Right now, the Detroit Lions’ secondary looks much different than the unit from 2025. On the back end, newcomers Chuck Clark and Christian Izien have taken nearly every first-team rep this spring. At cornerback, D.J. Reed is back with a healthier hamstring, but opposite him has been a rotating cast of Ennis Rakestraw, Rock Ya-Sin, and even occasionally Khalil Dorsey. In the slot, Roger McCreary has replaced Amik Robertson—but he did us in the media the favor of taking his number.
Getting on the same
page is critical in the secondary, and after working out some kinks during OTAs over the past month, Reed took on the responsibility of being a leader and invited all the defensive backs to his house this past weekend to go over some film and share some tips with each other.
“He just reached out to the group message,” Clark relayed after Tuesday’s practice. “He was like, ‘Yo, I’m having film (session), a little food at the house. Y’all come over.’ I’ve seen that at different places before, and I respected it.”
Clark said those discussions surrounded certain routes they had seen before, while the entire group shared their strategies of how they watched film with each other.
That film session paid off on Tuesday. Thanks to that session, the Lions secondary was all over the place during Tuesday’s practice. Detroit got a ton of 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 work in, and by my count the defense tallied three interceptions, probably should have had two more, and added on a few other pass breakups.
“There were actually some things that happened today that just naturally came with our conversations that happened over the weekend,” Clark explained.
Let’s get into it with our observations from Mandatory Minicamp, Day 1:
Pass defense playmakers
I teased it at the top, but let’s get into specifics. First, the three interceptions:
- Rookie linebacker Jimmy Rolder. Dropping into zone coverage during 7-on-7s, Rolder high-pointed a ball from Teddy Bridgewater, and took it the other way. It was an impressive athletic play from the rookie linebacker and a promising development given his scouting profile showed that coverage was underdeveloped. It’s worth noting that Bridgewater’s next throw was on a very similar looking play, but this time Bridgewater put plenty of air to get it over the linebacker’s (Malcolm Rodriguez’s) head for a completion to Dominic Lovett. Later in practice, Rolder followed up that rep with blanket coverage on tight end Thomas Gordon, but the receiver made a nice contested grab for minimal gain.
- Undrafted rookie CB Aamaris Brown picked off rookie quarterback Luke Altmyer during an 11-on-11 simulated drive. Altmyer hesitated and threw over the middle late. That allowed Brown to jump the route of running back Jabari Small for the interception. Brown did get there early, though, and may have drawn a flag if officials were in attendance.
- Safety Chuck Clark. Clark put an end to a situational drill from the first stringers by intercepting a pass from Jared Goff that sailed over Amon-Ra St. Brown’s head. There appeared to be some sort of route confusion, but Clark was in the right place at the right time. Clark also had a previous rep where he had to hold himself back from blowing up St. Brown on a crossing route over the middle, but he was certainly in the right place and time to do so.
There were two passes that probably should have been picked off, too. Khalil Dorsey cleanly read a wheel route from Isiah Pacheco out of the backfield, and got two hands on Goff’s pass but couldn’t hold on. Loren Strickland also jumped a route from Greg Dortch and should have picked off Bridgewater.
On top of that, I also had a couple of pass breakups from Nick Whiteside, who had a strong day with the second-team defense. Additionally, Trevor Nowaske had a nice breakup in zone coverage, Reed won a couple of reps against St. Brown with sticky coverage. Undrafted rookie De’Shawn Rucker appeared to get his hands on a pass intended for Dominic Lovett. And linebacker Joe Bachie was able to knock down a pass near the line of scrimmage during 7-on-7s.
Notable rep orders
With Arnold still working his way back, and Ennis Rakestraw and Rock Ya-Sin returned from an illness, both players split time with the first-team defense. We got an extended look at Rakestraw in team drills, and it was a mixed bag from the third-year player. Jameson Williams ran a beautiful whip concept on him for a good chunk play, and Isaac TeSlaa got an explosive against Rakestraw on a deep post during 7-on-7s. Still, the defense settled down later in practice.
While still mainly repping as the primary nickel, Roger McCreary did spend some time at outside cornerback with the reserve defenses. McCreary did give up the biggest play of the day, after getting beaten by Tom Kennedy on a deep route. Shoutout to Altmyer for the soft touch on the pass.
On the defensive line, there were a lot of interesting rotations. Tyler Lacy continues to be first in line when Detroit needs a big end opposite Aidan Hutchinson. While in an end-of-game scenario, the Lions’ defensive front looked like this from left to right:
Aidan Hutchinson, Alim McNeill, Mekhi Wingo, Payton Turner
D.J. Wonnum and Derrick Moore are still getting plenty of playing time, but I do find it interesting and surprising how high Lacy, Turner, and Wingo are getting reps, while Levi Onwuzurike appears mostly to be with the reserves.
On the offensive line, it was another day of splitting at right tackle between Larry Borom and Blake Miller. While Borom “started” during walkthroughs, Miller was the first one out there during 11-on-11s. Juice Scruggs continues to rep at every interior offensive line position, although he has mainly stayed as the team’s primary backup center.
Final note: rookie tight end Miles Kitselman not only did walkthroughs on the starter side of the field, but he also got some playing time with the first-team offense during team drills. He did catch a pass from Goff, but it appeared to get jarred loose by a defender late.
FIGHT!
Prior to practice, Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley talked to the media, and he was asked about Dan Skipper’s transition to coach.
“First role I gave to Skip was, ‘No fighting coaches, and no fighting players,’” Fraley joked.
Little did he know that about an hour later, it would be Skipper helping break up a fight.
During walkthroughs—yes walkthroughs—Lions reserve tackle Devin Cochran and rookie defensive end Anthony Lucas were tied up, pushing and shoving, and eventually swinging hands after the whistle. On the very next play, it appeared Lucas was mixing it up with another player late, and Cochran came over from the other side of the field and was throwing legitimate punches.
That’s when coaches stepped in, took both players out for a few reps, and went about their day. Neither player was ejected. I will say, though, it appeared Lucas continued to try and mess with the offensive line, getting in some late-play chatter with Giovanni Manu and Colby Sorsdal, as well.
Situational drill
The first and second teamers went head-to-head for a full-team drill that consisted of the following scenario:
- Offense down 1 point
- Starting on their own 8-yard line
- 45 seconds left
- 2 timeotus
Here’s how the first-team offense did:
- St. Brown out route for 17 yards, timeout on ofense
- Interception to Clark
Second-team offense (led by Bridgewater):
- Kitselman catches an 8-yard pass
- Strickland nearly picks off a pass
- A fade/jump ball to Lovett went incomplete
- Bridgewater overthrew Kitselman by the sidelines under pressure from a blitzing Trevor Nowaske
