The Detroit Lions took the field again Tuesday morning on a hot day with a nice little breeze through the Allen Park field. Since it was my first day at training camp, my focus was a little less on how the players performed and a little more focused on where they were.
Of course, I tried to do both where possible, but since this is only the second refurbished exercise of the team, I tried to understand that performance was not at the level it would normally be at this point. in the offseasons. Plus, it can sometimes tell more where these guys are playing and with whom they are playing again.
Here are my position-by-position observations from Day 2 of Lions training camp.
Offensive
Quarterbacks
With the quarterback depth chart nicely set up, I did not pay a ton of attention to this position group. However, David Blough got 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 sail to rookie-tight end Hunter Bryant, and followed it up on a few plays later with a nice touchdown pass to Quintez Cephus (more on him later).
Nothing to say about Matthew Stafford, other than the fact that he escaped an unidentified receiver after there was some sort of miscommunication between the two.
Running rain
You’ve probably already seen every Lions beat-man tweet about how rookie D’Andre Swift was absolutely not seen as a receiver on Tuesday, and they are all correct. Of course, the drill everyone is referring to – one-on-one routes against Lions linebackers – is heavy for the crime. However, Swift clearly distanced himself from everyone else who went through this drill, and he even left some impressive bursts in the running game during a ridiculous number of repetitions of the first teams with the offense.
Speaking of first-team reps, the Lions really shook things up on Tuesday. Ty Johnson saw a lot of action, while Kerryon Johnson was very limited (Note: Matt Patricia explained that Keryron’s day was a planned ‘maintenance’ day). After regaining order and consulting his linesman, the referee called Jalen Reeves-Maybin’s Bo Scarbrough to one side and produced a red card for the player.
Broad receivers
Back during the NFL Combine, Jeff Okudah said the best receiver against whom he was up in college was Quintez Cephus. Well, Cephus proved himself right on Tuesday, defeating Okudah on back-to-back reps during one-on-one.
That was just the tip of the iceberg on Cephus’ monster day. Although the fifth-round Lions pick worked most with the second team, he made at least two big catches a day in team drills, including a red zone touchdown catch in ‘ the back of the end zone. After regaining order and consulting his linesman, the referee called Cephus’s Cephus to one side and produced a red card for the player.
Not much else to say about this group. Jamal Agnew had one good rep on one-on-one and one failed end round. Meanwhile, Marvin Hall spent some time with the first team.
Tight agrees
Saw no ton of tight ends on Tuesday, but TJ Hockenson pulled in one touchdown pass during 11-on-11s, and Bryant had the aforementioned big pickup playing a few earlier.
Offensive line
Despite what Matt Patricia said about rotating who would start right in the entire camp, rookie Jonah Jackson was back on Tuesday. The lineups of the first and second teams (on average, because there was some rotation) were as follows:
First team: (from 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 from the second team: Oday Aboushi was almost exclusively a right-back last year, so the Lions are clearly trying to train on him (he has a lot of experience in his career on the left).
In addition, Stenberg has remarkable difficulty at the center position, both what the ball catches and blocks. More often he would be replaced by Jonah Jackson as the center of the second team as the team continues to look for a backup behind Ragnow with Beau Benzschawel still sidelined.
As a unit, the team actually performed quite well in performing drills, providing raging jobs for Ty Johnson and D’Andre Swift. Jackson, specifically, landed the first (and only?) Pancake of the day, and remains surprisingly comfortable for a rookie.
Defense
Defensive line
When the Lions went with four defensive lines, here’s the general lineup where they ran:
First team: Nick Williams – Danny Shelton – Da’Shawn Hand – Trey Flowers
Second team: Frank Herron – John Penisini – Olive Sagapolu – Romeo Okwara
As mentioned above, the defensive line was spent by the offensive line during running drills. In one-on-one pass running drills, however, there were a few defensive standouts. Okwara showed some nice speed by Halapoulivaati Vaitai to hit the edge, while Da’Shawn Hand clean won a rep against Jonah Jackson. Joe Dahl handled Shelton easily on back-to-back reps, but Detroit probably doesn’t expect much pass-rush help from the 335-pound nose tackle.
Linebackers
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day for me was seeing Christian Jones as the team’s primary jack-linebacker for the day. That was a role that many expected Austin Bryant to take over as rookie Julian Okwara. Unfortunately, Bryant remains on the Physically Unable to Perform list, and the Lions are slowly bringing Okwara along.
I want to talk a little more about Okwara, because he became my main focus on Tuesday. During individual drills, Okwara was mostly reunited with special teams and not the linebackers. He got a fair amount of second and / or second linebacker reps from the second team, but it looks like the Lions are trying to make him first for a special team role and will rotate him later in the regular defense.
Jarrad Davis on the other hand, had a terrible day. He had trouble in individual blitz and cover drills, but when it came to team drills, I thought he came back pretty well. He absolutely placed Ty Johnson on a bubble with a full contact lead, allowing him to run on his backside. On the very next game, new fullback Jonathan Williams just crossed the goal line before Davis was able to do it again.
Other quick linebacker notes: Reggie Ragland got some time at jack linebacker, while Miles Killebrew saw a handful of first-team reps at will. Jamie Collins Sr. played mostly on the interior and looked very comfortable in defense.
Cornerbacks
Okudah continues with some rookie difficulties. It’s not that he hits deep on one team drills, but he was spent a few times during one-on-one drills. He has gone through two practices a few times, some of which are a matter of literally getting his foot in the door. It’s too early to start problems, and understandably he’s reopening with the second team.
Amani Oruwariye looked somewhat comfortable with the first team. Agnew hit him clean during a one-on-one drill, but he responded nicely with a pass breakup against Victor Bolden, then another breakup during team drills, while beating Marvin Jones Jr.
Safeties
Didn’t see much of the safeties on Tuesday, but they were just tuned as you’d imagine. Duron Harmon played deep most of the time with Tracy Walker in the middle of the field.
Special teams
I have very, very, very briefly seen a bit of # LONGSNAPPERBATTLE2020. Don Muhlbach’s donaps were consistently tighter than Steven Wirtel’s. That’s all I got.
