Here’s a breakdown of everything I saw from the Detroit Lions’ sixth OTA practice on Thursday.
Participation
A full breakdown of attendance for Thursday’s can be found here. In short, Terrion Arnold and Sam LaPorta returned to practice on a limited basis (walkthroughs only), while Kendrick Law is out indefinitely after suffering a torn ACL earlier in the week. Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch remain out, and shouldn’t be expected to be seen during the rest of OTAs and minicamp.
Practice format
Like they did last week, the Lions opened
up with a lengthy walkthrough session of about 30 minutes—which was about half of practice. Then they broke for individual/positional drills. There was a short period for special teams (kickoffs), and practice closed out with a very brief situational drill.
Because there was no full-speed 7-0n-7 session, I will not be providing many performance observations. Hard to stand out or impress when 90 percent of practice is run at 60 percent speed or lower.
Depth chart reorganizing
Lions coach Dan Campbell said not to read into where each player is repping, be it the “starter” field or the “reserves” field. With all due respect to Campbell, that’s nearly all I can observe at this point. And as long as we can all be grown ups and admit that this is a fluid situation, it’s okay to at least identify where things stand in early June.
On Thursday, here’s what I found interesting about where some players were repping:
- Larry Borom was at right tackle for the majority of the first-string reps, including during the situational drill. That said, during the heavy rotation in walkthroughs, Borom would occasionally replace Penei Sewell at left tackle, and rookie Blake Miller would step in at right tackle. Borom continues to rep at both positions, while Miller remains solely at right tackle. To me, that’s telling.
- Mekhi Wingo was repping on the “starters” side of the field, joining Alim McNeill and Levi Onwuzurike among the three-techs. He’s got work to do to hold onto that reserve spot, but that certainly could be read as a positive development for the third-year defensive tackle. Jay Tufele was also on that side of the field as a reserve nose tackle.
- Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw were the starters on the “reserves” side of the field. While it was surprising to see Arnold over there, it’s a fair to assume he’s there because he’s slowly ramping up. Something to keep an eye on, though. Khalil Dorsey, meanwhile, joined the “starters” side of the field, rotating with D.J. Reed, Rock Ya-Sin, and Roger McCreary (nickel).
- Because I didn’t take note last week, here’s what the offensive line looked like on the reserve field, with others rotating in:
- Yes, Jackson Meeks is still spending some time with tight ends during positional drills
LT: Giovanni Manu
LG: Miles Frazier
C: Seth McLaughlin
RG: Mason Miller
RT: Colby Sorsdal
During the situational drill, the second-team offensive line looked a little different:
LT: Devin Cochran
LG: Michael Niese
C: Seth McLaughlin
RG: Mason Miller
RT: Blake Miller
Last-minute drill
The Lions ran their first situational drill that we’ve seen this offseason, and it was a fairly simple situation:
Down 1 point, 14 seconds to go from the opponent’s 48-yard line. No timeouts left.
The first-team offense ran a draw play to Gibbs up the middle for a 5-yard gain. The offense quickly scrambled to the line and spiked the ball with five seconds left. That left Jake Bates to attempt a 61-yard field, which he missed wide right.
The second team, led by Teddy Bridgewater, was even less successful. The veteran quarterback essentially threw the ball away on back-to-back plays, draining the clock all the way down to one second. Detroit opted to push the field goal attempt up anyways, and Bates drilled a kick somewhere between 50-60 yards (it was impossible to tell from the end zone).
Random observations
- Third-string QB Luke Altmyer was a big topic with the press conferences on Thursday. Dan Campbell praised his confidence. Offensive coordinator Drew Petzing called him “unflappable.” I figured I’d watch him for a little bit, and what stuck out to me was his arm strength. It wasn’t otherworldly or anything, but any out or post route seemed well within his abilities, as the ball zipped out of his hands.
- It was walkthroughs, so I wouldn’t really put anything into it, but Dan Jackson did log an interception by aggressively jumping in front of a pass.
- The following players fielded kickoffs during special teams drills: Jahmyr Gibbs, Dominic Lovett, Isiah Pacheco, Greg Dortch, Jameson Williams, Tom Kennedy, Amon-Ra St. Brown
