Quarterbacks
Matthew Stafford is great. The backups are fine. But I don’t want to see anyone but No. 9 on the field in the regular season.
Running backs
D’Andre Swift and Bo Scarbrough have both been out for a long enough period of time it’s fair to start wondering if they will be ready for the start of the season. They still have 17 days to get ready — which could be plenty of time — but at this point, they are only starting to run and workout with trainers, which means they are just at the start of the re-acclimation process.
Kerryon Johnson is locked in as a starter, but if Ty Johnson was on the bubble, his ability to contribute when injuries happen is a nice reminder for coaches of what he can do.
Wide receivers
Kenny Golladay has been the Lions star wide receiver on game day, but this camp has been the Marvin Jones Jr. show. He has always been an impressive leader and contributor, but this camp, he seems to be operating at another level.
Jamal Agnew’s head fake is legit. He continues to use his skill set like he has been playing receiver his whole life.
Quintez Cephus has now had drops on back-to-back days, and it’s a good reminder he is still a rookie and is going to make mistakes. That being said, he’s just too talented to keep on the bench and he’s going to play and produce.
Tom Kennedy probably isn’t going to make this roster with the top-six receivers playing so well, but he is a lock for the practice squad and I would feel comfortable calling him up if one of the top guys was ruled out due to injury/COVID-19.
Tight ends
T.J. Hockenson bounced back after an average day yesterday, splitting victories with Tracy Walker and winning most other reps. His ability to use his body to gain leverage and protect the ball is remarkable.
Jesse James had his best day of camp by far. He cleanly beat Jayron Kearse, Will Harris, and C.J. Moore in on-on-one reps, and looked solid in team drills. Let’s hope he is turning a corner.
Isaac Nauta has had more positive than negative moments since he returned from injury but overall he’s looked like a third tight end and not much more. If Hunter Bryant wasn’t nursing an injury, this battle would be a lot closer than it is right now.
Offensive line
Left tackle Taylor Decker worked out during warmups and then took off his helmet and followed the offensive line around the rest of the day — this looked like a scheduled rest day, rather than injury-related. With Decker getting a rest, Tyrell Crosby was at left tackle with the ones, and Matt Nelson was at left tackle with the twos.
The Lions need Decker healthy, not just because he has been a brick wall this camp, but the offensive line is dealing with some dinged-up players.
Right tackle Hal Vaitai went down at the end of practice, got attention from a trainer but was able to walk off on his own. He’ll be on the watch radar tomorrow.
Left guard Joe Dahl had a maintenance day yesterday and returned to the lineup in full today. He was given a few breaks at random points and Kenny Wiggins stepped in with the ones during those times. It’s worth noting Oday Aboushi was in for Dahl yesterday, so the Wiggins-Aboushi battle is still ongoing.