Heading into day four of Detroit Lions training camp, you can already tell a different vibe this year versus previous years. There is electric energy surrounding the organization bringing the best out of everyone around it, from the players to the fans.
The previous regime players have beat around the bush a little when discussing their experiences from the previous regime. Still, it is not hard to read between the lines that the last regime had left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth, especially from the defensive backs.
Tracy Walker spoke about his displeasure last year yesterday at his post-practice press conference and how he has felt more comfortable from top to bottom with coaches and schemes than last year.
In Dan Campbell’s press conference on Saturday morning, Tracy Walker was brought up as being a potential leader for the Lions, and Campbell instantly agreed. He described the safety group as players who need to be master communicators for the defense as they run the show and set the table in coverage and felt Walker fits that bill perfectly as someone who is very vocal and smart as a whip.
Campbell provided the media with a Tracy Walker story from yesterday’s training camp. Walker told Campbell he would get a pick and bring the ball back to him and promised up and down he would deliver the bill. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the chance to, and Campbell jokingly fined him $50, but Campbell ended up paying the fine for him but told Walker he still owes him.
Now, this is where you can tell the players are way looser and having fun this year because I can guarantee Walker wouldn’t have pulled this one off with last year’s regime.
Campbell continuing singing the praises of the secondary with Will Harris, who so far has struggled in his stint in the NFL, but it sounds like he has impressed the coaches so far. Campbell said he knows it is early in the process, but Harris is coming along and picking up the defense nicely.
Considering Harris hasn’t progressed as much as some were hoping for, it is good to hear he has improved, considering the safety group was not heavily featured this offseason as most thought it would be. So now was it an oversight on the front office, or did they see Harris as more an asset than a liability than most of us thought? We will have to wait and see when training camp ramps up in the coming weeks.
To finish off his press conference, Campbell went on to talk about how secondary grow right in front of his eyes and can see they are starting to mesh and figure everything out. The coaching staff has made it a mission to simplify assignments and make everything more instinctual than overthinking it. As a result, you can probably bet that we see a more improved secondary group this early in training camp.
We will have to wait and see if all of this is smoke and mirrors or there is actual heat behind it all, but so far out of training camp, the secondary might not be as hosed as thought they would be and see a rise in play from players most of us have probably written off.