The Detroit Lions head back to training camp on Monday, and with the start of a new season comes a familiar companion for the fanbase: anxiety. From Kirby Joseph’s health to the second cornerback spot to whether starters will see preseason action, there are legitimate concerns worth talking through as Detroit prepares for 2025. Let’s break it down.

Is all the Kerby Joseph stuff real?

This is the big one. The Lions defense relies heavily on having both Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph back there at safety. Losing either one changes how that unit operates. And while I do think Thomas Harper is a pretty good safety who brings a lot to the table, he’s not Kerby Joseph. We can all agree on that.

Here’s the thing, though. A lot of signs point to Joseph being fine. If you check his Instagram, he’s been in the Lions facility, sweating, working, getting after it. So many things point to the fact that he’s going to be out there on day one of training camp. On top of that, we’ve never been told what the injury actually is, not at any point. What we know is he had a knee issue and couldn’t get it healed up to play during the 2025 season. The internet took that and ran with it, calling it a career-altering injury based on nothing. Internet doctors made their diagnoses based on zero actual information, and the Lions continued to pay out bonuses through all of it.

I’m not a fortune teller. All I can do is tell you what I know, and everything points to the idea that Joseph is going to play this year. But that unknown is going to be enough to fuel anxiety all summer. Even if he’s at practice on day one, fans are going to think about it every time he takes a hit. It’s not going to go away until he plays 17 games and looks like the Kerby Joseph we all know he can be.

The other cornerback spot is a real problem

This one is totally worth having anxiety over. Terrion Arnold had started to come into his own and was showing flashes before he got hurt last year. The expectation was that he would continue to develop, but a legal situation took him off the team entirely. Now the Lions are left choosing between a veteran corner, Rock Ya-Sin, or Ennis Rakestraw (who we’ve never really seen play because of injuries), as well as a pair of undrafted free agents and Nick Whiteside and Khalil Dorsey.

That is enough to make Lions fans worry all summer. If you’re Detroit, you either have to hope Rakestraw gets healthy, stays healthy, and develops faster than expected. Or you need that veteran presence to hold up over 17 straight games with significantly more snaps than he’s used to. Or the Lions have to go out and trade for somebody, sign a free agent, or hope a starting-caliber corner falls into their lap after another team’s roster cuts.

I think most Lions fans feel the same way I do. They can’t go into the season with this group as currently constructed. Something needs to happen.

Are starters going to play in the preseason?

This is nightmare fuel for most Lions fans. For years, they’ve had the luxury of not worrying about key players suiting up in preseason games. Now that the Lions aren’t doing joint practices, that dynamic could change.

I wrote about this earlier in the week, and I don’t think this is the direction Detroit is heading. I don’t think the Lions are going to wind up playing their starters in preseason games. But you never know. Once those guys get in a game, anything can happen. That’s where some player fighting for a roster spot makes a tackle that changes the trajectory of the Lions’ season.

It’s a valid concern, even if it’s probably not going to come to pass. The Lions have been careful about this for a reason, and you’d like to see that continue.

The offensive line is a wait-and-see situation

Look, there’s nothing anyone can do about the offensive line until the Lions get on the field in Week 1. You can hope for the best. You can say it looks good in camp, it looks good in 11-on-11 situations and red zone situations against your own team. But none of that matters until the real games start.

This is going to be the thing Lions fans think about the entire offseason. Did the Lions get it right? Is this group going to work? We’re going to find out pretty soon whether they did. The only answer we can really get during the summer is how much the unit gels together. Are these guys going to come together the right way? That part, at least, we can monitor during training camp. But beyond the chemistry question, we’re going to have to wait and see.

Injuries are the real monster in the room

The other source of anxiety, and honestly the bigger one, is injuries. Lions fans are constantly thinking about them and talking about them. You can understand why.

Detroit was 31st in adjusted games lost to injury last season. The year before that, the Lions ranked 25th. Back in 2024, we thought the Lions had suffered a historic amount of injuries. Then 2025 came along and blew that out of the water. Over the last two seasons, Detroit has been one of the most injured teams in the league, and that kind of track record sticks with a fanbase.

You can hope that eliminating joint practices helps take some of the harshness off. Not that anyone has ever really gotten hurt at joint practices, but removing that extra wear and tear could soften the blow a little bit. Beyond that, though, there’s just nothing you can do. In sports, injuries are either going to happen or they’re not going to happen. All you can do is hope they don’t.

I would totally understand why Lions fans would get anxious about that situation. Two straight years of being among the most banged-up rosters in the NFL will do that to you. The talent is there for Detroit to compete at a high level, but the margin for error is razor thin, and health has been the deciding factor more often than not.

Let’s see how training camp goes.

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