

Finally, I have gotten to see a Lions practice this year. I went Friday, and got absolutely drenched by a huge and sudden downpour. Aggravating because I remember thinking what a beautiful day it was as I got out of my car, and I was as wet as I have ever been a half hour later. Today, it was sunny and pretty humid, but a good day for a summer practice. When I was waiting in line to get in Friday, President Rod Wood wandered thru the line introducing himself, I spoke briefly with him before he went for a TV interview. I thought it was an impressive touch, him meeting all of us fans.

When I arrived today, the players were already on the field, kickers kicking and some walk thru warm ups by the other players. But in watching the FG kickers, and both were pounding the ball straight and high, I was watching the long snappers. The contrast between the Muhldozer and the rookie Landes was huge. Muhlbach is WAY bigger, snaps the ball with obvious higher velocity, and every snap for the last couple years has been fine. No idea why they wasted a pick on a long snapper, other than being a draft pick he is no where near the athlete that Muhlbach is. I have always been awed by Muhlbach's arm, too. He could throw the ball an easy 20-25 yards farther than Landes (they were catching punts and throwing them back later in practice). There is no way if they go on talent only that we switch snappers, it's not close at all.

Special Teams

The first drill I watched was a special teams drill, where 2 blockers tried to keep a gunner from gaining any advantage. Most of the time the gunner would go OB, and their job was to keep him from gaining any advantage as he came back in bounds. After a couple guys went, one player stood out on the next rep as the very obvious best gunner, not a contest. Tenacious, strong, very good, but I couldn't see his number but it was Johnson Bademosi. He seemed like he might be on the bubble to me looking at the roster, but after today I assure you he is making the team. Best STer by far, and took first-team corner reps some, mostly second-team reps though. Clearly a lock for the team though. Lions fans are gonna like him. Alex Carter was repeatedly whipped in this drill, no way I see him on the outside like that as a blocker. He was terrible. Another player who really stood out in this drill was UDFA Charles Washington, who ate Carter alive every time he got against him. Carter looked like a rookie all day, which he is. But he was terrible on ST. Crezdon Butler also stood out on ST drills I thought. After a while, the team broke off into position drills, and I will go over each group, defense first.

Defense

I watched the DBs first, so I will start there. At safety, Glover Quin is a pretty big guy, with a very powerful lower body. The player who surprised me with his size, not tall but powerful and big, was 31 Rafael Bush. He was the first-team safety most of the time, with Tavon Wilson getting a few reps too. But right now, Bush seems way ahead in this battle. Miles Killebrew looked pretty lost out there at times today, I really don't see him starting early on. He isn't ready at all yet. I also thought he would look better in the ST drills, but just average, not awful like Carter, but not what I hoped to see. But it is very early in camp. Isaiah Johnson stood out in the agility drills, I am a big fan of his. I see him as a player, great ball skills, mobility, and bigger than most of the other DBs. I don't see anyone after the top five as a threat to make the roster. At CB, Darius Slay got beat twice deep, not his best day, details later. Nevin Lawson was okay, but also got beat badly once, I will go over those plays in the WR report. Right now, Carter is not ready. No way he is going to start without others getting hurt. He just isn't impressive at all yet. I hope next time I see improvement, because right now he sucks. Period. Bademosi looks like a player to me, and Quandre Diggs was all over the place, best CB today easily. Diggs is not tall, but he is really built. An UDFA from Ohio U, who I had heard about some named Ian Wells, was very unimpressive today, especially in ST drills, almost shied away from contact a couple times. Don't see him on the PS either. Darrin Walls, who I have never heard of, and Crezdon Butler each had a decent practice and could be sleepers.

At LB, DeAndre Levy did not practice, but I did see him pretty close up. Looked great, no wraps or braces that I saw, very fit. He will be fine, I think. The last two years, the award for best physique on the Lions easily went to James Ihedigbo. But he is gone, and the obvious winner this year is Tahir Whitehead. An unbelievable physique! A rock, hard to believe humans can be that ripped. And today, he seemed to be the defensive leader. But in years past, Stephen Tulloch was the obvious leader in practice, he is a great practice player. Travis Lewis was also a great practice player. But right now, I think that leader on defense is still being searched for, Tully's job has not been procured by anyone yet. That was disappointing. The starters at LB were Whitehead, Kyle Van Noy and Jon Bostic. Bostic made some plays today, best LB today, and I would say another lock for the team. I've seen some having him on the bubble, but I don't think so after today. Van Noy did nothing of note today, but he at least wasn't burned constantly in pass defense. I don't see it with him yet though. Khaseem Greene had one nice play I saw, and Josh Bynes made a couple nice plays. I didn't even notice rookie Antwione Williams, he certainly didn't stand out.

Even though this was a padded practice, the players did very little hitting. And the linemen one-on-ones were very far away from me, so hard to judge. The best two plays I saw any d-lineman make were both made by Tyrunn Walker. I did look out there once in the distance and say to myself, who is 91? He's huge and quick. It's A'Shawn Robinson, who I watched strictly on the next play, and he made a great play talking a ball carrier. He looks really good. I did not even notice Caraun Reid or Stefan Charles. At DE, I didn't notice anything of note from any of them. They really weren't pass rushing with fervor today, so it was more about conditioning there. Devin Taylor and Ziggy Ansah both look very fit and ready though.

Offense

On the offense, we will start with the O-Line. Decker took every first team rep at left tackle, looked solid to me, and I would say he is already the starter. Riley Reiff also looked really good to me. The defense threw a couple blitzes at the O-Line today, mostly edge blitzes, and the tackle picked them up easily. Had to like that. Cornelius Lucas was the backup left tackle. Larry Warford and Laken Tomlinson were the starters at guard, rookie John Dahl played only guard that I saw. At Center, Travis Swanson and Gabe Ikard split first-team reps. Graham Glasgow was strictly second-team. Ikard is a real sleeper in this camp, and could win the starting center position. I am not positive Swanson makes the team if Ikard is the starter, and that could happen. But without much contact in the 11-on-11 drills today, hard to judge these guys. But Ikard is being given a real chance to win that job, seems obvious.

At QB, as always Matthew Stafford was amazing! What an arm, so accurate in practice, ball never touches that ground when he is in. He seems better every time I see him. Jake Rudock, I was watching his arm strength very closely, and I thought his arm and Dan Orlovsky's arm were about equal in drills. But Rudock was HORRIBLE in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11. He is way behind, and no way they promote him to the second team in this camp. Not close at all. Could get better, but has to. Dan-o was pretty good today, best practice I have ever seen him play. But the drop off from Stafford is so big, really can't describe it. But we are going to have another season of Dan-o at backup QB. I would not keep Rudock off of this practice, but it is early and I expect him to make the team.

At RB, Ameer Abdullah was incredibly quick today. Early in the practice they had punt returners going, and all of them were AA or a receiver, about 5 receivers trying out. AA was the best by far. But I could see Jeremy Kerley doing the punt returning early on. Very quick. AA would've scored 3 or 4 longer TDs today, but he was wearing a no hit jersey. But he is amazing at field level, our best back easily. Theo Riddick did not practice. Zach Zenner, I thought, had a great practice. He is very elusive. Stevan Ridley is a much bigger back than I thought, our biggest and strongest back, so I see him on the team. He was pretty good today, but I see him as what we hoped Joique Bell would be last year. George Winn I see having no chance to make this team without injuries, and rookie seventh rounder Dwayne Washington had a couple runs but didn't really impress today. I only noticed one play all day where the Lions used a FB. I could see Michael Burton getting cut or traded, Cooter is not the fan of the FB that JoeLo was. But we know he is a solid player, so they may find him a role. He might have to compete with Ridley for the power back role.

That brings us to the receivers, who were as a group the obvious stars today. Golden Tate, Marvin Jones, and Eric Ebron were all outstanding, star performances. Tate was uncoverable all day, and showed off his amazing quickness really burning Lawson for what would've been a long TD after a 10-15 yard out pass. Ebron was great today, making one really amazing one-handed catch on a ball thought he had no prayer to even touch. Snagged it one-handed: best play of the day. And Marvin Jones looked awesome! He torched Darius Slay twice for long TDs, he is really gifted, much more so than I thought when they signed him. This is easily the deepest group of WRs that I have ever seen in a camp. Anquan Boldin looks like he has played with Stafford for 10 years, he is a great addition. One play, I couldn't see who it was, but I thought who is that quick tall guy that made that out cut. An incredible pattern, got wide open on a very short pass, maybe five yards, but a double move. Much quicker than I expected, much much quicker. This is a much better signing than I originally thought, after seeing him today. Really good player. Jones, Tate, Boldin, Ebron, and AA or Riddick will be a very tough team to defend. Maybe the best part of our WR group is how deep it is. TJ Jones, who didn't do much today, Andre Caldwell, Jeremy Kerley, and Andre Roberts all made nice plays today. The Lions are much deeper now than ever since I have been going to practices. The top guys look so good, that the three pretty talented rookies have little chance to make this team. Jay Lee didn't do much today either, but you can see his talent. Quinshad Davis had a nice deep pass for a TD, and 5-foot-9 Jace Billingsley looked really good also. Very quick, but I see PS for 2 of these 3 guys at best. Too deep all of a sudden. We lost a superstar, but have really done a nice job of assembling a deep group of receivers. At TE, Ebron looks awesome, very fit. Great day for him. He did drop one very difficult one, but made a few great plays. 82 Matthew Mulligan looks like a blocker to me. A lot has been made about Cole Wick. Seeing him live, he makes Joe Fauria look quick. Good hands, got open today, but lumbering is being kind. I could see the Lions only keeping two TEs, maybe use Bolden as a receiving TE sometimes, and then activating Pettigrew after six games. Unless BP gets healthy sooner.

Not sure if I will get to another practice or not, I probably will. The promo from the rainout day is going to get rerun, I would go then if I can. I'm sure I missed a couple things, ask if you have questions.