The Detroit Lions chose not to hold joint practices this year, instead leaning on depth to create competition in training camp. Lions head coach Dan Campbell says he feels "really good" about where Detroit is despite foregoing the joint practices this August.
"I feel really good about that, with where we’re at right now. I think what you get is, you do get different types of players, different skill sets, very good players. Like Houston for example. Man, you get Will Anderson coming in here. That’s awesome. That’s a different guy who’s an elite player. But, I’m also like, Sewell and Hutch go against each other every day. Tell me what’s going to be better?
"You’re just talking about the competition of it and those guys working their craft against
each other. Alim McNeill over there. Ratledge is an up-and-coming player. You got Jah out of the backfield you’ve got to cover. Jack Campbell at Mike, you know, pressure, coverage, all these things, man. St. Brown, Jamo. I think we’ve got pretty good competition here. For this year, I like what we’re doing. I do," Campbell said.
Campbell and Detroit revealed back in March that the Lions wouldn't partake in joint practices in 2026.
"I felt like we got two really good years of it, man, like, we’re really getting something out of this. And then as it kind of went on, we got into that third year, whatever that was, or ’24, I don’t know, it just felt counterproductive, man,” Campbell said at NFL owners meetings this year. “It didn’t feel like we were getting what I thought we would get out of it, and part of me was like, I think we would have gotten more – we’d have gotten an extra practice, and we’d have gotten more done had we just gone against ourselves.”
This preseason marks the first time since 2021 that the Lions haven't had any joint practices.
Detroit has a pair of preseason dates left. The Lions host the Washington Commanders on Saturday at noon ET and then travel to the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday, Aug. 29 for a 1 p.m. ET kickoff.
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This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Lions feel good about training camp progress minus joint practices
