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The Detroit Lions took to the field Tuesday morning on a hot day with a nice light breeze crossing the Allen Park field. Since it was my first day at training camp, I was focusing a little less on How? ‘Or’ What players have played and a little more focused on or they were.
Obviously I tried to do both when possible, but given that this is only the team’s second padded workout, I tried to figure out that the performance wasn’t was not at the level she would normally be at this point in the offseason. Also, it can sometimes be more revealing to know where these guys are playing and who they are joining.
Here are my position-by-position observations from Day 2 of Lions training camp.
Offense
Quarterback
With the quarterback’s depth graph roughly established, I haven’t paid much attention to this group of positions. However, David Blough has had quite a bit of playing time, and I have to admit he looked a lot better than when we last saw him. In full 11-on-11 drills, he threw an absolute chord to rookie tight end Hunter Bryant, and followed him a few games later with a nice touchdown pass to Quintez Cephus (more on him later) .
Nothing major to say about Matthew Stafford other than the fact that he chewed on an unidentified receiver after there was some sort of misunderstanding between the two.
Running backs
You’ve probably seen every Lions beat guys tweet about how rookie Andre Swift looked absolutely nowhere to be found as wide receiver on Tuesday, and they’re all right. Of course, the drill everyone is referring to – individual routes against Lions linebackers – strongly favors attack. Still, Swift clearly distanced himself from everyone else going through this drill, and he even showed an impressive explosion in the running game over a good number of first-team reps with the offense.
Speaking of first-team reps, the Lions really turned things upside down on Tuesday. Ty Johnson saw a lot of the action, while Kerryon Johnson was very limited (Note: Matt Patricia clarified that Keryron’s day was a scheduled “maintenance” day). After snapping a photo of Jalen Reeves-Maybin during the one-on-one blanket drills, Bo Scarbrough stood up slowly and didn’t seem to do much for the rest of the day.
Wide receivers
Back in the days of the NFL Combine, Jeff Okudah said the top receiver he faced in college was Quintez Cephus. Well, Cephus vindicated him on Tuesday, beating Okudah twice head-to-head.
It was just the tip of the iceberg on Cephus’ monster day. While the Lions’ fifth-round pick worked mostly with the second team, he made at least two big catches that day in team drills, including a touchdown in the red zone at the back of the end zone. Sensing it clearly, Cephus tossed the ball into the air after scoring and let out an audible scream that was easily heard by the media stands on the other side of the pitch.
Not much to say about this group. Jamal Agnew had a good one-on-one rep and a failed one. Meanwhile, Marvin Hall spent time with the first team.
Tight ends
I didn’t watch a ton of tight ends Tuesday, but TJ Hockenson hit a touchdown pass for 11-11, and Bryant had the aforementioned big pickup a few games earlier.
Offensive line
Despite what Matt Patricia has said about the rotation that would start at right guard throughout camp, it was rookie Jonah Jackson again starting Tuesday. The rosters of the first and second teams (on average, as there was a rotation) were as follows:
First team: (left to right): Taylor Decker, Joe Dahl, Frank Ragnow, Jonah Jackson, Halapoulivaati Vaitai
Second team: Tyrell Crosby, Oday Aboushi, Logan Stenberg, Kenny Wiggins, Dan Skipper
A few notable things about the second team: Oday Aboushi was almost exclusively a right guard last year, so the Lions are clearly trying to train him awry (he has a lot of experience in his career on the left side).
Additionally, Stenberg notably struggled with center position, both in terms of ball slamming and blocking. Often he was replaced by Jonah Jackson as a second-team center, as the team continue to look for a replacement behind Ragnow with Beau Benzschawel still on the sidelines.
As a unit, the team performed very well in the running drills, creating fast lanes for Ty Johnson and D’Andre Swift. Jackson, in particular, landed the first (and only?) Pancake of the day and continues to look surprisingly comfortable for a rookie.
Defense
Defensive line
When the Lions went with four defensive linemen, here’s the general roster they ran with:
First team: Nick Williams – Danny Shelton – Da’Shawn Hand – Trey Fleurs
Second team: Frank Herron – John Penisini – Olive Sagapolu – Romeo Okwara
As noted above, the defensive line was beaten by the offensive line during running drills. However, in the one-on-one pass rush drills there were some defensive strengths. Okwara posted good speed beating Halapoulivaati Vaitai on the edge, while Da’Shawn Hand neatly won a rep against Jonah Jackson. Joe Dahl has handled Shelton with ease in back-to-back repetitions, but Detroit probably doesn’t expect much passing help from the 335-pound tackle.
Linebackers
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day for me was seeing Christian Jones as the team’s main linebacker for the day. It was a role that many expected from Austin Bryant or rookie Julian Okwara. Sadly, Bryant remains on the physically unable to perform list, and the Lions bring Okwara in slowly.
I want to talk a little more about Okwara, because he was going to be my main focus on Tuesday. During the individual drills, Okwara mostly played with special teams and not with linebackers. He’s got a good number of second and / or third linebacker reps, but it looks like the Lions are trying to prepare him for a special teams role first and will turn him into regular defense later.
Jarrad Davis has had a very eventful day. He struggled in the individual blitz and cover drills, but as far as team drills go, I thought he was bouncing off pretty well. He absolutely pissed off Ty Johnson on a full contact goal line drill, pushing the carrier onto his back. In the very next game, new running back Jonathan Williams barely crossed the goal line before Davis could do it again.
Other quick notes from linebackers: Reggie Ragland had some time with Jack’s linebacker, while Miles Killebrew saw a handful of first-team reps at will. Jamie Collins Sr. played mostly indoors and looked extremely comfortable on defense.
Cornerbacks
Okudah continues to go through hardships for beginners. It’s not like he’s been beaten deeply on team drills, but he has been beaten several times in individual drills. He’s slipped through two workouts a couple of times, so part of it is literally getting on his feet. It’s too early to start worrying, and it’s understandable that he’s still on the second team.
Amani Oruwariye looked quite comfortable with the first team. Agnew beat him cleanly in an individual drill, but he responded well with a pass break against Victor Bolden, then another break during team drills while defending Marvin Jones Jr.
Security
I didn’t see much of the safeties on Tuesday, but they were lined up exactly as you would expect. Duron Harmon was playing deep most of the time with Tracy Walker cruising down midfield.
Special teams
I very, very, very briefly watched a bit of # LONGSNAPPERBATTLE2020. Don Muhlbach’s shots were always tighter than Steven Wirtel’s. It is all I have.
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