As the Detroit Lions wrapped up their mandatory minicamp Wednesday, June 17, and prepared to head off for their summer break, Dan Campbell was pleased with what his team accomplished in a limited capacity over four weeks that amounted to non-contact pajama Olympics.
That’s encouraging news, considering the Lions coach kicked off organized team activities May 29 by issuing an ominous warning about the nature of his team and how it has been affected by the trappings of success.
The thrust of Campbell’s mandate was “getting back to a little bit of the no-nonsense.”
“But then the better you do, the more you do, the more hype, the more you’re doing this, you’re doing this,” he said in May. “This player gets paid, this coach, this whatever, this coach moves on now and it’s all this other stuff that has nothing to do with what got us to that point.”
From Campbell’s perspective, the Lions made strides this spring in moving back toward fundamentals that should help the team during training camp in late July.
“But where I did not want to let things slip were the false starts, the discipline penalty, illegal formation,” he said. “And so we hit that from Day 1 and we don’t care if it’s ‘here we go, man,’ we’re six weeks from training camp, seven weeks from training camp, we’re however many weeks from the first game of the season. I wanted to hit that stuff immediately.”
He liked the effort, too, like bursting toward the ball to make a block or safeties taking the right angle from across the field.
“So just the basics,” he said, “the foundation of football without the contact is what we were looking for and we hit that head on, so I do like that.”
He also liked the offense and defense testing each other’s schemes, formations, shifts, adjustments and disguises.
“Those are all things that you can really improve on this time of year, is your reaction time, your processing speed,” he said. “And all these reps that we’ve learned and guys have learned from and made mistakes, whoever they are, when we start training camp, they’ll be expected not to make those mistakes again. You already went through it or a teammate did, this should not come up again. That’s what we’re looking for.”
The mental side of the game is certainly important and really at this point of the offseason, that’s about all the team can do while engaging in a glorified form of touch football. It’s a good start, but it’s only a start − it won’t mean anything if the Lions don’t take another step and marry their mental preparation with physical production on the field in camp, especially when the pads come on.
Safety not guaranteed
Now for the not-so-great news out of the spring: There’s no update on when Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch, the Lions’ All-Pro and Pro Bowl safeties, respectively, might return to practice, let alone be ready for games.
Joseph is dealing with a degenerative knee condition and Branch is recovering from the Achilles he tore in a Dec. 4 win over Dallas. Campbell flat out said June 4 he had no idea when Joseph would be ready and what version of him the Lions might get.
One small bit of light was shed on Joseph’s situation by safeties coach Jim O’Neil, who at least acknowledged Wednesday that even an All-Pro needs some form of practice to prepare.
“Yeah, no, maybe not every day, but you need to practice,” he said. “You can’t take a year off of football and expect to go play in an All-Pro level … and that’s everybody at every position. I mean, you need to practice to get the timing, to get to have the chemistry.”
Both players were in warmups and Branch caught some balls off the JUGS machine at the end of practice. But it wasn’t a great sign for either player’s prognosis that they avoided reporters.
“We’ve been meeting extra with both of them,” O’Neil said. “It’s driving them both crazy not to be out there on the grass, so they’re both highly motivated to get back, and they’re doing everything that they get to get back. So those guys are doing an awesome job.”
One bright – or brightish – spot was cornerback Terrion Arnold’s outlook and willingness to speak with reporters about his situation. Except for the legal part that’s still playing out in Florida.
Arnold battled injuries and struggled to stay on the field last year. The Lions clearly want to motivate him. They made him take reps with the second team in the spring and Campbell said Wednesday he wants Arnold to earn his spot in camp.
Arnold took all of that in stride when he spoke with reporters at length after practice. He said he’s 75%-80% healthy and is confident he’s hanging around the right people these days. In my experience, it’s a big indicator of a player’s maturity when he’s willing to face hard questions and answer them with calm confidence.
Big questions still loom
Every team deals with questions of some kind that must be resolved in training camp. Aside from the health concerns, which the Lions have no control over, the two biggest questions for me are about the revamped offensive line and new offensive coordinator Drew Petzing.
The O-line questions won’t be answered until the pads come on in camp and the games – or at least the exhibition games – begin. As important as the O-line is, I understand camp isn’t just about one unit. But with Campbell deciding to nix joint practices with other teams, it seems like a missed opportunity to get a better look at the O-line in more game-like situations.
So we’ll have to wait for games to see how Penei Sewell adjusts to playing left tackle, how rookie Blake Miller does at right tackle, how free-agent addition Cade Mays does at center and whether Christian Mahogany or Ben Bartch win the left guard job.
If it’s Bartch, that means the only O-lineman who would return in his spot from last season is second-year right guard Tate Ratledge. That’s a lot of upheaval for a unit that’s so crucial.
As for Petzing, he’s getting positive reviews, as all coaches do at this time. But, as Mike Tyson would say, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. So we won’t know squat about Petzing’s play-calling potency until the Lions face a good defense. Luckily, that will happen in the first two games against New Orleans and Buffalo.
Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on X @cmonarrez.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Minicamp unable to answer all the questions facing Detroit Lions
Reporting by Carlos Monarrez, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Carlos Monarrez, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
