ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions held their second practice of training camp during a beautiful Saturday morning at team headquarters. It was the final practice before the pads go on and the hitting ramps up Sunday. Here are some notes.

-- The tight end group will be used differently this year, and there's no getting around that. Eric Ebron and Darren Fells played 87.4 percent of the snaps at the position last year, and neither is in Lions camp. So, yeah, things are changing. But they won't necessarily be worse either. There were people in this building who were beaming about Michael Roberts last year, and it's easy to see why. After spending a year acclimating to the NFL and this system, plus stepping out from the shadow of Ebron, he's really coming into his own. He turned in a strong spring, then caught another touchdown pass Saturday over Tavon Wilson. You're going to see a lot of him this year, especially in the red zone. And if practice is any indication, Luke Willson is going to be out there a lot too. This was a good practice for the tight ends from top to bottom, with even Levine Toiolo and even Marcus Lucas scoring too.

-- After beginning camp without Ezekiel Ansah (PUP), LB Devon Kennard (NFI) and DE Cornelius Washington (NFI), the Lions lost CB Nevin Lawson and S Tracy Walker on Day 2. WR Marvin Jones also couldn't finish practice after sustaining an injury to his left leg, but he says he's fine and there's no reason to believe otherwise. Expect to see him back soon, perhaps as soon as Sunday.

-- Jake Rudock and Matt Cassel continue to alternate the quarterback reps behind Matthew Stafford. Cassel's experience in the league -- 13 years of it -- is a natural advantage, but don't write off Rudock either. He knows this system, he knows Stafford, and there's something to be said for his athleticism too. He extended several plays with his feet on Saturday, including finding Deontez Alexander for a nifty little score along the right sideline on one. That touchdown probably wouldn't have happened with Cassel under center.

-- DeShawn Shead continued to rep ahead of Teez Tabor at CB2, and had a much better practice than he did on Friday. But I continue to like Tabor a lot. He's been really good while working with the second team. I was particularly impressed with how he handled Kenny Golladay during red-zone drills Saturday. That's where Golladay shines the most because of that big frame, and he used it to score a couple times on Day 1, including against Darius Slay. But Tabor is a more physical player than Slay, and was able to use it to body-up against Golladay and disrupt the route.

-- One notable player working with the starting defense is Alex Barrett. Acquired as an undrafted rookie last year, Barrett made the team out of camp before finishing the year on the practice squad. But with Ezekiel Ansah and Devon Kennard out, he's gotten a ton of run, including with the starters at linebacker on Friday and defensive end on Saturday. Anthony Zettel was the other end, and Kerry Hyder was bumped to the second team.

-- LeGarrette Blount continues to operate as the No. 1 running back. Kerryon Johnson was his batterymate during the spring, but has taken most of his reps with the reserves since the start of camp. Theo Riddick and even Ameer Abdullah worked ahead of him Saturday. It's difficult to judge running backs when there's no contact, so we'll start to get a better feel for this mix when the pads go on for the first time on Sunday.

-- Matt Patricia has begun the first two practices of camp the same way -- with some goal-line drills. "It's such a critical situation of the game," Patricia said, "You gotta perform at a high level, so you really need to build that intelligence and awareness over the next four weeks. So you start at Day 1, you mix in a couple plays, a couple more plays the next day, and just get those guys feeling comfortable."

-- Despite what any coach might have said, it's hard to believe there's any kind of competition for the punter job. Sam Martin is the best punter in team history, and isn't going anywhere as long as he's healthy. And watching how much information he dispensed to backup Ryan Santoso on Saturday while they worked just a few feet from the media offered another reminder of why he's not going anywhere. Santoso does have a big leg, and he launched one ball 80 yards through the air while working on punts out of the back of the end zone. He has a massive leg, there's no doubt about that. But he's also more inconsistent than Martin, and has struck a few balls with the side of his foot.