Why the Lions playing their starters Saturday makes more sense than you might think
The Detroit Lions are doing something Saturday that Dan Campbell hasn’t done since becoming head coach. Playing a significant number of starters in the preseason sounds risky. But when you look at what Detroit still needs to figure out, the decision starts making a lot more sense.
Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell announced Monday that the team will play a significant amount of starters against the Washington Commanders on Saturday. The decision raised some eyebrows, but when you break it down, you can understand why Campbell wants to do it. The Lions have several roster battles still unresolved on both sides of the ball, and this preseason game offers a chance to evaluate those competitions in a live setting.
The offensive line needs answers
For starters, the Lions still haven’t named a starter at left guard. On top of that, they need to figure out who’s playing center now that Cade Mays is injured and probably going to be out until October. Is it going to be Juice Scruggs? Seth McLaughlin, who’s been playing left guard? Christian Mahogany? Michael Niese? Miles Frazier? The only real way to sort that out is to get those guys on the field against a real team in a real game.
The Lions typically would have used joint practices for this sort of evaluation, and you have to wonder if they’ll bring those back. But for now, they’re going to use Saturday’s preseason game. Washington may want to play their starters too, so these offensive linemen could be going up against a starting defense, which would be beneficial.
Now, just because Campbell said a significant amount of starters will play doesn’t mean Penei Sewell is definitely out there. I would probably think Sewell sits this one out. But I would probably think Jared Goff plays. Goff needs to get out there and continue working on his communication and timing with whoever is going to be playing center. In that case, maybe you do want Sewell out there too. The Lions say they still haven’t figured out who all is going to play, but it makes a lot of sense to have the entire offensive line out there alongside Goff.
It’s probably going to be a few series or one quarter. I don’t think it’s going to be an entire game thing, but you can understand why they want those guys out there.
Running backs and tight ends get a chance too
This is also an opportunity to have your potential third running back play with the starting offensive line. I don’t think you have any reason to put Jahmyr Gibbs out there, but this is a good spot for Jacob Saylors. He can run with the first-team offensive line, run with Goff, and get a feel for how everything operates in a game setting. He’s been doing it all summer in training camp, but here’s a chance to do it live. You’ve also got Jabari Small and Trayveon Williams. They might get some run with the first team, though I doubt it. They’ll probably stick with Saylors.
Then there’s the tight end situation. The Lions want to try some new alignments with 12 and 13 personnel, and Saturday is a chance to do that live for the first time. You might see Sam LaPorta out there with Brock Wright and Tyler Conklin. We did see Conklin play in the last game, so it’s possible we see them again.
The one place where you’re probably safe not to play your starters is at wide receiver. Amon-Ra St. Brown doesn’t need to be out there. Goff and St. Brown are good together. They don’t need any sort of rehearsal. Jameson Williams is probably fine staying on the sideline too.
The secondary still has a nickel to fill
On defense, the Lions still don’t really know who’s going to be playing nickel. Keith Abney has gotten first-team reps lately. Roger McCreary has taken first-team reps at nickel. Christian Izien has done it. Ennis Rakestraw was getting some looks there too. And by the way, Rakestraw suddenly turned it on Monday with an unbelievable day — pass breakup, interception, just a really big day for him. He needed that one real bad.
The thing Campbell mentioned Monday was that he wants to find out who the best processor is, who the most headsy guy is in that group. The best way to figure that out is to put them against an offense they’ve never seen before. That’s why you put them out there against Washington and see who processes it the fastest. Then you go, well, that’s probably the guy.
I wrote an article Monday saying they should just put Brian Branch at nickel because they’ve got pretty good depth at safety right now. We’ll see how that goes.
Defensive line and linebacker reps
You’ve got to see Ahmed Hassanein again. He’s not necessarily a starter, but the Lions are definitely going to want to see if all of that was real. You don’t have to have Aidan Hutchinson out there. You probably don’t need Alim McNeill out there either. But this is a good spot for Tyleik Williams to get some reps and show what he’s been working on this summer. Derrick Moore and D.J. Wonnum should get looks too.
You probably don’t have to have Jack Campbell out there because you know how good he is on defense. But this is a good spot for Derrick Barnes, Devin White, and Malcolm Rodriguez. All those guys should play. At safety, Chuck Clark and Avonte Maddox look like the expected Week 1 starters, and they should be playing in this game for sure.
The dress rehearsal returns
It’s been a while since we’ve seen this. The Lions have played starters in preseason games before, they just haven’t done it since Campbell got here in 2021. Back in the day, there used to be this whole thing with the dress rehearsal game, usually the third preseason game. Now it’s moved up to the second game, and it’s typically a quarter, maybe a half at most.
I think if Campbell can see everything he wants to see within that first quarter, you won’t see those guys again for the rest of the game. And the third preseason game, we know what that is at this point. That’s the last chance for the young guys to get some good film out there, maybe find a spot on a different team, or maybe the Lions want to take one last look at a guy they think will make the roster but aren’t 100% sure about yet.
Look, when Campbell announced this, my first thought was that it’s a bad idea. But now I get it. I understand why he wants to do it. I still lean towards the idea of it being risky, but you can see the reasons. Just hope for the best if you’re a Lions fan. Hope nobody gets hurt, everybody gels well, and it looks good. We’ll find out on Saturday.
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