Detroit Lions Training Camp observations Day 10: A new defensive starter has emerged, and another 2024 pick is in trouble
Lions camp observations: A new starter is in town, one battle looks done, two more 2024 draft picks are in trouble, and it was turnover day in Allen Park
Day 10 of Detroit Lions training camp was by far one of the most eventful days we’ve seen from this team. Here’s everything we saw that day:
Josh Dobbs mostly watches
The Lions’ new assumed backup quarterback was out there on Monday, but he didn’t do a whole lot. He threw in early drills and then mostly stood next to quarterback coach Mark Brunell the entire day. It makes you wonder what the plan is going to be for him on Thursday. It’s assumed he takes some reps, but we’ll see. It might be the Altmyer show.
Seth McLaughlin looked alright out there
With Cade Mays now out until potentially October, McLaughlin had his first reps ever with Jared Goff, and there wasn’t really any freak occurrence that would scare the bejebus out of you if you knew he had to be the Lions’ starting center going into the season.
He definitely got a lot of tough pressure from Alim McNeill and Tyleik Williams. That certainly makes you wonder. But not bad for day one. It’s assumed at this point that once Juice Scruggs comes back, he’ll take over the first-team duties at center. But McLaughlin can give himself a shot to make the 53-man roster with more days like Monday.
On the flipside, Michael Niese had some struggles with the second team, including a bad snap that led to a fumble for Luke Altmyer.
Devin White is clearly the starting Will linebacker
It’s fair to say at this point that White has beaten out Malcolm Rodriguez for the job. I don’t know if he holds it forever and ever with Jimmy Rolder still looming out there, but he’s got it right now.
White has shown tremendous run-stopping ability, and he just goes at guys like a heat-seeking missile. There remain some questions in coverage, though, and that’s always been one of his weaker spots. There were two occasions where he went the wrong way on Monday, but he did have a nice PBU on Sam LaPorta in the end zone.
Sione Vaki is in trouble
At this point, it’s not looking good for Vaki. The injuries have never really created a big problem for him before, but now he’s out, and Jacob Saylors, Jabari Small, and Kye Robichaux are all showing up on offense and special teams, and that is exactly what Vaki can’t afford right now. It feels like when he gets back, he might not jump right back into the pecking order he was in before.
It’s Christian Mahogany’s job
At this point, I think it’s fair to call it a day on the left guard battle. Mahogany has looked good out there and has played virtually every first-team rep. Miles Frazier still has a lot of value to him, but that value seems to be more as a do-all guy off the bench than anything else.
Now, when Scruggs comes back from his minor injury, he’s likely to be going right into that center spot, and his days of getting left guard reps are probably over.
D.J. Reed getting some running in
Lions head coach Dan Campbell reiterated again that he didn’t think Reed’s groin injury was serious. We got to see him running off to the side with trainers on Monday. He was in uniform and wearing a helmet.
It was turnover day in Allen Park
Dan Jackson had a beautiful diving interception on Luke Altmyer early in the day. After that, Chuck Clark picked off Jared Goff in the end zone off a tipped pass. Clark would later tip a pass himself as Nick Whiteside picked it off. Lastly, Christian Izien picked off Altmyer.
Red Zone drill moments
- Roger McCreary had tight coverage on Amon-Ra St. Brown to stop a touchdown
- Joe Bachie had a PBU in the end zone
- Jahmyr Gibbs ran for a touchdown
- St. Brown had a touchdown
- Brock Wright beat White pretty good and well in the end zone for a touchdown
- Erick Hunter laid the absolute wood on Jackson Meeks, and maybe if it were in a game, it would have at least been reviewed as a forced fumble
- Newcomer Ben Stille had a really nice goal line stop on Jabari Small
- Ahmed Hassanein puked in the end zone. Yes, you read that right
- Luike Altmyer had a read option touchdown run.
- Jacob Saylors got in for a TD
Speaking of Altmyer
It wasn’t his best day. I wrote earlier in the day that I haven’t put his name in my notebook a lot. On Monday, I did. But not for a lot of good reasons. He did have a really nice throw on the run to Cedrick Wilson, but outside of that, there were multiple turnovers and not a lot of big positive plays. It’s not over for him by any means. That’s not the point here. It’s just moved him farther from the QB2 spot. Which was already kind of a long shot.
Easiest two-minute drill ever
The scenario was less than two minutes left with all three timeouts on their own 48, up 23-20.
- First-and-10: Loss of one yard on a Jacob Saylors run
- Second-and-11: 53-yard pass to Jameson Williams
- Third-and-1: Victory formation
Emptying the notebook
- Khalil Dorsey is still good at gunner
- Faith in Ennis Rakestraw feels like it’s fading more and more
- Greg Dortch and Saylors handled most of the kick returner duties. Looks like that might be the pair.
- Rock Ya-Sin had a really nice run stop on Jahmyr Gibbs.
- Tate Ratledge had a really nice run block where he sprung Small for an extra 5-8 yards, and it felt like something to call out.
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