The Detroit Lions have had some bad injury luck with their 2026 NFL Draft class. They already lost fifth-round pick Kendrick Law for the season, Jimmy Rolder has been out since the first week of training camp, and second-round pick Derrick Moore suffered a groin injury early this month.
But Moore has recently returned, and on Wednesday, he made a statement.
Here’s that, and three more takeaways from Detroit’s 15th training camp practice of the year.
Derrick Moore’s breakout
Derrick Moore has missed most of camp with a groin
injury. He returned just five days ago, but on Wednesday, he looked like he’s been practicing for weeks.
Moore was worked in situationally with the first-team defense, mostly appearing in third-down packages. They have him moving all over the line, and he’s caused a fair amount of disruption in his limited role. For example, he was able to use his excellent burst to squeeze between two lineman for a sack on a third-and-12 that should have ended the drill—but the Lions kept it going to get extra work in.
During the next situational drill with the first-team, he picked up another sack on a third-and-8, beating first-round rookie tackle Blake Miller.
I don’t expect Moore to have a huge role early in the season with the amount of time he’s missed in training camp, but he could very well be a productive weapon to get the Lions defense—who have struggled on third down in recent years—off the field.
Isaac TeSlaa, Ennis Rakestraw stack days
It’s been a rough camp for second-year receiver Isaac TeSlaa and third-year cornerback Ennis Rakestraw, but since their disappointing performances in the preseason opener, they’re starting to turn things around.
Let’s start with TeSlaa. He made more plays during team drills on Wednesday than I’ve seen him make in a single practice yet. Here are all the plays I had him with:
- A 21-yard gain on a post route in between zones.
- During 7-on-7s, another post route, beating Avonte Maddox in man-coverage.
- A checkdown catch for 5 yards, getting out of bounds and setting up third-and-managemable on an end-of-game drive.
- A NASTY whip route, beating Rock Ya-Sin to the sidelines and turning it up for a 21-yard gain down to the 6-yard line.
Four targets for four catches during team drills is a very big step in the right direction.
Rakestraw managed to make an impact almost immediately. He was all over Jameson Williams on a comeback route for an early pass breakup during 11-on-11s. Then in the situational drills, he followed it up with an immediate tackle on a flats route to Jacob Saylors—and a sack a play later on a delayed blitz. He even stood out during 7-on-7 drills when he jammed Amon-Ra St. Brown into the ground. Then, on the final play of a situational drill, Luke Altmyer attempted a prayer shot to Dominic Lovett, and Rakestraw was all over it (and Lovett ended up falling down).
Rakestraw continues to mostly work with the second team, but he also got plenty of runs with the starters, as the Lions manage the reps for Rock Ya-Sin and D.J. Reed.
Aidan Hutchinson continues to dominate… but got put on his butt once HARD
On Monday, coach Dan Campbell mentioned how occasionally they have to ignore Aidan Hutchinson sacks so that the drills can continue, and Wednesday was no exception. Hutchinson had at least two pressures that could have been sacks in this drill, and he also scored the defense a win during an end-of-game drill by “sacking” Jared Goff on a two-point conversion attempt that was for the win.
But I want to talk about a moment I have very rarely seen with Hutchinson in camp or in any game. On a fourth-and-10, Hutchinson came screaming downhill, and second-year guard Tate Ratledge completely decleated him, putting him on his back. The block gave Goff enough time to hit Jameson Williams on a crosser to pick up the first down.
Doesn’t happen much, but when Hutchinson gets knocked around like that, you bet it’s going in my notebook.
Situational drill results
The Lions ran several situational drills to end practice. Here are those results, including the key plays.
Situation #1: End of first half — 3:31 left, starting on own 29-yard line, three timeouts left
- Larry Borom, in for Penei Sewell (seemingly rest), was called for holding.
- Jahmyr Gibbs hit a 20-yard run with a nice wall created by Blake Miller.
- TeSlaa’s 21-yard post route.
- Drill ends in field goal position after Derrick Barnes covered a Gibbs wheel route for an incomplete pass.
Situation #2 (second teamers): End of first half — 3:31 left, starting on own 32-yard line, 3 timeouts
- Quick three-and-out after Rakestraw’s sack on second down.
Situation #3 (first team): End of game — 59 seconds left, down 4, own 49-yard line
- Alim McNeill beat Christian Mahogany so hard and quickly that he was just left standing there while McNeill forced a throw away.
- Amon-Ra St. Brown picks up 13 yards on a flats route through soft coverage.
- St. Brown picked up another 20 yards up the seam between Keith Abney and Chuck Clark.
- Eventually there were just five seconds left and the offense was still 18 yards away. With nearly the entire defense all on the goal line, Detroit threw a pass short of the goal line to St. Brown, and with a lead blocker he may have gotten in, but it was highly disputed (I think he was short).
Situation #4 (second team): End of game — 1:06 left, down 4, 50-yard line, 0 timeouts
- Offense took up too much time with passes over the middle to Lovett and Sione Vaki for short gains.
- Eric O’Neill picked up another sack.
- Altmyer’s previously mentioned prayer to Lovett goes incomplete after the receiver falls down.
Situation #5 (first team): End of game — 3:20 left, down 7, 3 timeouts, own 48-yard line
- The fourth-and-10 aided by Ratledge’s block on Hutchinson goes to Williams for 12 yards.
- Jahmyr Gibbs breaks an Avonte Maddox TFL attempt for a third-and-1 conversion.
- The sick whip route by TeSlaa gets the Lions into the red zone.
- Nice run stuff from Tyler Lacy for zero yards—aided by Tyleik Williams eating a double team.
- Gibbs catches an angle route that looks like he’s tackled a yard short, but they give him the touchdown.
- Lions go for two, and get nearly the entire defensive line to jump offsides.
- But Hutchinson ends it with a sack.
Situation #6 (second team): End of game — 1:11 left, down 7, 1 timeout, own 30-yard line
- Tay Martin makes a great catch over Khalil Dorsey for a significant gain (15-20 yards).
- Altmyer scrambles up the middle for a 14-yard gain.
- Martin picks up a fourth-and-1 with a short slant.
- With 12 seconds left (no timeouts) and 34 yards away from the end zone, Altmyer tries to find a downfield target, but holds onto the ball too long and Ahmed Hassanein ends practice with a sack.
Miscellaneous notes
- I thought Dan Jackson was going to get kicked out of practice after hitting Malik Cunningham with a headshot during 7-on-7s. Thankfully, Cunningham returned to practice after getting checked on.
- Juice Scruggs was the starting center for almost the entire practice. Seth McLaughlin subbed in late during the final drill for the first-team offense.
- Tay Martin continues to rep with the first-team kickoff unit, and got some love from special teams coordinator Dave Fipp before practice.
“Tay Martin’s jumped off the film every day,” Fipp said.
- Thought Zach Horton had a strong special teams session, winning both reps against Tyler Conklin.
- Ben Stille logged two impressive run stops three two plays apart, including a fourth-down stop. It’s gotten to a point where I have to ask Dan Campbell about him.
