One of the more surprising changes the Detroit Lions made this offseason was the complete removal of rookie minicamp from their schedule. The Lions were the only team who did not participate in a rookie minicamp, and until Friday, they hadn’t offered a clear reason why.
Coach Dan Campbell talked about the decision and did admit that minicamp has its advantages.
“It’s good you get them acclimated, you get them on the field,” Campbell said. “At least it’s your kind of first chance to do those things.
And you can bring in some other guys, some veteran guys, some tryout guys, and you may find somebody you like. So, you get a little bit of that, but it’s not worth it anymore.”
Why is it not worth it anymore? Campbell said for most rookies their offseason spent training for the draft—not training for football—leaving them completely unprepared and unready for actual on-field work.
“It’s the same way every year, they train for the Combine or for all of those drills, they don’t train for football,” Campbell said. “So, we just got our hands on them for, I guess, going on week three, something like that. So, we just want to be smart with these guys, make sure they’re ready to get on the field to do–even though it’s not a lot to be able to do that, we don’t want any setback.”
Campbell points to a specific recent incident that got them to change their process.
“The straw that broke the camel’s back last year was, it was the first walkthrough,” Campbell said. “We had guys all over the ground, so the league didn’t take too kindly to that, and it’s not worth it. It’s just not worth it.”
While Campbell says this was last year, he may actually be referring to 2024, when the physicality of an offseason practice broke league rules, and the NFL stripped them of an OTA practice.
Regardless, he clearly believed the rookie class needed a couple of extra weeks of offseason workouts before taking the practice field.
“Let’s get them ready, let’s physically get them ready to where they can get with the rest of the guys and look like football players a little bit,” Campbell said.
It appears that strategy may have worked, as Detroit’s entire rookie class was present and doing on-field work with the rest of the team during the team’s Friday practice.
