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Lions running back Theo Riddick was back in uniform Wednesday after missing two practices with an undisclosed injury.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

ALLEN PARK -- After taking Tuesday off, their first rest day since opening camp last week, the Detroit Lions returned to the practice field Wednesday -- and did so under the lights. Here are some thoughts from the late-night practice.

* "He's getting better," coach Jim Caldwell said before practice. "I mean he's coming along, and you'll see a little bit more activity out of him." He was talking about Theo Riddick, and he was right. Riddick was back in pads tonight, after missing the last two practices with an undisclosed injury. He didn't do much during team drills, so it seems he still has some restrictions -- a notion he denied -- but either way getting him back so quickly is great news for Detroit.

Riddick said after practice he expects to play in next week's preseason opener against the Steelers -- "We all do" -- but Caldwell also won't push him into action if there's any kind of lingering effects from the injury.

* Tight end Eric Ebron had a bit of an injury scare after colliding with Rafael Bush. He went down to the ground, and was slow to get up while favoring his left leg. He was able to walk off the injury after returning to the sideline, though, and was back in a few plays later. Detroit really can't afford to have this guy hurt, with Brandon Pettigrew out as well while working his way back from a torn ACL.

* Haloti Ngata was a full practice participant after being held out of one-on-ones and most team stuff on Monday. No worries there.

* Nevin Lawson has had some good days of practice. This one was not his best. He was burned a couple times, and also obviously interfered with Golden Tate in the end zone with no time showing on the clock during a 2-minute drill. Given the extra play, Matthew Stafford came to the line of scrimmage, checked into a QB draw and scored a touchdown.

* It sounded like a redemptive practice for the offensive line, with guys like Laken Tomlinson and Larry Warford getting some badly needed wins in one-on-ones, but I regrettably didn't catch it while checking in on the Ebron injury. Look for an update elsewhere, because getting some improvement out of that unit would be about the best news possible for this team. And especially Matthew Stafford.

* One battle I did catch was defensive tackle Stefan Charles against rookie center Graham Glasgow -- a battle that was won easily by Charles. He's strung together a couple good practices now, though it's hard to say whether he's really looking that good, or if he's just taking advantage of leaky play from those reserves on the interior.

As I've mentioned previously, I really like what I've been seeing out of Khyri Thornton too. Detroit might have some real depth at that position, with Haloti Ngata and especially Tyrunn Walker looking filthy on the top line, plus guys like Thornton and Charles winning consistently behind them. For as much as Caraun Reid has improved over the past year or two, he better be careful. There's a ton of competition right now -- and that's not even including A'Shawn Robinson, the prized second-rounder. This could very well be Detroit's deepest position group.

* One name you don't see listed there: Gabe Wright. And there's a reason for that. He was a fourth-round pick just a year ago, but could have a really tough time making this team with so many veterans signed this offseason (Ngata, Walker, Charles, Thornton), plus the selection of Robinson in the draft. And he's not helping himself. Wright hasn't been very good in one-on-ones, and was blocked into the ground by undrafted rookie free agent Chase Farris on Wednesday.

* I wrote earlier today that rookie defensive lineman Anthony Zettel hasn't done much in camp. Well he did something Wednesday night -- and it wasn't very good. He got stoned by tackle Corey Robinson during one-on-ones, which is troubling on two fronts: Robinson has been among Detroit's worst offensive linemen since joining the club as a seventh-round pick last year, and he was also going through his first padded workout since last year. He had been on PUP with an injury.

* LONG SNAPPER ALERT! Jimmy Landes and Don Muhlbach rotated the snapper duties during the field-goal portion of practice. This concludes your long-snapper update for the day.

* The starting field-goal unit appeared to be: Eric Ebron, Cornelius Lucas, Riley Reiff, Larry Warford, Laken Tomlinson, Gabe Ikard, Travis Swanson and Taylor Decker, with Landes/Muhlbach at long snapper.

* The starting field-goal coverage unit appeared to be: Rafael Bush, Kyle Van Noy, Haloti Ngata, Tyrunn Walker, Ezekiel Ansah, Devin Taylor, Jon Bostic, Glover Quin, Darius Slay and Tahir Whitehead. (Plus one guy I didn't catch. Hey, it was dark out!)

* Rookie Jay Lee is impressive, and if the Lions go young with their final spot at receiver, he's one of the top candidates for the job. But he didn't help himself today by dropping two passes.