted chess pieces, and Julian Okwara is slowly getting exposed to more playing time.
We did see some more of Elijah Lee and Anthony Pittman today, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see if one of them ends up on the practice squad.
Corner
Another day, and another pass breakup for Tony McRae. He’s been taking starting gunner reps on special teams, as well as reserve slot corner reps, and he is starting to make some noise at both spots.
“Very savvy player,” Patricia said of McRae, “smart, and he’s got great quickness, great short-space quickness, and really does a good job at top-of-the-route stuff right now. He’s done a really good job of playing up and through the pocket and playing the hands in some of the passing situations. He just plays hard, plays hard, plays aggressive.”
Leading up to today, I was souring on Mike Ford’s ability to make the roster as it appeared there were six players ahead of him on the depth chart. While that still may be the case, he got more work with the twos today, suggesting it’s still too early to rule him out.
Safety
The Lions have been getting Will Harris work with the ones in an effort to get him needed experience. While there are still some glaring issues, he has started to have flashes of improvement. For example, in team drills, Matthew Stafford had Hockenson wide open for a touchdown and Harris impressively came flying out of nowhere for the pass break up. He still has a long way to go, but those flashes are progress.
Yesterday, Jalen Elliott was running with the twos at single-high, today it was C.J. Moore. If the Lions can squeeze out an extra spot on the roster, this could be the battle to watch.
Miles Killebrew has seen more reps with the safeties group this camp, mostly running with the third team. His path to the roster is still likely based on what he does on special teams — where he is capable of contributing on several key roles — but his ability to be an emergency safety could help soften the blow during Kearses’ three-game suspension.
Special teams
By my count, the Lions did two punting sessions, each with nine punts split evenly between their punters and long snappers.
The Jack Fox-Don Muhlbach combo continues to get the first set of reps and overall Fox has been a bot more consistent. He has a nice leg, angles kicks on the regular, but does have the occasional oops kick.
Arryn Siposs looks like he is still acclimating to the NFL, but when he connects solidly on a punt it’s a thing of beauty. He may not be getting the regular distance Fox gets, but his flush hits are bombs.
With 16 spots on the practice squad, it’s not out of the question that the Lions end up stashing one of these guys there in case the other struggles early.
Quick notes on the returners (in order): Jamal Agnew, Danny Amendola, Marvin Hall, Victor Bolden, and Jason Huntley.
At gunner, Tony McRae, Dee Virgin, and Jayron Kearse tend to lead the way every practice and each got multiple shots in the order, but a lot of other players got looks today, including Amani Oruwariye, Darryl Roberts, Mike Ford, Bolden, Hall, Quintez Cephus, and Bobby Price.
Last year Virgin made the team strickly because of his special teams’ ability and while I’m not ruling him out, I’m having a hard time finding a spot for him on the roster.
