Lions training camp – Page 12 – Syndication Server

Trey Flowers, D’Andre Swift among several Lions held out of Friday’s practice

Swift has barely practiced in the last 10 days

Friday’s practice session was moved indoors at the Detroit Lions training facility in Allen Park due to thunderstorms in the area. The move inside kept the media closed out from watching the session, as well as postponing the team’s live stream from camp for another day.

Several prominent Lions players sat out the practice with a varying range of injuries. Among the Detroit walking wounded who were held out of practice:

LT Taylor Decker – practiced Thursday but was “a little sore” according to head coach Matt Patricia.

DE Trey Flowers – the exact same status as Decker, soreness and more of a veteran day off than any real injury

RB D’Andre Swift – the unspecified lower-body injury that has kept Swift from practicing for most of the last 10 days continues to plague the rookie RB.

RB Bo Scarbrough

FB Nick Bawden

DE Da’Shawn Hand

TE Hunter Bryant

Coach Patricia said of the latter foursome, “a day of rest, (they’re all) on kind of the same program.” Scarbrough has been in and out for most of camp.

The Lions will be back outside (weather permitting) on Saturday morning.

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Lions LB Reggie Ragland: ‘We’ve got the pieces’ to be this year’s Chiefs

Ragland started in the Super Bowl for the reigning champion Chiefs

Reggie Ragland is one of the few people in the Detroit Lions organization with a Super Bowl ring of his own. The linebacker earned it with the Kansas City Chiefs last season, starting in Super Bowl LIV in the Chiefs win over the San Francisco 49ers.

Now with the Lions after signing as a free agent, Ragland sees a lot of parallels between his new team and his old one. A long pick-six in Sunday’s practice was the catalyst for Ragland’s comparison between the reigning champs and the Lions, coming off a 3-12-1 campaign. He made the play of the day in Sunday’s practice, as told by Lions Wire’s Erik Schlitt,

The play of the day came during a 7-on-7 goalline drill near the end of practice. Reggie Ragland lined up at WILL linebacker, disguised his drop and when Matthew Stafford tried to laser one in to a crossing Danny Amendola, Ragland jumped the route and made a leaping one-handed interception.

After practice, Ragland noted that the last time he had a play like that was last year in the preseason.

“And you see how that turned out,” Ragland said. “We ended up winning the Super Bowl. So hopefully the same thing can go on this year.”

Ragland then doubled down on his optimistic take on the Lions,

“I see the same qualities in this team as in Kansas City. We’ve got the pieces. We’ve just got to keep putting them together and just keep playing hard and being consistent and just keep finishing. I think we’ve got the guys to do that. We’ve just got to go out there and just play ball.”

The Lions practice again on Tuesday after a day off on Monday.

Bo Scarbrough still sidelined from Lions practice

Jonathan Williams has impressed while getting BoScar’s reps

Our Erik Schlitt is in the socially distanced media scrum in Allen Park today to report live from the action. One player Schlitt and the rest of the Lions won’t see on the practice field on Friday is running back Bo Scarbrough.

Coach Matt Patricia announced that the powerful RB remains sidelined with an undisclosed injury. Scarbrough has not practiced in full since Monday’s first session at the Lions training facility.

His extended absence helps explain why the Lions signed free agent Jonathan Williams earlier this week. Like Scarbrough, Williams is a power-based inside runner with a lengthy injury history of his own.

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Matt Patricia masters the filibuster answer when asked about the Lions punting competition

Patricia gave a very long answer to a question about the Lions’ punting competition

We normally think of filibusters in the political realm. They’re intentionally long and unnecessarily detailed orations on a topic designed to fill time and prevent further questioning or progress into other topics.

Matt Patricia gave a great example of a filibuster in a football context during his Thursday Zoom session with reporters.

Patricia has always been verbose and prone to giving elaborately long and occasionally off-focus answers throughout his coaching tenure in Detroit. It’s his personality; coach Patricia is a talkative guy and when he’s interested in something, such as a good question, he likes to talk through his thought process.

Anyone who has heard me on the radio or a podcast knows I’m the same way. So when I say that Patrica’s lengthy answer to a question about the Lions punting competition is an epic example of a football filibuster, I say so with a self-aware admiration and observational tone more than a critical one.

Here is Patricia’s full answer from the question about the battle between Jack Fox and Arryn Siposs to handle the team’s punting duties,

“Two great guys, really, and good question because today you’re actually going to see some coverage stuff. So as you’re watching that, you’ll see some kickoff coverage. We’re working towards this week also the punt coverage aspect of all that too. That’ll be up this week. We’ll get a little bit more live reps at that – or not live – but as close as we can in pads, which will be nice. As far as the two punters, I think they’ve both done an outstanding job. I think they both have extremely outstanding leg talent.

Jack was here with us last year, and we saw his ability, the ball just explodes off his foot just when he drives into it. Certainly with Siposs, a guy that’s a little bit older even though he’s just coming out of college, very calm, another really strong leg, very consistent. I think for both of those guys they’re doing a great job. They’re competing.

Certainly as we go through camp we’re going to have to turn up the pressure a little bit just on some of the different looks they’re going to see and get them a feel for what that rush looks like when it’s coming at them and see how they perform under pressure. Certainly try to do it in the safest manner possible – it’s always a little bit interesting when you’re trying to do that with the punt and the punt protection, but we have to see that the best we can without the preseason games to see how that goes.

Two guys that are doing a great job of competing back and forth. One of the really awesome parts about all of it is (that) they’re back there helping each other. I think when you have competition on a football team, but the players put aside that competition and just try to help each other out, especially with the guys – the specialists and the kickers – because there’s so many details involved there with the snap and the timing of the footwork, the drop angle and the way the ball comes off the foot. They’re helping each other so that’s pretty cool to see.”

That’s one heck of a long answer, 368 words to be exact, for what seemed to be a fairly standard and anticipated question.

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Jonah Jackson gets 1st-team RG reps in 1st day of Lions practices

Rookie Jonah Jackson gets 1st-team RG reps in 1st day of Lions practices, and coach Matt Patricia endorses the guard rotation

Rookie Jonah Jackson earned the first-team reps at right guard in the first practice session of the Detroit Lions training camp. The third-round pick from Ohio State worked with the starters, sandwiched between new RT Halapoulivaati Vaitai and center Frank Ragnow.

Jackson was the only rookie who was consistently working with the first team on Monday. First-round CB Jeff Okudah and second-round RB D’Andre Swift, both of whom figure to play extensively if not outright starting, played primarily with the second teams at their respective positions.

Lions head coach Matt Patricia indicated after practice to not read too much into Jackson’s status. He explained that it was simply Jackson’s turn in the guard rotation after Kenny Wiggins and Oday Aboushi had run with the 1s in prior walkthroughs.

“Really, Oday (Aboushi) and Kenny (Wiggins) and those guys have been working through there previous to getting out there today, so it’s kind of just a rotational thing that wound up being the first day of pads.”

Patricia did cite Jackson’s maturity and extensive experience starting at both Rutgers and then Ohio State as feathers in his cap. The coach also gave a noncommittal endorsement of the guard rotation the team used last year.

“I think it’s something that we did earlier, I think it’s something that we liked and really kind of in the long run helped us with our situation that we had because of some injuries and gave some guys some good reps going forward,” Patricia said when asked about rotating the guards again in 2020. “I would say it’s not really a set-in-stone plan that, ‘Hey, we’re going to do it this way, or that way.’ We just want to really get some competition right now and see what it looks like from that standpoint.”

Expect Jackson to be a significant part of the rotation as a rookie.

5 reasons to be optimistic for the Lions ahead of training camp

With some hype for the Detroit Lions, here are 5 reasons why you should be drinking the Honolulu blue Kool-Aid heading into training camp

The Detroit Lions are finally all together and ready to square off in their first padded practice this Monday. Tomorrow, the Lions will get their first look at all the players and coaches in their natural state and see what they have to work with.

There will be plenty of questions, but there are a few reasons to be optimistic about the Lions heading into training. So let us take a seat, sip on some that delicious Honolulu Blue Kool-Aid together and see why we should be excited for the Lions ahead of training camp.

The Darrell Bevell effect

It would be hard to argue that anyone had a more significant effect on the Lions last year than offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. Bevell was able to tap into every aspect of the Lions offense and bring out a high octane, well-balanced offense that they have been missing for quite some time. I believe if it wasn’t for losing a few key players to injury, last season would’ve been a different story — considering how well they were hitting their stride when Matthew Stafford went down.

Bevell opened up a downfield attack that the Lions sorely needed. All the receivers benefited greatly, but we will get to that later. Even though the Lions went through more running backs than one team should have last year, Bevell was able to showcase their talents in different ways. The quarterback carousel didn’t help matters either, but Bevell was able to cater to Jeff Driskel and David Blough’s strengths.

Even though this offseason has been a weird one, expect Bevell to continue to create new ways to showcase the talent on offense.

John Matthew Stafford

Stafford is the heart and soul not only for the Lions but for the Detroit community as well. It is hard to find a more liked player, but somehow he is consistently underrated around the league. Unfortunately, it likely has a lot to do with the fact that he plays for the Lions. Thankfully, this doesn’t bother him one bit as the gunslinger continues to shred defenses. Between the tight window throws and the deeps bombs, it is hard to find a pass Stafford can’t make.

The Stafford Bevell was a match made in offensive heaven. Bevell’s heavily focused vertical attack and play-action approach played into Stafford’s strengths. Before an injury prematurely ended his season, Stafford was on the brink of an MVP season as he ranked top five in touchdowns, passing yards, and QB rating through the first eight games. Stafford has made it a career of making the players him better, and you can bet that trend will continue this season. Despite two straight seasons dealing with a back injury, it looks like Stafford is ready to go this season and continue his dominance.

Receiver continuity

Due to the COVID-19 situation and no preseason to work out any potential problems, having some continuity on the field will be a blessing. Fortunately for Detroit, they will be returning their top four receivers from last year: Golladay, Jones, Amendola, and Hall. The Golladay, Jones, and Amendola trio all recorded at 60 catches and 675 yards, the only team to accomplish that feat in the NFL last year. Considering they were able to do that with quarterback rotation, makes this is even more impressive.

Golladay went on to the lead the NFL in touchdowns with 11, Amendola was 11 receiving yards away of topping his career-high, Jones had the best catch percentage (68.1-percent) of his career, and cast-off Marvin Hall saw a career rejuvenation by posting a ridiculous 37.3 yards per reception.

Stafford already has chemistry with these receivers, and I wouldn’t put it past any of them to pick up from where they left off from last year. Marvin Jones showed his enthusiasm saying, “You look to the left, you look to the right and we have ballers. That’s something that’s very exciting”.

The Detroit Patriots

The Lions received a lot of grief with the way they approached free agency this year, almost exclusively targeting former Patriots. While some may say it lacks creative nature in the front office, I believe this was a smart move from general manager Bob Quinn and coach Matt Patricia.

With the COVID situation putting everything in chaos, teams don’t have as much time to teach their scheme to new players creating a giant learning curve. By bringing in former Patriots, the team knows these players can execute the system in Detroit with minimal issues.

Danny Shelton, Jamie Collins, and Duron Harmon will all play a significant role in this defense. Shelton is a better fit at nose tackle in the Lions scheme than what they have had in the past. The Lions pulled an unexpected move and brought in Collins, who will look to line up all over the field and will likely bring a better pass-rushing presence than the departed Devon Kennard. Probably the most underrated move the Lions made this year was the trade for Harmon. It will free up Tracy Walker to do what he does best in the box as a JOKER safety, while Harmon takes care of the single high safety role.

With little time to learn this year, the Lions will benefit from these new additions already having an idea of what is expected for the Lions’ scheme and culture.

Revamped secondary

The one position group that has seen the most turnover heading into the season is the secondary.

There will new faces at every corner (no pun indented) and in the safety group. After trading away Darius Slay and Quandre Diggs, the Lions had to find a way to replace their production. From all accounts and purposes, that is exactly what they did this offseason acquiring three new starters in Desmond Trufant, Jeff Okudah, and Harmon. They will join starters Walker and Justin Coleman, and will look to create a formidable secondary that could potentially make offenses stall in their tracks.

Even though the COVID -19 situation may have hindered in creating chemistry, all of these players are highly intelligent and should be able to master this scheme. Harmon played with the Patriots last year and knows what is expected. Trufant has been a consistent playmaker with the Atlanta Falcons, and he will thrive in the Lions’ heavy man-cover scheme. Okudah was selected third overall in this past draft and will have a lot of eyes on him, but teammate Trufant has already been impressed with him saying “he has what it takes”. On paper, the Lions have the right players in place to create a secondary that could be feared around the NFL.

Without any preseason games to get the player’s feet under them, and only a handful of padded practices, it will be interesting to see what the Lions have this coming year. Many analysts are riding the Lions hype train heading into the season, and if the consistency on offense and new tools on defense find their stride, I don’t see a reason why the Lions couldn’t turn this make-or-break season into a successful one.

Lions work out QB Trevor Siemian and several WRs

Chris Hogan is the most accomplished of the receivers

Now that the team is finally allowed to conduct workouts with free agents, the Detroit Lions are taking full advantage. On Friday the team welcomed former Broncos starting QB Trevor Siemian to Allen Park, as well as four wide receivers for him to work out with as an audition.

Siemian worked out with WRs Shelton Gibson, Keon Hatcher, Chris Hogan and Krishawn Hogan. None of the players were immediately signed.

Siemian was Denver’s primary starting QB in 2016-2017, leading the Broncos to a 13-11 record as a starter while completing 59.3 percent of his passes. He threw 30 touchdowns against 24 interceptions. He has played in just one game since, a start for the New York Jets in 2019 where his leg was broken in the first quarter.

Chris Hogan is the most notable of the wideouts. He’s a longtime New England Patriot with a very consistent production line. From 2014-2018, he caught between 34 and 41 passes every season (2014 was with the Bills). The 32-year-old spent 2019 in Carolina.

The other wideouts have combined for seven career NFL catches.

Matt Patricia tackles the questions about tackling in practice with no preseason games

In a normal year, Friday would have been a recovery day from the Lions first preseason game. Alas, the exhibition season was canceled and the players are still waiting to get into full pads for a full-speed practice.

One of the big issues that comes from not having preseason is tackling. Players won’t get chances to hit opponents at full speed, and tackling teammates in practice is simultaneously not the same and a little dangerous on the injury front. It’s a difficult quandary, one that Lions coach Matt Patricia is acutely aware of.

Coach Patricia discussed the tackling, or lack thereof, in his Zoom with reporters on Friday.

“That’s one of the biggest issues we have right now is just trying to get those tackling fundamentals full-speed and live,” Patricia said. “We do kind of mix in some live periods when we get to training camp, certainly down on the goal line. We usually do that relatively quick.”

Patricia continued,

“One of the things we have had to evaluate is: We’re going to need to tackle somebody before we get to that first game. You need to feel it; you need to see it; you need the see the speed of it. The question is: How do we do that in a safe environment?”

He then discussed how he feels the Lions can simulate and practice game-speed tackling during training camp reps.

“I think for us, it’s putting them in, we call it in-line situations, where maybe they collision and the contact isn’t as great, and it’s a little bit of a safer play and try to eliminate some of the more space and speed type of plays. But they still need to feel that; they need to be able to drive through and just get that out of the way, and do it also in a point in camp where we’ve had enough practice where we feel comfortable doing that safely and everybody’s operating at a high level in equipment, and also far enough away from the first game where you have enough time to recover from that standpoint. The tackling is a big one, absolutely.”

Padded practices, and presumably some tackling, begin Monday in Allen Pakr.

Lions face choice of cutting 10 players or splitting the squad for training camp activities

The immediate football fate of 10 players lies in the balance

The Detroit Lions face a tough personnel choice before the players even report to Allen Park for training camp. It’s a decision that directly impacts the rookie class and its ability to participate and contribute to the team.

As part of the new agreement between the NFL and NFLPA cemented on Friday, all teams must either bring only 80 players to training camp or divide the camp into two groups that cannot work together. One of those groups would consist of veterans and the other would be comprised of rookies and first-year players only.

The Lions, like all NFL teams, need to choose their camp path by Tuesday. All Lions players are scheduled to take the first of two required COVID-19 tests Tuesday, with the second test on Friday. Players who test negative both times will begin taking their physicals on Saturday, Aug. 1.

It’s a difficult choice for the Lions. If they opt to split the team, players like Jeff Okudah, D’Andre Swift and the rest of the draft class will not be working with the regular starters. Okudah is expected to start right away, while Swift and several other rookies will be relied upon to play meaningful reps in 2020.

If Detroit opts to dump 10 players to get to the 80-man limit, it’s a huge blow to the undrafted free agents and younger veterans desperately hoping to make a name for themselves this summer. The split workouts would allow those players to remain with the team until at least August 17th, per the COVID-19 labor agreement.