The Detroit Lions welcomed in their “friends and family” to Allen Park on Friday, as the team suited up in pads for Day 5 of training camp.
Participation Report
After leaving practice early on Thursday, both Terrion Arnold (calf) and Derrick Barnes (finger) were back on the practice field on Friday and looked no worse for wear. While no players left practice early with apparent injuries, they were without rookies Tyliek Williams and Ian Kennelly.
Aidan Hutchinson looks fully back
Heading into training camp, one of the big questions repeatedly asked was: Will Aiden Hutchinson return to form after breaking his leg last season? After five days of practice, including Friday’s padded practice, he certainly looks all the way back. And if you ask defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard, he may be even better than last year.
“Listen, I’m not saying anything about numbers, statistics, any of that. But I see a better player than we had last year,” Sheppard told the media on Thursday.
Before the pads went on, Hutchinson was able to showcase his elite burst and timing, and he looked very comfortable trusting his leg. When pads went on, he was able to dial things up even further and showed very well in both individual and team drills on Friday.
Every training camp, the first rep of one-on-one OL vs DL is always Hutchinson against Penei Sewell. In a matchup of arguably the best two players on the field, it’s a battle worth the trip to Allen Park. Hutchinson cleanly won the rep, a rare occurrence in this battle of elites.
In his next matchup, Hutchinson squared off against Dan Skipper, and the replacement left also had no answer for Hutchinson, who stabbed outside and dipped in and under, passing him nearly untouched.
Hutchinson also looked strong in team drills, setting firm edges against the run and even getting a sack on third down to help the defense end the drive during 11-on-11s.
“I’m at a point now in my career where it’s like, you’re shooting for the stars every year,” Hutchinson told the media after practice. “And if that’s not the expectation or standard you put to yourself, it’s got to be that way. I think from here on out, those first couple of years you’re getting in the league and figuring it out. But, now it’s every year, the standard is what it is.”
Glasgow stays at center
After flipping Graham Glasgow back to center and rookie Tate Ratledge to right guard on Thursday, the Lions kept things the same on Friday, sending out this starting unit:
LT Dan Skipper
LG Christian Mahogany
C Graham Glasgow
RG Tate Ratledge
RT Penei Sewell
“When you get the day off (Wednesday), you have the ability to kind of sit back, look at it all, think about it. And then it’s like, ‘You know what? Let’s just go ahead and throw Graham back in there at center and get Tate some of these guard reps,” coach Dan Campbell told the media Friday. “We’re still going to work him at center, but let’s go ahead and do this and see what this looks like for a little bit. We go into pads (today). And so, like I said, we’re just seeing what we can find. What’s the best combination? Who’s going to play best where?”
For Ratledge, the responsibilities at guard present a new set of challenges, several of which we saw on Friday.
For example, we saw the Lions blitz Brian Branch out of the slot, which forced Sewell to adjust to that pressure, leaving Ratledge to deal with Marcus Davenport from a unique angle. Davenport used power and angle to leverage Ratledge back into the quarterback.
Another guard trait requires Ratledge to pull on outside runs and screens, something he hasn’t had to do while at center. His movement skills are a plus for him, but having to get out and try and block Branch in space is a daunting assignment.
There’s a lot on Ratledge’s plate right now, but he seems to be handling the pressure well and should improve with more experience.
As for the reserves, we saw the Lions continue their three center rotation, with the second- and third-teams on Friday:
LT Giovanni Manu
LG Netane Muti/Kingsley Eguakun
C Michael Niese/Trystan Colon
RG Kayode Awosika/Colby Sorsdal
RT Jamarco Jones/Mason Miller
One-on-ones
One of the best aspects of wearing pads is tracking how players perform in one-on-one drills. There’s a lot to process in this section, so we’ll bullet point the highlights to keep things moving.
OL vs DL
- As previously mentioned, Hutchinson cleanly beat Penei Sewell and Dan Skipper
- Christian Mahogany showed tremendous anchor vs. Chris Smith
- Graham Glasgow beat DJ Reader on their first rep, but things ended in a draw the second time around
- Tate Ratledge fought to a draw with Pat O’Connor, but handled Keith Cooper easily
- Giovanni held his ground against a much quicker Isaac Ukwu, locking him up and applying a firm anchor
Offensive skills players vs. back-seven defenders
- Jameson Williams opened the event by squaring up against Terrion Arnold. The receiver showed surprising power and got the win.
- In their next matchup, Arnold didn’t hesitate and attacked, blowing up Williams before he could ramp up, with the hit resulting in Williams losing his helmet.
- Similarly, David Montgomery made a slick move to beat Jack Campbell in their first matchup. But Campbell’s aggression resulted in a huge tackle for loss that drew an incredible reaction from the defense.
- Dominic Lovett tried to catch Amik Robertson off guard by hurdling him, but the savvy vet wasn’t fooled and caught the rookie in the air and discarded him with violence.
- Morice Norris used a similar level of aggression that we saw from Arnold, but rookie Isaac TeSlaa used his strength and length to keep the defender at bay while staying on his feet for the win.
- Sam LaPorta has been a problem in team drills (which also continued today), but he also got very clean wins in one-on-ones vs. Avonte Maddox and Brian Branch—which is incredibly hard to do.
Tight ends/running backs vs. safeties and linebackers
- This was purely a pass rush vs. protection set of drills, which heavily favors the defense. However, Craig Reynolds won both of his reps, absorbing big contact from Anthony Pittman on one rep.
- Trevor Nowaske showed a really nice swim move passed Brock Wright—flashing some pass rushing chops that have earned him the backup SAM role for most of camp—but when lined up opposite LaPorta, the Pro Bowl tight end handled him well.
- Unsurprisingly, Grant Stuart stood out with the pop of his pads. He had a very successful bull rush against Kenny Yeboah that easily drove him into the “quarterback.”
- Campbell and Montgomery were back at it again here, and the third-year linebacker won both of his reps, which is no easy task. Montgomery is one of the best pass protectors on the team, but Campbell won with both force and sound technique. Don’t sleep on Campbell as a potential blitzing piece of this defense.
Special teams
- Rock Ya-Sin showed off his veteran experience during drills as one of the only gunners to successfully beat the double team for a “tackle.” On the play, Ya-Sin stepped around the outside blocker, but instead of heading upfield (like most others did), he sharply cut back in, forcing the second blocker to lose his angle and eventually the rep.
- Norris also demonstrated his experience by patiently waiting for TeSlaa to beat his initial block. Then, instead of attacking, he maintained his angle and forced the rookie to make the next move. Norris easily countered and ran TeSlaa out of the play.
- Lovett got some revenge on Robertson during this drill, as he stab-stepped inside and forced the aggressive corner to bite, then the rookie used his speed to fly by and have an open lane to the ball carrier. Lovett is a very natural gunner, and I believe if he makes the team, he could earn a starting role there.
- Fellow rookie wide receiver Jackson Meeks is also a legitimate option at gunner. He easily beat his blocks with power and often found himself in ideal positions to attack the ball carrier. His power showed up with the pads on.
- Veteran receiver Malik Taylor had one of the best special teams reps of the day, as both he and Stantley Thomas-Oliver got locked up at full speed. Taylor used his strength to gain leverage on the blocker and lifted him off the ground and out of the way as he cut back to the ball carrier.
Unloading the notebook
- Zach Cunningham looks ready to start at WILL if Alex Anzalone misses any time. Cunningham continues to rep with the starters and is making loads of plays, especially against the run. It’s been a while, but it’s worth remembering that Cunningham led the NFL with 164 tackles in 2020. He remains a strong tackler.
- Craig Reynolds’ grip on the RB3 job is steadily increasing. Reynolds found big gains on a toss sweep and screen pass during 11-on-11s, showing that he can be productive in and out of pads.
- In the final 11-on-11 drill of the day, we saw terrific plays from TeSlaa (converting a third down on a tough sideline catch), Lovett (leak out to the left with YAC), and Jakobie Keeney-James (securing a crossing route and flying up the field). With Meeks showing out on special teams, this rookie wide receiver class has performed very well early in camp.
- Speaking of rookies, tight end/H-back Zach Horton showed that he also has traditional fullback range, laying some solid blocks on a few running plays.
- Kingsley Eguakun got beaten on a spin move by Myles Adams during one-on-ones, but redeemed himself during team drills when he pancaked a blitzing Anthony Pittman.
- With Tyleik Williams not in attendance, it was Chris Smith and Pat O’Connor stepping into the starting 3-technique role. Smith also expanded his roles from 3T to include 4i, joining O’Connor and UDFA rookie Keith Cooper as the only defensive linemen (that we’ve seen) to take reps in that role.
- Throughout camp, Erick Hallett has shown impressive positional range, playing all five defensive back positions. On Friday, he secured a beautiful tackle for loss on a running back flare route during team drills. He’s playing himself into the mix for a defensive back depth role.
“Well, one of the reasons we like Hallett is because he can play multiple roles,” Campbell said Friday morning. “He’s a little bit in that niche of Pat O’Connor who can do so many different jobs. Hallett can play the nickel, we can put him outside, play some corner, he’s playing safety, certainly moving him around on special teams. There’s just a lot of jobs he can do, and there’s always going to be value in that.”
