ALLEN PARK -- Lions cornerback Teez Tabor just might be facing a make-or-break year in Detroit.

Big things were expected from the second-round pick. More than two years later, the Detroit Lions are still waiting to get anything from him at all. He barely played during a rough rookie season in 2017, then struggled mightily when injuries thrust him into a starting role last season. He eventually lost that job -- to an undrafted rookie, no less -- and finished the year by allowing a perfect passer rating on balls thrown his way.

With new blood aboard in corners like Rashaan Melvin, Justin Coleman and rookie fifth-round pick Amani Oruwariye, Tabor is in for a fight just to make this roster, let alone capture an actual role on Sundays.

That fight is off to a promising start. With Darius Slay skipping Organized Team Activities, Tabor has received extensive action with the first team during OTAs. He’s played well, too. On Day 1, he was pictured on the team’s website intercepting a pass. When practice was opened to reporters on Day 2, he did it again, stepping in front of a Connor Cook pass.

On Thursday, he read a Matthew Stafford pass to Danny Amendola on a comeback route, and was able to get a hand on the ball for a terrific pass breakup.

It would be easy for Tabor to puff his chest when asked about plays like that. Most would this time of year, too. How often do you see stories about guys who are practicing well in the offseason? You see them all the time, right? But Tabor refused to bite, time and time again after practice on Thursday.

“I really don’t know yet," he said, when asked if he felt like he was practicing well. "We haven’t played yet, and I haven’t made any plays in this league yet. So it’s hard for me to say anything.”

I haven’t made any plays in this league?

Folks in Florida wouldn’t recognize this guy. Tabor was a big player down there, and a big talker too. This is the guy who told anyone who doubted him after he ran a slow 40-yard dash that they should “press play, watch the tape.” He said it so many times, his own mother made up shirts with the slogan and handed them out on draft day.

But after two years of eating humble pie, Tabor has changed. He knows he hasn’t been nearly good enough. That’ll happen when you allow 22 catches on 27 targets for a season and get buried on the end of the bench. Had he played enough snaps to qualify for ProFootballFocus’ position grades last year, Tabor would have ranked dead last among 113 cornerbacks. Among the 196 players who saw the field for at least a single snap, only one earned a worse grade.

He was really bad.

So, yeah. Tabor doesn’t care about getting good press in May. He doesn’t care about looking good or sounding good or talking or just about anything at all. He just wants this drama to end. The only thing that matters to him is getting better, and he’ll listen to anyone willing to help him do it.

“I became more coachable,” Tabor said. "That’s one thing (I’ll say). I just sat back and took it all in last year, and said, ‘Man, I just got to become more coachable.’ They all know exactly what they’re talking about. I’m the student, they’re the teacher. I got to learn from them. I’ve been trying to become more coachable. I’ve been sitting down and taking in all the information they’re giving me.”

That includes his coaches in Allen Park. That also includes working with Troy Jones, who is remaking Tabor’s body at a South Florida gym called Fitspeed. And it also includes toeing the line with Chad Ochocinco and going head to head with the longtime NFL star.

“Oh man, that’s my guy,” Tabor said." Ochocinco, man, he’s still competitive to this day. He be still trying to line up and get some releases, so I had to give him a little work. He’s still quick, he’s still kind of got it."

Has Tabor seen results from those sessions? Are they one of the reasons he’s practiced well back in Detroit?

“I don’t know yet,” Tabor said. “It’s still early. Only OTAs. Like I said, I still haven’t made a play yet in this league. I’m just trying to get better with these reps I’m getting.”

There’s that new Tabor again.

Listen, it’s still May. Everyone’s in shorts. No one’s hitting. They won’t strap on shoulder pads for another seven weeks. So there’s just no telling how this works out. Maybe Tabor makes the team, and finally rewards Bob Quinn’s continued faith in him. Maybe he gets burned again, and this soap opera comes to an end.

But we can say this definitively: For a guy whose career has come to a crossroads, he’s saying and doing all the right things. He’s making the plays that are in front of him. And that’s as promising a start as any.