The Detroit Lions completed the fourth day of their 2019 training camp, and the overwhelming story of the day is the injuries to the Lions defensive front.
Defensive Injuries
Before you hit the panic button, it’s important to remember the Lions are extremely cautious with injuries this time of year and will remove players from practice for minor ailments.
With that in mind, let’s take a quick look at the Lions depth chart up front on defense because the participation levels are unusually low.
Nose Tackle: Damon Harrison is on the Non-Football Injury list (NFI), John Atkins was injured on Sunday, Darius Kilgo is on NFI, leaving seventh-round rookie PJ Johnson as the lone player available.
3/5-technique: Mike Daniels was just acquired and has yet to practice (not unusual) and A’Shawn Robinson is on an excused absence, leaving undrafted free agent Ray Smith as the lone player at the position.
Hybrid 3/5/7-technique: Da’Shawn Hand left practice early, leaving undrafted Kevin Strong as the lone remaining player.
Defensive end: Trey Flowers is on the PUP list, Romeo Okwara is returning from injury and limited, Mitchell Loewen was injured Sunday, and Jonathan Wynn has been injured since the first day of camp. They have needed to move converted linebacker, Eric Lee, back to his old defensive end position to fill in.
JACK linebacker: Devon Kennard is injured, Austin Bryant was injured on Sunday, Malik Carney has yet to return from his opening day injury and Christian Jones who has been splitting time between JACK and WILL is also injured. With Lee filling in at defensive end, coaches began using Jahlani Tavai at JACK, which isn’t too much of a stretch, as he had been getting reps there anyway.
At the linebacker level, with Jones and Steve Longa injured, Tavai at the JACK, and Lee at defensive end, that left the remaining healthy players on the defensive front looking like this:
That made for a long day for the remaining 11 players of a group that is supposed to have 26 players in it.
Observations of what was left on defense
With today being another padded practice, the Lions had several 11-on-11’s and 1-on-1 drills pitting the offensive line against the defensive line. It should come as no surprise that the offensive won most of the battles, but there were a few times the exhausted defenders dug deep and won reps.
Kevin Strong was the big winner today, as he showed the range to play nose tackle, 3/5-technique, and even lined up on the EDGE. In his four one-on-one reps against the offensive line (the first two lines only did one and the third line did two), I gave him an even grade against Joe Dahl and Beau Benzschschawel, and a winning grade over Kenny Wiggins and Ryan Pope. Strong was the only defensive lineman to not lose a rep, giving maximum effort during every drill. The ability to win battles when completely gassed is a trait that is tough to overlook.
PJ Johnson lost reps to Oday Aboushi and Graham Glasgow but relocated Benzschawel with ease on his other two reps. Ray Smith won once, taking down Leo Kolomatangi. Eric Lee lost to Rick Wagner but got the better of Matt Nelson and Ryan Pope.
The wow moments came when the defensive coaches gave Jarrad Davis and Jahlani Tavai opportunities. Davis put a speed move on Andrew Donnal that left him grasping only air. I’m not sure I’ve seen a one-on-one where a player has literally gone untouched before. He then tried his luck up the middle on Luke Bowanko and got put on the turf. Tavai faced off against Tyrell Crosby and got low enough in his bend that he touched the ground at full speed dipping under and past the block.
In 11-on-11’s, the player that most caught my attention was Jalen Reeves-Maybin who had zero issues running step for step with Jesse James. There is a role for a player who can run with tight ends and it could be the best path to playing time.
With injuries in front of him, Miles Killebrew got an opportunity for playing time and had the hit of the day, dislodging a pass from Mark Thompson, that had a reporter in the press area turn and ask, “Is Killebrew a thing again?”
During the goal line portion of the 11-on-11’s drills, the standout play of the day came from Mitchell Loewen, who penetrated the offensive line and stuffed the ball carrier. Unfortunately, he may have injured himself on that play because he left the field soon after.
Offense
The Matthew Stafford to Danny Amendola connection is alive and well. In one-on-one coverage drills, they won every battle. Now, typically these drills do favor the offense, and Amendola’s win over Justin Coleman was hard-earned, the matchup with Jamal Agnew was a clinic, as Amendola created nearly five yards of separation on his cut. This is a weapon the Lions sorely missed last season.
Marvin Jones and Kenny Golladay also continue to find success when Stafford is throwing them the ball, but Jermaine Kearse is still looking for Stafford’s WiFi password.
After a quiet day on Saturday, T.J. Hockenson returned to producing his highlight-reel plays. Right now, he is absolutely uncoverable in the back corner of the end zone.
A lot is made of Ty Johnson’s speed, and justifiably so, but at 210-pounds he’s also got some thump to his game. In a one-on-one drill against Reeves-Maybin, Johnson got low and pushed the linebacker back four to five yards back.
The offensive line continued to rotate it’s guards again today, but one thing continues to stand out: when the team wants to run it in the end zone at the goal line, the most consistent path is between Graham Glasgow and the center next to him.
Special teams
Most of the special teams work today was on kick returns and coverage. With nearly everyone on the roster getting a shot it was hard to gather much. The fact that they were running it in stunted segments, made things even harder to evaluate.
Post-practice
With a day off tomorrow, most of the players moved towards the family section or into the locker room, likely headed for some much-needed rest. After roughly 45 minutes of players completing interviews or wrapping up time with their loved ones, virtually every player had left the field.
Every player, except one: Travis Fulgham.
In OTAs, I saw Fulgham go through this same routine. Ahead of a day off when most were heading towards their break, the rookie stayed behind to work on his routes and pass-catching. These are the types of little things that make the difference between a player who makes the 53-man roster and a player who falls just short.
