After four padded practices in a row, the Detroit Lions have seen some of their players nicked up as they acclimate back to contact football. As a way of taking some of the stress off the player’s bodies, coach Matt Patricia elected for a non-padded practice on Saturday — shifting the focus to more situational football.
Two-minute drill efficiency
In the Lions two-minute drills the offense looked solid if not above average.
When the first team took the field, Matthew Stafford drove the team down to the goal line and looked like they scored three different times. An acrobatic catch by Kerryon Johnson looked to cross the line but coaches set the ball on the one-yard line and had them go again. Marvin Jones Jr. caught one in the back of the endzone, again looking to have scored, but coaches set the ball on the one and called for third-down, which went to the defense. On fourth down, Stafford looked Jones Jr.’s way again, this time for a called score.
The second team looked even better. Chase Daniel hit Jamal Agnew out of the slot over the middle. Then he looked Quintez Cephus’ way, and the rookie showed amazing body control 30-yards down the sidelines, high pointing the ball and shielding it from the defender. Then right back to Agnew over the middle for the score. Three plays, three passes, three catches, and six points.
This team had a plethora of players who could reliably catch the ball in 2019 and after adding Cephus, Agnew, D’Andre Swift, and Jason Huntley to that group, Stafford will have a lot of options in 2020.
Running backs
Kerryon Johnson and Ty Johnson split reps with the ones, but when things got serious in the two-minute drills discussed above, it was clear coaches preferred Kerryon on the field.
While Ty Johnson has been getting early reps, it will be interesting to see what happens when D’Andre Swift and Bo Scarbrough return from injury and if Jonathan Williams can get time with the ones as he continues to play well.
Wide receivers
This was clearly Marvin Jones Jr.’s day to shine. Not only did he show out in two-minute drills but he commanded the ball on several other occasions, making multiple difficult sideline grabs look routine today.
If you want to know how good a reserve player is, take him off the second team and line him up with the third group and see how he does. If he blends in, that’s not good news, but if he’s better you’ll know very quickly.
That was the case with Cephus today. Near the end of practice, they ran him out with the third team and the difference was immediately noticeable. You can mark him in pen in your roster projections.
Tight ends
We’ve seen this in camp before, but T.J. Hockenson looks incredible.
The Lions are throwing all their safeties at him in drills and 11-on-11s and he’s beat them all. Tracy Walker and Jayron Kearse give him the most trouble but no one else has been close to handling him.
In the TE vs S one-on-one drill, Hockenson lined up against Kearse for the first rep. He ran straight at the safety and when he got to the top of his route, he pushed into the safeties body, pivoted inside, cutting the route, and separating away from the defender. He did this in college as a way of getting open (example below) but with his added strength he has perfected this move. It’s almost uncoverable when timed right.
T.J. Hockenson ran 4.70 and frankly he could have run 5.70 for all I care. He’s like a Jason Witten threat in the pass game…
Hockenson understands the dirty work of getting open. Pressing into & snapping away from defenders. Making junk catches for 12yds on 3rd & 9 in the 4thQ pic.twitter.com/Mc5MYsYjtJ
— Ben Fennell (@BenFennell_NFL) April 20, 2019
The safeties are getting frustrated at the frequency at which Hockenson is winning but they appreciate the competition. Hockenson and Walker routinely acknowledge each other after the reps with high-fives, while Kearse even took to Twitter to shout out the young tight end.
Loving these battles with @TheeHOCK8
— JK (@Jayronkearse8) August 22, 2020
Hunter Bryant left today with an apparent hamstring injury, Isaac Nauta still has yet to take an on-field rep, and Matt Sokol is in a red (non-contact) jersey but taking reps, leaving the Lions with only two healthy tight ends: Hockenson and Jesse James.
Offensive line
Five practices in and five starts for Jonah Jackson at right guard. At this point, it’s safe to start calling him their starter.
His primary competitors, Kenny Wiggins and Oday Aboushi, continue to flip guard spots with Wiggins on the left and Aboushi on the right for today’s practice. This continued exposure to both guard spots reinforces the fact that they appear to be training for a reserve role.
Logan Stenberg continues to rep with the second team at center and in the rare cases the Lions used a third offensive line, he remained in the middle.
In those rare cases where the Lions lined up their third offensive line, we saw Dan Skipper at left tackle, Caleb Benenoch at left guard, Stenberg at center, Wiggins at right guard, and Matt Nelson at right tackle. Beau Benzschawel remains on the sideline.
OL depth chart for Saturday:
| Left tackle | Left guard | Center | Right guard | Right tackle |
| Taylor Decker | Joe Dahl | Frank Ragnow | Jonah Jackson | Hal Vaitai |
| Tyrell Crosby | Oday Aboushi | Logan Stenberg | Kenny Wiggins | Dan Skipper |
| Dan Skipper | Caleb Benenoch | Logan Stenberg | Kenny Wiggins | Matt Nelson |