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Some of the top things we’ve seen and heard on Dan Campbell, Jared Goff, the secondary, Day 3 rookies, leadership and more
Hard to believe but two weeks of Detroit Lions training camp have already flown by. The Lions have held 10 practice sessions over that timeframe, as well as press conferences and meeting time with the media for several coaches and players.
Here are 10 takeaways I’ve witnessed in my days in Allen Park as well as some more overarching observations drawing on what others have seen, too.
Detroit has overhauled the WR room in the last year but still has some question marks
Next up in the positional preview series for the Detroit Lions are the wide receivers. This is a group that looks a lot different than it did a year ago, and that’s a very good thing.
The Lions have added quite a bit of talent after seeing one of last year’s rookies emerge as a top-flight weapon. Detroit has placed an emphasis on speed, length and playmaking ability that was notably in absentia in 2021.
Lions training camp position preview: Tight end
Kennedy and Wright will earn the veteran minimum for 2022 as ERFAs for the Lions
Tom Kennedy and Brock Wright are officially back with the Detroit Lions. Kennedy and Wright signed their exclusive rights free agent contract tender offers on Monday when they arrived in Detroit for this week’s offseason workouts.
Kennedy, a wide receiver and special teamer, and backup TE Wright were both exclusive rights free agents. The Lions made them the required offer to keep them, a one-year deal at the veteran minimum. If they finish the season with Detroit, Kennedy and Wright will be restricted free agents following the 2022 season.
Kennedy played in 12 games in 2021, seeing action on 20 percent of the offensive snaps. The former collegiate lacrosse player from Bryant caught six passes for 54 yards.
Wright emerged as the No. 2 TE for the Lions as an undrafted rookie out of Notre Dame in 2021. He caught 12 passes for 117 yards and scored two TDs.
Week 18 play of the game: Wide receiver trickery earns Lions their 1st TD vs. the Packers
With reports that Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn would be let go, head coach Dan Campbell decided to empty out the playbook in Detroit’s season finale.
The biggest play of the Lions 37-30 victory over the Green Bay Packers came on Detroit’s second drive on offense.
After forcing Green Bay to punt, the Lions were pinned deep in their own territory, starting the drive at their own seven-yard line.
On the first play of the drive, Detroit comes out with Will Holden as an extra lineman and Jamaal Williams took a handoff for just one yard. One play later, Jared Goff hit Amon-Ra St. Brown for 17 yards, giving them a first down at their 25-yard line.
This is where the magic happened.
Detroit Lions are up for their first-down play with an interesting choice in personnel. Tom Kennedy was the outside receiver on the left side. On the right side, tight end Brock Wright, wide receiver Josh Reynolds, and St. Brown are bunched together in trips. Wide receiver Kalif Raymond is in the backfield, seven yards behind the line of scrimmage, while Goff is under center.
The ball is snapped. Reynolds goes out for a five-yard slant. Wright drops back and gives right tackle Matt Nelson some help in pass protection. Raymond runs to the right side and Goff fakes the toss. At this point, Green Bay’s defense stalls out in confusion, attempting to diagnose what is about to happen.
The @Lions with the TRICK PLAY 75-YARD TD! #OnePride
📺: #GBvsDET on FOX
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/p6rjhlz8eJ— NFL (@NFL) January 9, 2022
Instead of tossing the ball to Raymond, Goff quickly hands the ball off to St. Brown, who looked like he was going to run a sweep with it. Instead, the rookie tosses the ball over to Kennedy, who throws it on the run 31 yards downfield and hits a wide-open Raymond in stride.
The speedster Raymond then took that pass down the sideline with ease and put Detroit’s first points on the board.
A Detroit Lions trick play turned into a 75-yard touchdown
Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions may be in last place but they are still pulling everything out of their playbook.
A fake punt failed but that didn’t stop the Lions’ first-year coach from trying another trick play.
Jared Goff handed off the ball. It was then pitched to Tom Kennedy, who made like a quarterback and went deep.
Kalif Raymond could not have been more wide-open and the pass landed in his hands.
Seventy-five yards later, the Lions had a touchdown and after the PAT the last-place team in the NFC North was tied with the division champs at 7-all.
The @Lions with the TRICK PLAY 75-YARD TD! #OnePride
📺: #GBvsDET on FOX
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/p6rjhlz8eJ— NFL (@NFL) January 9, 2022
Kennedy wasn’t a quarterback in college. However, he was a good enough lacrosse player to be drafted by the Boston Cannons in the third round of the 2018 Major League Lacrosse Draft.
In lacrosse, Kennedy appeared in 67 games and registered 117 career points (72g, 45a). Kennedy was a two-time 20-goal scorer and was an NEC All-Rookie selection as a freshman, a second-team choice as a sophomore and a First Team All-NEC honoree as a junior and senior. He helped the Bulldogs win NEC Championships in 2015 and 2017.
Following his junior season, Kennedy rejoined the Bryant football program and didn’t miss a beat. Kennedy hauled in a 57-yard touchdown in his first game back and went on to earn All-NEC First Team honors with 57 catches, 888 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. He finished his two-year Bryant career with 90 catches for 1,298 yards and 10 TDs. Kennedy is the only player in NEC history to earn All-NEC honors in both football and lacrosse.
Kalif Raymond doesn’t have big stats but he plays an important role for the Lions offense, one they don’t have a replacement for on the roster
When the Detroit Lions placed starting wide receiver Kalif Raymond on the reserve/COVID-19 list late in the week, it left a bigger void in the offense than it might seem. Raymond’s modest statistics belie his importance to the Lions offense.
Raymond has just 11 receptions for 96 receiving yards in the last four games. His 15 targets in those games are also nothing exceptional. But his ability to impact the defense with his speed, as well as his fierce blocking, have helped the Detroit offense perk up in that timeframe. The larger issue is that Detroit doesn’t have anyone in reserve who can readily step in and do those things for the Lions offense.
KhaDarel Hodge is the most likely suspect to take over the reps and do what Raymond does. He’s a proven blocker and he does have some long speed, but Hodge just hasn’t materialized as a route runner or trustworthy target. If Tim Boyle is at quarterback instead of Jared Goff, Hodge’s potential takes a hit too; Hodge at least worked with Goff during their Rams tenure together.
It would be lovely if Trinity Benson were capable of stepping up. Based on what we’ve seen from Benson, that would be an unexpected development. He’s been a healthy scratch even when the Lions have been injury-depleted, and his lack of blocking toughness makes him a poor replacement for Raymond. Benson does have the speed to make the defense account for him, however.
Tom Kennedy could play a bigger role. Coming off his biggest NFL outing to date (21 snaps, two receptions for 16 yards), Kennedy’s ability to get open on quick slants/outs can help fill that part of Raymond’s role. He’s shown himself a capable blocker in preseason opportunities as well. There’s also a chance the Lions could elevate rookie Javon McKinley or newcomer Juwan Green from the practice squad.
The Detroit Lions waived WR Tom Kennedy in a series of post-bye roster moves
The players returned to Allen Park for the first Detroit Lions practice since the team departed for the bye week. The commencement of post-bye football saw the Lions make some moves at the bottom of the roster.
Detroit announced it waived tight end Darren Fells and wide receiver Tom Kennedy from the active 53-man roster. Fells had asked for his release and the Lions granted the veteran’s wish.
Waiving Kennedy, who caught his first NFL reception in Detroit’s Week 6 loss to Cincinnati, is a little more surprising. The third-year pro has served as the top reserve slot receiver over the last few games and also offered some ability as a return man.
As anticipated, the Lions signed rookie Brock Wright from the practice squad to take Fells’ spot on the active roster. There is still one roster opening on the active roster. Detroit also created another opening on the practice squad by placing rookie WR Javon McKinley on the injured reserve/practice squad list.
Expect Kennedy to sign with the Lions on the practice squad once he clears waivers on Tuesday.
Lions rookie CB Jerry Jacobs allowed Ja’marr Chase over a full yard less of separation than what Kalif Raymond got against his Bengals counterpart
The scoreboard might not reflect it, but the young Detroit Lions cornerbacks played about as well as can be reasonably expected in the team’s Week 6 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Their coverage on the Bengals’ receiving weapons was not the problem.
The data from NFL Next Gen Stats detailing how much separation the receivers got on average from the coverage reflects well upon the Lions CBs, notably rookie Jerry Jacobs.
Jacobs was the primary coverage on dynamic Bengals rookie WR Ja’marr Chase. And while Chase did beat Jacobs (and the late safety help) for a couple of big plays, overall the Lions rookie covered Chase well. Chase managed just 2.59 yard of average separation on routes, almost exactly the league average of 2.55 per route. The Lions, primarily rookie slot CB AJ Parker, also bottled up Tyler Boyd to just 1.6 yards per route.
By way of comparison, Detroit’s Kalif Raymond averaged well over a yard more of separation (3.94) against the Bengals coverage than what the Lions ceded to Chase and Tee Higgins (2.71). Lions slot receiver Tom Kennedy also did a fine job of getting open at 3.75 yards, though that came on just five routes (one catch). Cincinnati’s Auden Tate averaged over 4.4 yards of separation on his seven routes, though he saw just one target.
Obviously it didn’t make enough of a difference in a 34-11 loss, but it shows that the young secondary is proving capable of growing into something bigger and better. There is more to successful defense than just tight coverage. Detroit missed some tackles and some help assignments, and the pass rush was not impactful most of the game. Given that context, it’s even more impressive how well Jacobs, Parker and Amani Oruwariye fared in the game.
It also demonstrates that the Lions own receivers are generally getting open more than advertised, something film review continues to show every week.
Thoughts on who made the initial 53, where the Lions still need help, UDFA success stories and more
The first incarnation of the Detroit Lions’ 53-man roster is now set. Over 20 players were cut in the last two days to whittle down the roster to 53 players.
The Lions are not done making moves yet. Expect the team to follow the words of head coach Dan Campbell earlier this week and bring in some players who were waived or released by other teams. But for now, the 53-man roster stands.
Here are a few takeaways from the initial 53.
WR Tom Kennedy has gained the trust of the Detroit Lions coaches, but will it be enough for him to make on the 53-man roster?
Everyone loves a feel-good story during training camp. Every year, it seems like there are one or two players that fans fall in love with because they are easy to root for in hopes of breaking out into the NFL. The new focus of the Detroit Lions has been a rebuild mentality taking a “let’s see what we have” approach getting extended looks on either young or under development players. With that mindset, the Lions have churned out a few players that have not only turned heads during training camp but may find the means of being contributors on the field.
The Lions receiver corps is going through a massive overhaul with Quintez Cephus the only returnee who saw snaps last year. Due to the situation, it has afforded more opportunities than probably what you would normally anticipate for players during training camp. So far, Tyrell Williams, Kalif Raymond, and Amon-Ra St. Brown look to have spots locked up with impressive camps, leaving two (maybe three) spots up for grabs. It may take the last preseason game to figure who will fill in those spots, but so far, one receiver is standing out above the rest through training camp and preseason.
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If one player has boosted his roster chances, you don’t have to look any further than former lacrosse player Tom Kennedy. Heading into camp, Kennedy’s chances of making the team were between zero and no chance in the eyes of the majority. However, as training camp progressed, he stood out as a solid contributor, regularly making play after play. Surely expectations were kept low considering he was going against second and third-team players, but the way he performed against them is what made him stand out.
Heading into the preseason games, it was his chance to show what he can do against competition outside of Allen Park, and it did not squander those opportunities. Through the first two preseason games, he leads the Lions in catches (8) and receiving yards (107), proving a trustworthy offensive target.
“He just makes plays. I feel like – I’m going to beat this into the ground, but we’re getting to the point now where it’s like you want to find guys that you trust. Ultimately, we can wrap it into this package of, ‘He does this well. Blah Blah Blah.’ But ultimately, from where I sit and my coordinators and coaches, you want guys you can trust. We trust Tom Kennedy right now.”
With the trust he instilled with the coaches, he has been afforded more opportunities and allowed to try his hand as an outside receiver even though he has been lining predominately in the slot.
“He’s another guy that does what he’s supposed to do when he’s supposed to do it, he knows where to go, he can play all three spots, and he makes plays. So when we need a play, he makes plays, and he has just shown up. So once again, it’s hard to ignore it; it just is.”
Unfortunately for Kennedy, with his small stature, 5-foot-10, 195 pounds, he would find it mightily difficult lining outside against bigger cornerbacks. With Amon-Ra St. Brown and Kalif Raymond considered roster locks at this point at slot receivers and return man, Kennedy would find it tough just making it just on those merits alone. However, the coaches can see the logjam ahead of Kennedy from all intents and purposes, giving him an expanded look on special teams.
“‘Is there another spot that we can get a look at him besides returner or some other things? That is where he would be just a tick limited. Not for lack of effort or anything in that regard, but, ‘What do we do with him? Where do we put him where he can be an asset for us or at least help us in special teams?’ So that’s something we’re going to hone in on this week.”
Kennedy has a chance to jump ahead of some of the receivers like Breshard Perriman and Cephus with another strong performance against the Indianapolis Colts this Friday. The problem that lays is would Kennedy prove to be excess in an already strong inside receiver spot? Also, with Raymond engrained as the team’s return man, can Kennedy find a niche elsewhere on special teams? These are areas to keep your eye on what the Lions opted for when they cut down to their 53-man roster.
Considering from where Kennedy started to begin the year to where he is now, you can’t but commend his efforts. He has given everything he has to find a way to make the team, and that has not gone unnoticed among the coaching staff. He is a player they have the utmost trust in and can be relied upon making play after play with his grit and toughness for a player his size. The coaches are affording every effort to find him a place on the team, so it shows the team wants to make this work. It will be something to watch in the coming week, to see what all transpires at the end of it all.
