No one was happier to see Damon Harrison report for work Wednesday than Jarrad Davis.

Davis, the Detroit Lions' starting middle linebacker, was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the October trade that brought Harrison to Detroit last season. He posted five of his six highest tackle totals of the season with Harrison in the lineup and routinely had cleaner looks at ball carriers once the big nose tackle started causing havoc in the middle.

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"It’s complete mayhem in front of me, to be honest with you," Davis said. "It’s a massacre and it’s like, I just got to go in and get an elbow in there and get a finger on the ball carrier because he just swallows them up."

Harrison skipped offseason workouts as part of a contract dispute, but both he and cornerback Darius Slay – who also stayed away from the team this spring – showed up Wednesday as Lions players reported for training camp.

"Everybody’s here so we’ve had a good morning, good start," defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni said.

The Lions hold their first practice of camp Thursday, and both Davis and Slay are expected to take part.

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Davis said having both players in camp is a "huge morale boost" for the team, and that practicing with Harrison in particular should be a major help for the defense this fall.

"Being able to have a whole offseason with him and really see what it’s truly like to play behind him in practice and get those reps and see like, 'Hey, this is where he’s going to be, this is where I need to be,' it’ll help us play a lot faster," Davis said.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Read more on the Detroit Lions and sign up for our Lions newsletter.