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Lions second-round pick Ameer Abdullah will be among the players to watch at this weekend's rookie minicamp.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

ALLEN PARK -- It has been only a matter of days since the Detroit Lions put a bow on the NFL draft. And it's already time to get to work.

The Lions open rookie minicamp with a 90-minute practice at 3 p.m. Friday afternoon. They will be back on the field at the same time Saturday afternoon, then wrap things up with an 11 a.m. session Sunday morning.

Here are the top five players I'll be tracking this week as Detroit gets rolling with its newest crop of rookies:

OG Laken Tomlinson: The big fella's debut will headline this weekend's affairs. Tomlinson, a first-round pick, is expected to be a Day 1 starter in Detroit. The talent is there to pull it off, but it'll be interesting to monitor just how polished he is coming out of Duke.

RB Ameer Abudallah: This might have been the most polarizing pick of the Lions' draft, with some preferring Indiana's Tevin Coleman over Abduallah because of the fumbles thing. (Abdullah had 24 in his four seasons with Nebraska, though lost just two as a senior). Abudullah won't be able to escape those comparisons, and has some work to do to win over the fan base. It'll also be interesting to note where he's used on special teams, and how he looks. If he's good enough to win the return jobs, Jeremy Ross could be out in Detroit.

CB Quandre Diggs: The Lions say he plays bigger than his 5-foot-9 frame, and faster than his 4.56-second time in the 40-yard dash. Diggs had better hope so, because he has some work to do to make the team. Bill Bentley, Nevin Lawson and Josh Wilson are already stacked at the nickel. But that group features all kinds of uncertainty, which is why Detroit was interested in taking a flyer on the four-year starter from Texas. Diggs knows how to play, but will his limited athleticism hold up at this level?

Corey Robinson: The Lions are a veteran team with very few starting jobs open. Most of the battles will be for reserve spots. Robinson will engage in one of them, fighting with Cornelius Lucas and Michael Williams for the two reserve tackle jobs. Robinson, at 6-foot-7 and 324 pounds, is built in that Lucas/LaAdrian Waddle mold of a huge offensive lineman who dropped out of the higher rounds. Detroit hopes he turns into something.

Zach Zenner: The Lions have a proud (recent) tradition of finding contributors on the fringe of free agency and the draft. Joique Bell went undrafted. So did LaAdrian Waddle. And Joseph Fauria. Each is an important cog in the offense. Zenner hopes to be the next guy to be discovered by Detroit. The South Dakota State running back was incredibly productive in college (6,548 total yards) and measured in the top 10 of SPARQ scores at his position. (SPARQ measures pure athleticism.) But he faces the usual hurdles for a fringe guy -- he has to prove he can still produce once the competition ratchets up, and he'll have to crack a rotation that is laden with mainstays. Detroit already has Bell, Abdullah and Theo Riddick at the position. His best hope might be to beat out George Winn.

And here's a look at all the known undrafted players whom the Lions have signed for the camp:

OG Al Bond (Memphis)

QB Anthony Boone (Duke)

K Kyle Brindza (Notre Dame)

S Isaiah Johnson (Georgia Tech)

WR Vernon Johnson (Texas A&M University-Commerce)

WR Desmond Lawrence (North Carolina A&T)

TE Casey Pierce (Kent State)

LB Kevin Snyder (Rutgers)

S Brian Suite (Utah State)

RB Rasheed Williams (Alfred State)

OG Torrian Wilson (UCF)

RB Zach Zenner (South Dakota State)



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