ALLEN PARK -- If last week was any indication, there will be a couple players notably absent from the first units when the Detroit Lions begin their second wave of OTAs on Tuesday.

Tight end Eric Ebron and linebacker Kyle Van Noy, the team's top two draft picks.

General manager Martin Mayhew is confident he added three immediate starters in the NFL draft, and Ebron and Van Noy are expected to be among them. But neither is being handed a thing during the preliminary stages of the team's offseason program.

"You got to expect it," Ebron said after Wednesday's practice. "You got to work your way to the top. It's a part of the system. You probably weren't a third-string player since Pop Warner football, but now you just got to work your way to the top.

"Ain't nothin' big."

Ebron is expected to start this season and receive a bulk of his time in the slot. But he's taking his preliminary reps behind Brandon Pettigrew and Joseph Fauria, Detroit's top two tight ends from last season.

The former North Carolina star seems to have embraced the steep expectations he will face this season, but also understands his place as a rookie -- even conducting this interview while holding Pettigrew's helmet, a traditional rite of passage in the NFL.

Pettigrew, entering his sixth year with the Lions, is helping Ebron to adapt.

"(Pettigrew) is not one of those stuck-up guys that believes a rookie's a rookie. He'll try to help you because he needs help too," Ebron said. "Just helping me line up, get things right, playbook, all that stuff."

Van Noy also did not practice with the first team during Wednesday's workout, instead slotting in behind Ashlee Palmer at strong-side linebacker. The second-rounder out of BYU is expected to eventually win that job.

But Coach Jim Caldwell warned not to read too much into which players were with which units at this early stage.

"One of the things you'll notice about this, we did rotate in quite a few groups," he said. "It should be looked at more as a rep chart than a depth chart. It doesn't matter when you see them coming in. Don't make any assumptions that that's the role he's going to play for us.

"But it gives the guys an opportunity when a guy's not there, whatever the numbers are, to get a few more reps. Reps are priceless at this time of year because they are just few and far between. You only get so many of these practice opportunities. The more you get, the better opportunity you have."