Detroit Lions minicamp kicked off on a hazy Tuesday afternoon in Allen Park at the team’s training facility. Unlike the OTAs the last two weeks, this week’s minicamp has mandatory attendance for all players.
Not every player participated. Head coach Dan Campbell indicated before practice that many players were medically excused, including running back David Montgomery and linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez among many others. The practice session remains unpadded and non-contact beyond flag football standards, but the Lions continue to be cautious with players on the injury front.
Here’s what I saw and noted from the first minicamp session.
The secondary looked great
The first-team secondary looked very impressive. Outside corners Cam Sutton and Jerry Jacobs, slot C.J. Gardner-Johnson and safeties Tracy Walker and Kerby Joseph exhibited outstanding cohesion and communication during the early walkthrough portion.
The communication is notable. Led by the newcomers in Sutton and Gardner-Johnson, the pre-snap chatter is clear, concise and ever-present. It’s not that the secondary last year was quiet, but this year’s edition is already showing real accountability and camaraderie than we saw a year ago. Joseph and Jacobs are both talkers by nature and they seem to be more emboldened by the new veterans setting that tone.
One great example came near the end of practice. In a red zone drill with the first-team offense and defense squaring off in 5-on-7 (no lines), Sutton correctly called out the first and second route options from the formation. He eventually drove on Jared Goff’s throw and broke up the pass to a well-covered Amon-Ra St. Brown. The quick recognition and ability to communicate it effectively pre-snap to Gardner-Johnson, Joseph and others is not something we saw neatly enough of in Aaron Glenn’s defense the last two years.
Surprise standout: Derrick Deese Jr.
No. 86 on the Lions offense sent many media members scrambling to look at the roster on Tuesday. That would be second-year TE Derrick Deese Jr.
Deese was a dynamic receiving presence on Tuesday. He ran sharp, efficient routes in all drills and made several all-hands catches without struggle. I was impressed with how well Deese made his breaks in a red zone drill (no defense involved) and his spatial awareness in the back of the end zone. Two other TEs couldn’t make a tough catch on a high throw pressed against the back line, but Deese skied up and hauled it in comfortably with both feet well inbounds.
Deese was an undrafted rookie in 2022 out of San Jose State who was briefly on the team’s practice squad last season. He’s got an uphill battle to make the roster, but Deese is off to a nice start in minicamp. His large frame and soft hands really stood out.
Sam LaPorta earning praise
Second-round rookie tight end Sam LaPorta displayed why the Lions coveted him so highly in the 2023 NFL draft. He made one of the highlights of the day in a full-team red zone drill.
LaPorta exploded out of the slot and made a spectacular leaping catch over reserve safety Ifeatu Melifonwu, stealing a jump ball thrown from Jared Goff for a sweet touchdown reception in the front of the end zone.
Goff had highly positive things to say about No. 87 after practice,
“(LaPorta) gets himself open. Able to separate, has great hands, is smart, is learning. Making rookie mistakes still but is getting a lot better and you don’t really see him make the same mistake twice … He’s done a hell of a job.”
He did indeed, throughout Tuesday’s practice. With James Mitchell sitting out and Shane Zylstra leaving for a bit with a lower-body injury, LaPorta joined Deese as arguably the best offensive player on the practice fields.
Lineups on the line
Without pads on or full contact allowed, judging the line play is akin to judging a steakhouse by the quality of the house salad. But the personnel groupings and alignments are worthy of paying some attention.
With Frank Ragnow sitting out drills with his ongoing toe injury, it was Ross Pierschbacher taking the bulk of first-team reps at center. He did that during last week’s OTAs too. Veteran Graham Glasgow almost exclusively played left guard with the second-team offense. I didn’t note him at center, though I didn’t watch that group the entire practice session.
On defense, the first-team DTs continue to be Alim McNeill and Christian Covington. Even with nose tackle Isaiah Buggs participating, Covington took the starting reps.
James Houston was not on the same practice field as the first two teams. He was working with the linebackers on the third-team defense during most of practice. Houston did rotate into the second-team defense (at off-ball LB) in a couple of drills. Charles Harris, Romeo Okwara and Josh Paschal all had first- and second-team reps at stand-up EDGE over Houston. The way Houston was talking with LB coach Kelvin Sheppard during practice and between reps, it seems like this is more experimental than indicative of any long-term status.
Jamo watch
We got the full Jameson Williams experience on Tuesday.
For much of the early part of practice, Williams struggled. He dropped two catchable passes from Goff in a red zone drill, and ran out of the end zone instead of breaking back to another throw. The second-year wideout had another where he appeared to lose the ball in the hazy sunshine and a little gust of wind, which brought some derisive comments from the coaches around the drill.
Then came team drills and the hurry-up situational offense. Williams made a fantastic catch on a seam route where he exploded past the defense. Goff had to put the throw low and to the outside to protect against the closing safety, and Williams nicely matched and cradled the ball for a huge gain to set up a 47-yard field goal attempt (which Riley Patterson clanked off the upright). It’s a play no other Lions wide receiver can make in that short of a timespan in the hurry-up; how rapidly Williams got down the field and made the play was truly exceptional.
In the next series of the hurry-up drill, Williams ran a great clear-out route from the slot to get rookie RB Jahmyr Gibbs isolated on the outside against a linebacker. The throw missed, but it was still very nice to see Williams run the route with alacrity and urgency. That hasn’t been evident all the time with Williams, but in a (simulated) clutch situation, Jamo delivered with both a catch and a decoy role.
Quick hits
–The running backs all did their positional work in a blocking drill except for Jahmyr Gibbs. The rookie spent that part of the practice as the only RB working with the WRs and TEs in a passing drill instead. And he belonged…
–Riley Patterson was the better kicker on Tuesday. He hit 4-of-5 attempts, with the aforementioned miss off the right crossbar from 47 yards. That was his longest attempt. John Parker Romo was short and wide right from 54 yards and wildly wide right from 45 yards amongst his five attempts. I did not note Michael Badgley in uniform.
–Undrafted rookie CB Starling Thomas had a very nice breakup in an early drill. Later on, he blanketed LaPorta on an inside route in the red zone. Thomas continues to be too grabby (he probably was guilty of holding LaPorta) but his quick reactions and mirroring speed are legit.
–Ifeatu Melifonwu desperately needed a positive play after largely struggling with the second-team defense at left safety. He got it, correctly reading and darting in front of a Nate Sudfeld pass to the front corner of the end zone. Great play.
–After the opening walkthrough, Tracy Walker worked off to the side with a trainer. He did sprints, sharp cuts and footwork/change of direction drills under the watchful eye of the staff. And he looked like he never even had the Achilles injury last fall.
–Sudfeld is developing a nasty habit of holding the ball a count too long in red zone drills. He doesn’t have the arm strength to be late releasing the throws, and the defense took advantage of that a few times in drills. Undrafted rookie QB Adrian Martinez does have that kind of arm, but he’s unleashed several wobblers in with his strikes.
–Recently signed OL Germain Ifedi was repping at right tackle with the final offensive grouping every time I watched. His exaggeratedly wide base stance makes Ifedi easy to spot.
–On CB Emmanuel Moseley: https://twitter.com/JeffRisdon/status/1666162993095114753?s=20
