8 biggest takeaways from Detroit Lions training camp

The Lions had one of the NFL’s worst pass coverage CB units in 2023. And 2022. And, well, it’s been a while since the Lions cornerbacks were even league-average. Everything I’ve seen in training camp indicates that changes in 2024.

The top four on the depth chart are all new: Carlton Davis, Terrion Arnold, Amik Robertson, Ennis Rakestraw (in that order) are all visibly superior in coverage to last year’s No. 1 CB, Cam Sutton. They’re far more adept at being physical and disrupting routes and releases, something defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn desperately wanted.

Even with losing potential starting slot CB Emmanuel Moseley to injury, the depth looks great. Kindle Vildor has had an outstanding August, while Steven Gilmore and Khalil Dorsey aren’t going down without a fight. This could (could!) be the best Lions CB group in a very long time.

It starts with Aidan Hutchinson, who I very strongly believe has a legit shot to be the NFL Defensive Player of the Year. He looks even more disruptive and powerful in Year 3, routinely beating the best right tackle in football, Penei Sewell, with a barrage of diverse pass rush moves.

Alim McNeill looks like a Pro Bowler as a 3-tech DT entering his contract year. His lateral quickness and jolting strength are way too much for centers and guards to handle one-on-one, and that includes All-Pro center Frank Ragnow.

The other EDGE/DE spot is a question mark, but as long as Marcus Davenport and Josh Paschal are healthy, it should be fine. That’s a legit question mark, however, as both have struggled to stay healthy for extended periods throughout their respective NFL careers. James Houston could be a specialist who can help if he can stay healthy, which has been and currently is not the case.

Moving Derrick Barnes to the SAM role keeps a really adept pass rusher on the field more, which should help. Rookie Mekhi Wingo has looked solid in padded practices at winning pass rush reps, too. But if the other EDGES are not healthy, it could be an ongoing struggle.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: The Detroit Lions have the best starting five offensive line unit in football. Detroit also has arguably the best offensive line coach in Hank Fraley, too, in terms of teaching technique and grooming a cohesive unit.

They’d better all stay healthy.

Whenever any of the starting five have set out reps and someone has replaced them with the first-team unit, it’s been frustrating. Whether it’s Colby Sorsdal or Dan Skipper at tackle, Michael Niese or Kayode Awosika at guard, the offense doesn’t come close to working as well as with the starting five intact. There’s a chicken vs. egg argument with the second-team defensive front looking great because it’s really good or if it’s a function of how inadequate the depth is on the O-line, notably at tackle.

Maybe getting sixth-round rookie Christian Mahogany back will help. Maybe Sorsdal settles back in; he started camp well but has fallen off precipitously since the pads came on. Maybe UDFA Kingsley Eguakun keeps growing through his two good days/one (really) bad day tendencies. Maybe rookie project Giovanni Manu can accelerate through his very steep learning curve.

Those are “maybes” I don’t want anything to do with once the regular season starts, not on a team with the Lions’ lofty aspirations.

Dan Campbell has thrown out the challenge twice in press conferences. The depth WR spots behind Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams and Kalif Raymond (the team clearly sees him as WR3) remain unsettled. Nobody is seizing the considerable opportunities they’ve been given.

At various times throughout camp, I’ve thought that Daurice Fountain would run away with one of those spots. But there appears to be a ceiling with No. 12, and when he’s playing below that ceiling, he’s not an NFL-caliber wideout. The same is true of Donovan Peoples-Jones and Tre’Qun Smith, who are trending in opposite directions (Smith up, DPJ down) as the Lions prep for the Chiefs.

Antoine Green was in that same boat before being lost for the season with a brain injury. Kaden Davis and Isaiah Williams have each flashed at times, and their more youthful promise might mean something to the Lions. Maurice Alexander and Jalon Calhoun are more limited but generally do pretty well in their more niche roles. Tom Kennedy is Tom Kennedy.

Jake Bates is going to be the Lions kicker, for better or worse. That was made abundantly clear in a pair of conversations I had with special teams coordinator Dave Fipp.

The summer of watching the occasionally brilliant, often erratic Bates kicking field goals and extra points has been a tough sell. His inexperience shows just as often as Bates’ incredible leg talent. Bates seems to have come out the other side from a brutal three-practice stretch, but even then he still missed an extra point and a “gotta have it” field goal in the final session.

Bates is a great story, coming from the UFL after setting Ford Field records despite never kicking field goals in college. The potential is there for Bates to be a great long-term solution at kicker, something the Lions have lacked since Matt Prater opted to leave a few years ago. It might come at the expense of a costly miss or two (or more) in his first season, alas.

The Lions have had an undrafted rookie make the 53-man roster for 13 straight seasons. While there are still some potential UDFAs who could play their way into that status in preseason and practices ahead of the final exhibition game, if the 53-man roster was finalized today, I wouldn’t expect any UDFAs to make it.

Best candidates are long snapper Hogan Hatten and wide receiver Isaiah Williams, who would make it on the strength of his special teams/return specialist ability.

One of the major points of emphasis from the coaching staff is the consistency of performance. Show that you can be trusted to do your job reliably and consistently when called upon. Dan Campbell and Ben Johnson each hammered that point in press conferences, and it’s an even bigger deal for the position coaches like DL coach Terrell Williams, RB coach Scottie Montgomery and TE coach Steve Heiden.

With that as a backdrop, there are three players who stood out from camp as having a very good first few days but weren’t able to sustain it.

After the first week of camp, including the first padded practice, I was very convinced Colby Sorsdal was going to be a perfectly fine No. 3 offensive tackle. But that confidence has severely waned as camp progressed and Sorsdal couldn’t maintain the solid play.

The same is true with safety Ifeatu Melifonwu, who has declined day by day over the past handful of practices after a stellar start. Wideout Daurice Fountain had the No. 4 WR job in his grasp until the team went to New York for joint practices and the first preseason game, but bobbled it away.

The first-team offense is a lot more than just a fantastic line. The star power of the Lions’ top skill position players has proven repeatedly this summer that they’re capable of taking over and dominating.

I’m not the least bit concerned that we won’t see Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam LaPorta, David Montgomery or Jahmyr Gibbs in the preseason. They’re sharp already, all with Pro Bowl potential. Jameson Williams will occasionally frustrate with some drops, but his overall improvement is an undeniable force multiplier for the rest of the offense. Craig Reynolds has shown starter-level skills as both a runner and receiver all summer. Brock Wright, aside from one rough day, looks very much worth the money as the No. 2 tight end.

It’s easy to forget just how awesome (using that word’s original intent) this Lions offense truly is. Seeing them every day, it can glaze over the sky-high potential. But looking back and seeing the notes I wrote from all these practices, it’s incredibly reassuring how loaded and diversely skilled Ben Johnson’s offense will be once the games count.