Monday was a new stage of the Detroit Lions training camp. While it’s the fifth day of practices, Monday morning’s steamy session was the first with full pads.
On an oppressively humid morning, it took a little bit before the players remembered they could hit each other. Once Kerby Joseph broke that ice with a hit on Daurice Fountain, the physicality picked up and stayed up. The capacity crowd seemed to enjoy the action, in between their raucous “Ja-Red Goff” chants that broke out at least five times.
Here’s some of what I saw and heard from Monday’s practice session.
Taylor Decker contract extension
Detroit Lions offensive tackle Taylor Decker speaks with reporters after practice during training camp at Detroit Lions Headquarters and Training Facility in Allen Park on Monday, July 24, 2023.
At about the same time the players started doing stretching drills, news broke that the Lions have signed longtime left tackle Taylor Decker to a three-year contract extension. Decker has been with the Lions since 2016 and was rewarded for his bedrock play and well-honed leadership.
I was fortunate enough to watch nearly all of practice with Lions legend Lomas Brown. I asked Brown, who played left tackle at a very high level for a long time in Detroit in the 1990s, for his thoughts on Decker and the contract extension.
“I’m so proud for him,” Brown said with his trademark enthusiasm. “He’s like my first-born. Makes me very happy for him and all the work he’s done.”
Many players echoed those sentiments after practice. All-Pro center Frank Ragnow, who has been with the Lions since 2018, showed his appreciation in his post-practice press conference. Noting that, “we’re been through a lot of things” in Detroit, Ragnow showed his respect.
In brief conversations/sound bites I had with a few other players as they walked off the field, from Alim McNeill to Kalif Raymond, the reverential praise for Decker is genuine.
Big boy football
LB Derrick Barnes takes extra reps during the Detroit Lions training camp at the Lions practice facility in Allen Park, Mich. on Monday, July 29, 2024.
With the pads on, my focus was almost exclusively on the linemen. It’s the first time they’ve been free to really go at it, and both the rust and then the enthusiasm showed.
Separated off from the pack behind the north goalpost, the lines squared off in a few drills while the skill positions dueled at the other end of the field. Starting in a double-team blocking/run defense anchor drill, the Lions then had the offensive and defensive linemen go mano a mano in pass rush pit drills.
As expected, the brightest stars shone. Frank Ragnow dominated both reps he took in pass protection, completely nullifying Brodric Martin and then Chris Smith. Decker had a solid draw against Marcus Davenport and an easy one on a rep that was over so quickly that I couldn’t catch who the defender was that he beat.
On the flip side, Alim McNeill had his way with Kevin Zeitler on an up-and-under move out of a very quick bull rush. McNeill was outstanding in the run anchor drill, using his powerful and quick hands to stand up to the double team better than any other interior defender. Aidan Hutchinson had a split decision with Penei Sewell on an outside pass rush but a clean win over Colby Sorsdal on his other rep.
Two quick notables here:
–Josh Paschal continues to struggle in these sorts of drills. He’s not a big instigator of a pass rush; Paschal is more of a “works great in conjunction with others” type of pass rusher. He just isn’t creative as an individual pass rusher. In the team drill portion of practice, Paschal smoked Dan Skipper for a sack by leveraging off the inside rush from Levi Onwuzurike very nicely.
–I’m feeling better about Colby Sorsdal as the top reserve offensive tackle with every practice. He did have the aforementioned loss in a rep against Hutchinson, but big No. 75 won his other two reps in the drill. His footwork and hand placement are a lot more polished than a year ago at this time, something Lomas Brown noticed and mentioned to me too. Right now, Sorsdal is OT3 and the gap between him and below (Dan Skipper, Connor Galvin, Giovanni Manu in that order) is substantial.
The newcomers
Freshly signed linebacker Malik Jefferson was at his first practice since joining the Lions on Saturday. Wearing No. 52, the journeyman linebacker worked on the third-team defense and also saw special teams reps.
It’s those special teams where Jefferson, on his sixth NFL team in seven years, has his chance to make a name for himself. He was immediately effective in gunning and blocking drills on punts.
The Lions also added DL David Badu over the weekend as part of the International Pathways program. This was my first look at Bada, wearing No. 61. He’s been with the Commanders organization for a couple of seasons and the physical gifts are definitely intriguing, but Bada didn’t look like someone who was a serious threat to climb the DL depth chart quickly.
Secret superstar – Netane Muti
Detroit Lions fans watch their team practice at the Lions practice facility in Allen Park on Saturday, July 27, 2024.
We still don’t have an authorized picture of Netane Muti in a Lions uniform in our database. If Muti keeps stringing together strong practices like he has been, we’re going to need a few of them.
One of the standouts from the spring workouts, Muti thrived with the pads on. He was the interior offensive lineman with the most consistent surge in the run blocking drill. Muti’s leverage and shoulder strength are very impressive.
Muti showed his ability to handle his business in pass protection by stymying Alim McNeill in a pass rush rep. Muti did a great job staying square even when McNeill surged into his left side. Muti’s quick feet held up very well, a development that impressed Lomas Brown, too.
Muti has been repping behind Kayode Awosika in the reserve guard pecking order, but this was the second time in three practices where No. 52 has been definitively superior to No. 74.
Quick hits
–The above photo is a good look at how the fan reaction to Jameson Williams is turning. Williams got loud cheers every time he touched the ball, including a jet sweep where he could have raced to Canada untouched.
–Malcolm Rodriguez had a very nice all-around practice, including a sack where he timed his B-gap blitz perfectly.
–Rough day for UDFA safety Loren Strickland. Already facing very long odds to make the roster, Strickland missed two tackles and got absolutely annihilated by a sweet cut from a runner in another drill. On one of the missed tackles, Strickland made a very aggressive read and it paid off with a potential TFL but he grabbed little more than air on the play.
–The Lions ran a lot of two tight end offensive sets early in practice, with Sam LaPorta and Brock Wright both moving around a lot. Wright is effectively unchallenged as TE2. The net effect on the defense was that it took the nickel DB off the field and kept Derrick Barnes and then James Houston on the field more in the SAM role.
–Brian Branch was a starting safety in walkthroughs but did not do team drills. Kerby Joseph took his place next to Ifeatu Melifonwu for the rest of the practice.
–Second-round CB Ennis Rakestraw continues to rep with the third-team defense. So does veteran DL John Cominsky.
–Safety C.J. Moore is not getting any defensive reps, playing strictly on special teams. Keep an eye on that; it could be nothing more than the Lions wanting to see more from the youngsters, but it raises an eyebrow that Moore isn’t mixing it up on defense with the very unsettled safety depth.
–No live kicking in this practice, as the Lions appear to be deploying an every-other-day schedule with the kicking.
–Michael Niese was the second-team center today in the reps I watched and performed better than he has been.