Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
The Jets made three practice squad moves on Thursday, including the addition of an experienced fullback.
The Jets made three practice squad moves on Thursday, including the addition of an experienced fullback.
Former Lion Nick Bawden signed to Gang Green’s squad following a workout on Wednesday. The addition of the fullback could spell trouble for Trevon Wesco.
The Jets placed DE Ronald Blair on practice squad injured reserve to make room for Bawden. The team also signed S Sheldrick Redwine to the squad after waiving him on Wednesday.
Fullbacks Sutton Smith and Nick Bawden recently worked out for the Jets. Does that mean Gang Green could move on from Trevon Wesco?
Two fullbacks, Sutton Smith and Nick Bawden, worked out for the Jets on Wednesday, according to the NFL’s transaction wire.
Smith entered the league as a linebacker after being drafted by the Steelers. He has never played in a regular season game, but he did spend the preseason with the Saints after being signed as a fullback.
Bawden, meanwhile, has 10 games on his resume after being drafted by the Lions in the seventh round of the 2018 draft. All of those games came in 2019. Bawden caught four passes for 17 yards.
Neither player is flashy or experienced, but their tryouts with New York indicate that the team may not be satisfied with its current option at the position. That would be converted tight end Trevon Wesco.
The 2019 fourth-round pick spent the summer making the transition, as Mike LaFleur’s offense could use a fullback and Wesco had little chance of making the roster as a tight end. All indications were that the switch was going well, but Wesco played just 20 offensive snaps in Week 1 and saw that number cut to two this past week against New England. He has also played just 10 special teams snaps.
Now the 26-year-old’s roster spot is something to keep an eye on after a pair of workouts.
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The Detroit Lions announced that they have placed fullback Nick Bawden on injured reserve and re-signed nose tackle Olive Sagapolu.
The Detroit Lions announced that they have placed fullback Nick Bawden on injured reserve and re-signed nose tackle Olive Sagapolu.
This is the third time in three seasons Bawden has been placed on injured reserve, and the second time he landed there during training camp — the other being his rookie season. Bawden’s first two stints on injured reserve were ACL injuries, but it’s unclear at this time what injury he is dealing with.
The Lions competition at fullback appears to be over and they will now turn to converted linebacker Jason Cabinda, who made the transition earlier in training camp and has thrived. The only competition Cabinda will face will be roster construction, but he has made a strong case to make the 53-man roster.
“Sagapolu returns to the Lions after spending a portion of training camp with the team,” the Lions said in a press release. “He originally signed with the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Wisconsin following the 2019 NFL Draft before joining Detroit’s practice squad late last season.”
Updating the Detroit Lions player participation report during the fifth day of their 2020 training camp.
During Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia’s Saturday morning press conference, he acknowledged concerns around soft tissue injuries with the shortened offseason, as we have seen some of that with Lions players so far in training camp.
“Certainly in general, high-injury-rate players in the NFL are rookies and younger players, plus older-injured vets,” Patricia said. “Those are kind of the two groups that we always keep track of as far as injury histories and things like that. Sometimes we’re a little bit cautious with those guys.”
Today, two more rookies appeared to suffer soft tissue injuries, though the severity of each looks a bit different.
After stretching, position groups split up and began warm-up drills. After his first or second rep, Okudah pulled up and was called off the field. A trainer and Okudah had a discussion for a few minutes, then Patricia was called over and appeared to shut him down for the day.
Okudah remained on the sidelines, following the position group around and chatting with coaches and players but he did not participate. On the surface, this looks precautionary but soft tissue injuries can be tricky so we will have to wait and see where he is tomorrow.
Bryant pulled up during a TE vs S one-on-one drill and grabbed his hamstring. He was seen and stretched out by a trainer but after several minutes he slowly left the field and did not return.
Also during his morning press conference, Patricia acknowledged that both running backs D’Andre Swift and Bo Scarbrough would be held out of Saturday’s practice. He didn’t address the type of injuries they are dealing with but noted that due to the pace of Saturday’s practice he didn’t want to expose them to at this point.
Friday looked like a rest day for Trufant but he remained on the sideline and not participating again on Saturday, which is mildly concerning. This could be a “pace of practice” issue, or potentially something more — but the fact that he was present is encouraging.
Hall left the field on Friday and his limp looked worrisome. Fortunately, Hall returned to the field on Saturday, took his place with the second team, and didn’t miss a rep.
On Friday the extent of Bolden’s participation was riding a stationary bike, and while he did that again on Saturday, he also was with his position group on the field which is a step in the right direction to returning.
Nelson only ran on Friday, and on Saturday he saw reps at right tackle when the Lions rolled three offensive lines — which was only a few times.
Bawden, Nauta, and Benzschawel are with their position groups but not mixing in yet. Mostly just doing stuff off to the side and learning from the sidelines.
Bryant remains on the Physically Unable to Participate (PUP) list with an undisclosed injury. He is eligible to be removed at any time once he is deemed healthy.
Updating the Detroit Lions player participation levels during their 2020 training camp, including rookie running back D’Andre Swift’s absence on Friday.
Updating the Detroit Lions player participation levels during Friday’s 2020 training camp practice.
According to Detroit News’ Justin Rogers, at Thursday’s practice, Swift required attention from a trainer after “working one-on-one routes and blocking assignments against the team’s linebackers”.
On Friday, he came out with the team for stretches, got some more time with a trainer, and wasn’t seen on the field for the rest of the day.
On Tuesday, Pride of Detroit’s Jeremy Reisman noted that Scarbrough “got up slowly and didn’t appear to do much the rest of the day.” He was absent from practice on Thursday and again on Friday.
“I think we’re going to re-evaluate him right now,” coach Matt Patricia said at his morning press conference. “One thing for us to remember in all of this is that we’re continually trying to build on everybody’s back-to-practice workload. Just trying to be smart with some of those guys too, if there’s general soreness or tightness or things like that we need to keep an eye on.”
Bawden was not known to have an injury at this time but he was not seen participating in today’s practice, only running off to the side and observing. He is coming off a second ACL injury in as many years and this may be part of the recovery process.
Iauta has apparently been limited since the beginning of camp was only seen doing conditioning work with trainers.
Near the end of practice, Hall required attention from a trainer, left the field, and was unable to return before the session expired. We will have to wait and see if he is able to participate tomorrow.
Bolden stretched with the team to begin the day but as they split off into positional drills, he shifted to the conditioning tent and rode a stationary bike for the better part of the morning.
Benzschawel continues to only participate in conditioning exercises with trainers.
Bryant remains on the Physically Unable to Participate (PUP) list with an undisclosed injury. He is eligible to be removed at any time once he is deemed healthy.
From a distance, Trufant appeared to get a veteran rest day. He was not with trainers, followed his group around, and interacted with the younger corners. If he is not on the field tomorrow, there may be more to this story.
Jamal Agnew and Jeff Okudah both required attention from trainers at different points but both remained on the field and participated in practice.
“I landed pretty awkwardly, Okudah said after practice. “Got up, shrugged it off. Pretty much just a football play. That happens over the course of a practice. The big thing was that I was able to come back and finish practice.”
Okudah would go on to make an interception a short time later — he’s fine.
Answering the reader’s mailbag questions after Erik Schlitt’s Establishing the 53 series of articles at Lions Wire.
After the conclusion of my “Establishing the 53” series of articles, I posed a question to the #OnePride fan base on Twitter asking for any mailbag questions surrounding my conclusions.
I answered the three most asked questions in Part 1 of the Mailbag, focused on the linebackers in Part 2, but there are still a few more great questions to answer. So let’s wrap up the mailbag here with Part 3.
Note: questions may have been edited for clarity.
I agree with all three of these concerns and even addressed the need for an extra safety in part 1 of the mailbag when I added C.J. Moore back into my 53-man projection.
As far as a fullback, Nick Bawden is the obvious front runner and his contributions on special teams surely help his cause, but at the end of the day the Lions would likely have to go light at another position — keeping only five wide receivers or eight offensive linemen — to make room for him. It’s possible that happens, but it would go a bit against the grain of previous rosters constructions.
Unfortunately, the same issue with roster space applies to Blough as well. He has shown he has the mental makeup and potential to develop with time, but if the Lions were truly all in on him making the 53, they probably wouldn’t have given Chase Daniel the type of contract they did. If the Lions are truly worried they may lose him off the practice squad, don’t be surprised if they give him salary close to what he is making now ($675,000) to encourage him to stick around.
The one draft pick I didn’t have making my 53-man projection was seventh-round pick defensive lineman Jashon Cornell (Ohio State), as I had him being edged out by last year’s UDFA gem Kevin Strong. My exclusion is less a knock on Cornell and more of a compliment to Strong who flashed last season. If Cornell impresses in camp, he surely has a shot to make it into the rotation.
One of the reasons I typically include a lot of rookies from the Lions draft class is based on the methodical nature of general manager Bob Quinn. He rarely veers from his offseason game plan and when he identifies a player and uses draft capital on him, it’s generally for an immediate purpose.
For example, in the four previous seasons, Quinn has only cut the following drafted rookies in training camp:
The interior defensive line surely has the potential to be a weak spot with concerns surrounding Da’Shawn Hand and Kevin Strong’s health, Nick Williams’ lack of scheme familiarity, unproven rookies in Cornell and John Penisini, and the struggles to create pressure from this group last season.
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But if the Lions are going to add a player in free agency, the top name on the market is a familiar one: Mike Daniels.
Adding Daniels on an incentive-laden deal would be wise — if the Lions can get him on board with it — as he loves the Lions organization and coaches, and when healthy has the upside to fill an interior pass-rushing role the team desperately needs.
I do think they are satisfied with their tackle depth, and while it’s not overly sexy having Kenny Wiggins as a fourth option, I believe they would rather lean on him in an emergency option rather than keep a roster spot for a player who can only play at tackle, like Dan Skipper or free agents like Demar Dotson and Andre Smith who are the top right tackles on the market.
As far as the interior, having three veterans and three rookie/sophomores is livable, especially if they keep a player like Oday Aboushi on speed dial.
Lions 2019 Rewatch: Lions vs. Cardinals Week 1 notes as Jeff Risdon reviews the All-22 and broadcast feeds
Lions coach Matt Patricia is a big believer in the process of self-scouting. Like many NFL coaches, he’ll go back after the season and pore over every detail of game film, looking for nuances or things that he might have missed on the first go-through.
I’ve decided to do the same. I’m rewatching every play of every Lions game, using both the broadcast and coach’s tape feeds from NFL Game Pass. I’ll chronicle my reactions in real-time on the rewatch, focusing on specific plays or players in big moments as well as an overall postgame summary of my notes.
First up: Week 1 against the Arizona Cardinals.
First quarter
T.J. Hockenson started out impressively. On the first two offensive possessions, Hockenson had a great seal block on an interior run, a catch with good YAC on a well-designed out route and another hot route where he was open but Matthew Stafford’s throw was behind him.
Nick Bawden missed two blocks on the opening drive, both of which resulted in the RB getting whacked right near the line of scrimmage. He missed an assignment on a 3rd down on the Lions 3rd drive too, a play where Stafford scrambled to his right for a huge first down. Jesse James also missed two run blocks in the opening quarter.
Frank Ragnow dominated up front. The Cardinals didn’t use a nose much but Ragnow consistently found work and made Arizona pay.
Stafford started slow, missing open throws to Hockenson and Amendola. Other than a delayed blitz (on the missed throw to Amendola) the pass protection was very good.
Tracy Walker’s INT, coming off a very well-designed rush scheme designed to force rookie Kyler Murray into a short field situation. This is a fantastic defensive call as well as a great catch by Walker.
Tracy Walker III makes an impressive INT on the sideline for the @Lions! #OnePride #DETvsAZ
📺: FOX
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports appWatch on mobile: https://t.co/PoZiStO3mL pic.twitter.com/ER9mfWm0W3
— NFL (@NFL) September 8, 2019
Jamal Agnew had one of the worst punt return attempts I’ve ever seen. Sam Martin and the Lions own special teams were otherwise phenomenal.
Second quarter
Matt Prater nailed a 55-yard FG to get the Lions on the board. Kickoff coverage was exceptional.
First really good lead block from Nick Bawden but Kerryon Johnson instead runs smack into Taylor Decker while he’s engaged with a solid block. Next play is the Danny Amendola TD reception.
The touchdown is a product of good fortune as much as a great play. T.J. Hockenson lines up over right tackle but it’s his responsibility to peel across the formation and block the EDGE on the other side while LT Decker down blocks on play action. Hockenson gets just enough to give Stafford room to step up. Amendola sneaks behind a very confused Cardinals secondary and doesn’t have a defender within 20 yards of him as he catches it. The safety (Budda Baker) bit up on the play fake and then got in the way of the CB when he figured it out. Cardinals dropped top rusher, Chandler Jones, into the short flat in coverage instead of rushing. This play works maybe one time out of 25, but it did here. 10-0 Lions.
First instance of prevent defense on 3rd-and-18 on the Cards’ ensuing drive. Rushing three and the rest of the defense is at least 12 yards off the line of scrimmage at the snap. Murray takes the checkdown and it’s easily stopped short (the best tackle Jamal Agnew has ever made), but the broadcast notes that Murray needed an easy completion to settle himself down. That comment later proves prophetic.
Stafford to Hockenson on a circle route out of the backfield is gorgeous. Next play is a read-option keeper for Stafford. The rookie TE is the featured receiver so far and the offense really has the Cardinals defense flummoxed. Drive caps with a Stafford-to-Golladay TD on a simple shallow cross that is very poorly defended. It’s 17-0 and the Lions are in control in all three phases of the game.
And then Jamal Agnew muffs a punt deep in his own territory, Cardinals recover. A spirited red zone defense — keyed by fantastic coverage from Christian Jones on a rollout where Murray only looked at that receiver on 2nd down — keeps the damage to a field goal.
The Lions blew an opportunity to add more just before the half. Stafford and Amendola couldn’t connect on two separate throws, one of which the QB was under heavy pressure. The plays were there, the execution was not.
Impressive half of football from Detroit, up 17-3 at the break.
Examining the Detroit Lions roster, specifically the fullbacks and H-backs, and determining which has the best chance to make the 53-man roster.
We are a long way from NFL training camps and even further from the regular season, but it’s never too early to examine and speculate about the Detroit Lions roster. Currently, the Lions have 90-players on their roster, and come September, there will likely be some difficult decisions to make when determining their final 53-players.
Previously, in this new series of articles at Lions Wire, we rounded out the running backs group, and in this piece, we will take a deeper look at the players who complement them — the fullbacks and H-backs.
After missing his rookie season will a torn ACL, Nick Bawden appeared to be a man with a purpose during training camp. Goal-line carries, swing passes, button hooks, and of course lead blocking, Bawden was deployed in several situations, especially near the goal line. Surprisingly, all of that disappeared — save lead blocking — once the regular season rolled around.
Bawden saw 125 snaps on offense, had zero rushing attempts, four receptions for 17 yards, and graded out (per Pro Football Focus) as a well above average pass blocker and underperforming run blocker.
In Week 11, Bawden went down with another knee injury, was placed on injured reserve, and was replaced in the lineup with rookie tight end/H-back Isaac Nauta.
Nauta would go on to see 41 offensive snaps over the final six games — 34 came as an H-back –, he recorded two receptions for 13 yards, graded out (per PFF) as an above-average pass blocker and was average as a run blocker.
| Games played | Off. snaps per gm | Rec per gm | Yards per rec | Pass Protection | Run blocking | |
| Bawden | 10 | 12.5 | 0.4 | 4.25 | Well above average | Below average |
| Nauta | 6 | 6.83 | 0.33 | 6.5 | Above average | Average |
Bawden was the Lions’ first choice last season and when he saw that field he slightly outproduced Nauta in each category, save the most important — run blocking. Nauta didn’t light the world on fire as a run blocker either though and he was below Bawden in most of the above categories, but he deserves some leeway as he was a rookie and playing out of his natural tight end position.
The numbers on special teams also slightly favor Bawden. He played in all four phases — kick coverage, kick blocking, punt coverage, and punt blocking — and averaged 17.8 special teams snaps per game.
Nauta averaged 13.7 special teams snap over his six games, and while he started out participating in all four phases, his numbers are lower than Bawden’s mostly because he was removed from the kick-off coverage unit over the final four games.
From a performance perspective, both were close in their PFF grades with Bawden getting the slight edge.
This will likely be one of the closer battles in training camp and could easily come down to overall team philosophies on offense and special teams. Do they want a bruising lead blocker or a positional flexible option?
Based on what we saw in 2019, Bawden appears to be the preferred option and it wouldn’t be at all surprising if he opens up camp with an impactful role. The main factor keeping him from being locked into the roster is he is a fullback only on offense, and he has had two significant knee injuries in as many years.
Meanwhile, Nauta has been fully available, showed he has the potential to fill two roles on offense — as a third (blocking) tight end and H-B –, as well as a contributor on special teams, and it’s reasonable to expect his game to grow as he develops in his sophomore season.
At the end of the day, this is a specialty position (7-12 offensive snaps a game) and in order to fill it, you need to be one of two things: flexible enough to fill more than just one role, and/or elite at what you do.
Bawden may be better at what he does than Nauta is right now, but because he is limited in his roles, he needs to be exceptional at them — which, save pass pro, he is not at this time.
Erik’s prediction: Unless Bawden enters camp and blows it up, Nauta’s position flexibility and availability likely carries an advantage at that’s why he gets my nod for the 53, sending Bawden to the practice squad.
The Detroit Lions announced that they have promoted tight end Isaac Nauta to the active roster, filling the vacated spot after releasing offensive tackle Dan Skipper.
The Detroit Lions announced that they have promoted tight end Isaac Nauta to the active roster, filling the vacated spot after releasing offensive tackle Dan Skipper on Thursday.
The Lions are dealing with a plethora of injuries — six players have already been ruled out for Sunday — so they waited to make this decision until they had a better understanding of their roster needs for this weekend’s game.
Punter Sam Martin has been dealing with an abdomen injury for the last several weeks, and while he has yet to miss a game, he has been limited in practice — so much so, that the Lions signed punter Matt Wile to the practice squad to give Martin rest.
If Martin was unable to play, the Lions likely would’ve needed to use the final remaining roster spot on Wile. Fortunately, the rest did Martin some good and he is not listed with an injury designation and is expected to play on Sunday.
With Martin good to go, the Lions decided to address another weak spot on their roster: fullback. Starter Nick Bawden was placed on injured reserve this week, and Nauta has been promoted to fill his roles.
Nauta has experience playing H-back in college, as well as with the Lions this offseason and could find himself lining up in the Lions backfield this Sunday. The bigger role Nauta is likely to fill though is on special teams where Bawden was averaging around 18 snaps a game.
The Lions seventh-round draft pick is a stout run blocker and a reliable option in the passing game, but lack of regular experience at fullback and long speed could limit his role.
Nauta has a lot of potential and the Lions have high hopes for him as a prospect — he could easily find himself on the Lions regular-season roster for the remainder of the season.
Touchdown for our guy, @isaac_nauta! 👏#DETvsCLE | #OnePride pic.twitter.com/hlzfUkXRCv
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) August 30, 2019
Detroit Lions Breakdown podcast, episode 129: Washington Week 12 preview, is now available to download and listen.
This week on the Detroit Lions Breakdown podcast the guys discuss the continued Matthew Stafford injury saga, last week’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys, review the latest news from Allen Park and preview the Lions Week 12 game against Washington.
The DLB podcast is a weekly conversation with Lions Wire’s own Erik Schlitt and his co-host Joe Kania. This week they discuss:
You can follow the Detroit Lions Breakdown Podcast (@LionsBreakdown) and it’s hosts Schlitt (@Erikschlitt) and Kania (@JoeKania_DLB) on Twitter, with a Facebook page on the way.
The podcast is available to listen at the DetroitLionsBreakdown.com website and is available to download and subscribe to on multiple podcast platforms, including Itunes, Google Play, Stitcher, among others.
