The Detroit Lions fell to the Cincinnati Bengals on the road, 16-14, to open the exhibition portion of the schedule in Dan Campbell’s sixth season at the helm. Despite a slopfest from a weather, turnover, and penalty standpoint, there were still plenty of beneficial aspects to the competitive faceoff between the two feline teams at Paycor Stadium.
Most notably, the preseason opener provided plenty of evaluation value. The Lions played arguably more players who are likely to make the 53-man roster
than in any preseason game under Campbell, while several unproven and developing players received valuable repetitions against Bengals starters on both sides of the ball.
Of course, it’s still preseason, and these evaluations shouldn’t carry more weight than what the Lions have shown throughout their first 11 training camp practices. But the game remains an important piece of the development and roster evaluation process. Some players further strengthened their cases for regular-season roles, while others were unable to capitalize on their opportunities and separate themselves from the competition.
With that in mind, here are my winners and losers from the Lions’ preseason opener.
Winner: DE Ahmed Hassanein
One of the early breakout stars of Detroit Lions training camp, Ahmed Hassanein has transformed both his game and his body from a year ago. He’s gone from a player I wasn’t sure would make the 53-man roster to someone who might not even need to play in the Lions’ third preseason game against the Colts—and could potentially carve out an early-season gameday role.
It’s been close to the best possible two-week surge Hassanein could have hoped for to begin training camp.
It’s difficult for a defensive lineman to fill up the box score as triumphantly as Hassanein did in a preseason game, particularly a reserve who started his damage by sacking Joe Burrow against Cincinnati’s starting offensive line. Hassanein finished with four tackles, three quarterback hits, 2.0 sacks, two tackles for loss, and a forced fumble.
His red-zone sack and forced fumble of Josh Johnson was another reassuring example of his ability to shut down a drive while creating a takeaway opportunity. After 29 highly productive snaps against the Bengals, the enigmatic edge rusher continues to exceed expectations.
Winner: DT Skyler Gill-Howard
Another young defensive lineman whose arrow continues pointing up, Skyler Gill-Howard checked another box Thursday night by consistently finding himself around the football.
Gill-Howard only recorded one tackle, but he did so by traversing frequent-flier-miles fiend Josh Johnson. Gill-Howard galloped after the quarterback on third down, eventually chasing him down short of the sticks and forcing Cincinnati to settle for a field goal. It was an impressive display of both effort and athleticism.
Gill-Howard had already crumbled Johnson earlier with a quarterback hit that forced an incompletion, aided by Anthony Lucas screaming off the edge and flushing Johnson from the pocket. Gill-Howard later added a second quarterback hit with an inside fake into a swim move that left second-year Bengals guard Jalen Rivers looking about as useful as a mop without a bucket.
Gill-Howard told Pride of Detroit after Practice No. 9 that things were beginning to click for him as a pass rusher. That progress was evident Thursday night.
Loser: WR Isaac TeSlaa
The spring shine has certainly worn off for Isaac TeSlaa. On the heels of an already quiet and complicated training camp, it would have been difficult to script a more detrimental preseason debut.
Several players battling for the WR5 role made a play or two at the catch point or with the ball in their hands on passes from Luke Altmeyer and Josh Dobbs. Meanwhile, the Lions’ hopeful WR3 did just about the opposite of playmaking.
TeSlaa coughed up his first target off his helmet, resulting in an interception. Two drives later, he had another opportunity to respond but dropped a well-thrown slant on fourth down to end the possession.
Questions may now begin to creep in about how much the Lions can trust TeSlaa with primary WR3 snaps in Week 1 against a Brandon Staley-led defense, particularly for an offense already preparing to start a new backup center in a big spot.
Winner: RB Jacob Saylors
With Isiah Pacheco, Sione Vaki, and his closest RB4 competition, Jabari Small, all shelved, Jacob set sail on an expedition to show Lions coaches he can be a potent part of the offense, as Dan Campbell called it postgame, while strengthening his case for a roster spot.
Saylors finished the evening with eight carries for 55 yards (6.9 yards per carry), including a long of 27 yards and four other runs of seven or more yards. He also added three catches for 28 receiving yards.
Beyond the production, Saylors showed intimidating acceleration and consistently ran through arm tackles while also proving competent in pass protection and as a receiving threat out of the backfield. Saylors not only looked noticeably fresher than he did last season, when he arrived in Detroit directly off a UFL season, but also like a player poised to surpass the two offensive touches he received for the Lions last year.
Winner: LG Christian Mahogany
On the back end of Saylors’ strong performance was the blocking of Christian Mahogany. While he had his share of mishaps with penalties and a miscommunication on a blitz pickup, Mahogany was road-grading up front and helped provide multiple sparks in the run game. When Saylors was motoring into the second level, more often than not Mahogany played a part by creating vertical displacement at the line of scrimmage in both zone and gap-scheme concepts.
Mahogany was pushing some serious plates from the start, helping spring Saylors’ first carry for seven yards by plowing Dexter Lawrence downfield. Beyond showcasing his power in the run game, Mahogany also benefited from 24 live reps in pass protection after entering training camp delayed by injury and going through a slow ramp-up period.
With Mahogany now the healthiest among himself, Ben Bartch, and Juice Scruggs—and Scruggs potentially needed at center—Thursday’s performance gives Mahogany an early lead in the position battle for the honor of lining up next to left tackle Penei Sewell.
Loser: CB Ennis Rakestraw
Rakestraw received some positive limelight from the Lions TV broadcast, including more background on his story, but aside from forcing one early incompletion, his performance was close to the defensive equivalent of Isaac TeSlaa’s evening—if not worse. For a much-maligned high draft pick who has yet to fully put it together and has naysayers questioning some of Brad Holmes’ decisions, Thursday was close to a worst-case scenario.
Rakestraw was targeted early and often. It wasn’t just Ja’Marr Chase doing the damage, either, as Rakestraw surrendered chain-moving completions to Andrei Iosivas and Kolbie Young as well.
The unfortunate cherry on top was Rakestraw exiting the game due to injury. Luckily, the injury isn’t serious, and he’ll still have opportunities in practice and the preseason to show growth and make his case for snaps deeper in the cornerback pecking order this season.
Quick Hitters
Winners:
- RT Blake Miller — There were still a few snaps where Miller was caught lunging or stopping his feet, but overall it was a promising first performance in a Lions uniform. He received plenty of valuable reps against Myles Murphy, Cedric Johnson, and Jonathan Allen.
- ED Eric O’Neill — Showed a lot more bounce and spring in his step, beating Zeus Jr. for a quarterback hit on Joe Burrow on third down to force a field goal. O’Neill added a handful of impressive pass-rush wins and two tackles in run defense, showing good recognition and effort coming from the backside.
- DB Christian Izien — Showed off his skill set in the box, including a blitz where he beat Chase Brown in pass protection and another run stuff while essentially operating as a third linebacker. Izien gives Kelvin Sheppard a different type of optionality at nickel.
- S Thomas Harper — Showed off his range while providing help coverage to force an incompletion on a deep ball along the sideline. Harper also kept everything in front of him and was controlled coming downhill in tackle support against checkdowns.
- CB Nick Whiteside — New day, same ol’ Ironsides getting his hands on some pigskin, this time recovering to break up a deep ball.
- CB Keith Abney II — Collected a handful of eye-opening plays, including a fortuitous fumble recovery, a pass breakup, and a textbook decleation on a checkdown off play action. Abney did have one rough rep where a Bengals receiver swallowed him whole on an outside run, and block deconstruction remains an area of his game that needs improvement before he can be consistently relied upon.
- NT Chris Smith — Stout in run defense, showing penetration on one Chase Brown run while also pushing the pocket at times. Smith remains in the running to make the 53-man roster as a reserve nose tackle.
- LB Trevor Nowaske — Surprisingly received more work at MIKE linebacker than SAM and made several plays against the run, including a tackle for loss that showcased his processing and ability to quickly diagnose the play.
- QB Luke Altmeyer — Moved past the hand-size issues and played aggressively, pushing the ball downfield and giving his receivers opportunities to make plays.
Losers:
- OL Miles Frazier — Three penalties, a sack allowed, and balance issues across both positions made for a rough night for the second-year player after impressing with his versatility throughout training camp.
- DL Mekhi Wingo — Suffered an injury and wasn’t able to string together the same level of impact plays as his direct roster competition, Gill-Howard.
- DL Tyre West — Just four defensive snaps speaks to where West currently sits on the defensive line ladder rung for a player who has been mostly quiet throughout camp.
- WR Tom Kennedy — Watched fellow WR5 competitors Dominic Lovett, Tay Martin, and Tarik Black make plays with the ball while Kennedy has yet to truly stand out during 11-on-11 work this summer.
