The Detroit Lions closed out the mandatory mini-camp on Thursday with a practice that looked a lot like the last day of camp. There were many competitive exercises, some deceptions, and one of the most entertaining endings to a Lions practice I have personally witnessed.
We’ll get there, but first, let’s break down my general observations from day 3 of the minicamp.
Assistance
Not attending:
- DE Josh Pascual
- DT John Penisini
- C Ryan McCollum
McCollum was not seen out there in training. Tommy Kraemer was the replacement. Kraemer slipped and slithered in the wet grass. His usual rapid runs were nowhere to be seen today.
The following players were in training but were not training:
- TE James Mitchell
- TE Derrick Deese
- WR Jameson Williams
- WR DJ Chark
- EDGE Romeo Okwara
- LB Natrez Patrick
- CB / S Ifeatu Melifonwu
- CB Jerry Jacobs
- S DeShon Elliott
There are no differences here.
More involved:
On Thursday, Jonah Jackson missed most of the team’s workouts, but on Thursday he played again for most of the 11-on-11 plays. In fact, with Taylor Decker doing some team performances as well on Thursday , this was the first time in the entire low season that we see the five starters working together during the team’s exercises at full speed.
“It’s really beneficial for us, even just spending time together because the chemistry with the line or is huge,” Frank Ragnow said after practice. “Even though the tempo is different, it’s very important for us to understand how we all think and how we flow.”
Cheating
I can’t talk about the details, but the Lions spent a long time testing the launch arms of the runners, the tight ends, and the wide receivers. Of the group, I thought Godwin Igwebuike had some of the best releases in the group. Tom Kennedy, who made the perfect throw to Kalif Raymond at the end of last season’s season, also lost a penny during the session. Raymond picked the best pitchers in his group after training.
“So, I thought, Trinity has always had the best arm,” Raymond said. “But do you know what? In fact, I was going to say Josh Reynolds, but Amon-Ra through one of there hit me off the left field, because I didn’t know I had it like that, and then he had a little bit of confidence in it. I would probably say the Trinity is the most consistent. “
More competition exercises
When the teams split into positional exercises, they were all doing very competitive individual exercises. I just focused on the attack. The wide receivers took a pass, then ran around a large circle in the field and took a pass to finish the relay. Offensive runners and linemen competed in a kind of relay race that was hard to see from afar. Meanwhile, the quarterbacks tried to throw 30-yard passes into a small grid square that looks like this:
Again, it was a very loose feeling to train, but the competition exercises kept the energy high.
Two minute exercise
About halfway through practice, the Lions set another end-of-game scenario, something that has been a highlight during all of these off-season training.
The stage: nine points down, 1:59 remaining, starting at his own 25-yard line.
The first team attack started with the best momentum I’ve seen of them all in the low season.
Play 1: Jared Goff beat Kalif Raymond, who had beaten AJ Parker. Now, to be fair, Tracy Walker crashed into the play and would probably have had great success. Still, he counted and gained about 25-30 yards.
Game 2: Josh Reynolds overtook Will Harris on a pole vault for another 37-yard gain.
Play 3: Shane Zylstra defeated Alex Anzalone on a cross for the touchdown.
With 1:18 left, they had a two-point game.
His second unit, however, was less successful. It started with a promising shoulder throw to Raymond with Walker in a tight 25-yard cover. After a peak, a 9-yard throw at St. Brown and a throw, Riley Patterson lined up for a 54-yard field goal and victory. He failed miserably on the left.
David Blough came back on Thursday with the attack of the second team, but could not gather much in this two-minute training session. He struggled to stay ahead of the posts, with two converted two-quarter downs and burning all three downs in the process. They had just crossed the field when Blough tried to force a pass to Quintez Cephus who was easily caught by Bobby Price, who was all the way.
Tim Boyle did not get a crack at the drill, but he did get an overall time of 11 to 11. He also fought hard for the attack to move.
The big man point is back
To end the practice, and the low season program for most veterans, the Lions had a point-of-attack return against defense. Offensive and defensive line players were throwing spikes from about 30 yards away using the Jugs machine.
First: 299-pound defensive back Demetrius Taylor, who made an impressive catch.
Offensive counterpart was Penei Sewell, who made the catch relatively easy and then threw the ball in celebration at least 20 yards from the field.
They decided to go to a second round, where Alim McNeill faced rookie goalie Kevin Jarvis. McNeill made sure to put on his gloves before throwing the point, but both players, again, caught the ball with relative ease.
Without winning between attack and defense, there had to be a tiebreaker. That’s when the whole defense exploded into a “We Want to Jump” chant, referring to 6-foot 9 and 330-pound offensive line player Dan Skipper. The coaches complied, and Skipper intervened. Although he initially misjudged the ball, he got the final catch and threatened to throw the ball at the crowd of defensive players he had just beaten. [Editor’s note: This isn’t the first time Skipper showed off his punt fielding skills. He did it at the East-West Shrine game five years ago, too.]
“Jumping lives for it, so it was huge,” Ragnow said after practice.
UPDATE: Lions have a video of the very entertaining catches:
The Lions will return to the training ground on Monday, but will be mostly young players who spend more time with the coaching staff.
“Next week will be more for young players, development players,” Dan Campbell said Thursday. “This gives us a great opportunity to get in touch with them, a little more one by one.”