Lions News

[chemiclord]

Just poor planning on Campbell's part. Anyone could have told him kneecaps weren't sufficient. Now we have to fight hyenas for juicier morsels.

[Futureshock]

Camp observations: DJ Chark shines in Ford Field scrimmage


With the lights turned on at Ford Field, Detroit Lions wide receiver DJ Chark shined the brightest in the team’s scrimmage.
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Malcolm Rodriguez’s repping with the 1st and 2nd units


Well, it seemed like it was just a matter of time. Less than 10 practices into camp and sixth-round rookie linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez was repping with the first and second teams on Friday.

If you’ve never been to an open practice at Allen Park, the Lions tend to start the day with a walkthrough, followed by team stretching, then individual drills, and finally they spend the majority of practice alternating between team drills and special teams work.

When the team opened the walkthrough portion of Friday, Rodriguez opened the day with first team at the MIKE linebacker spot. That’s quite a promotion for the rookie linebacker, who has mainly been repping with the third string, but one that was definitely deserved.

“We’ve got a rookie linebacker in Rodriguez who—man—with the pads on, he showed up,” Campbell said on Wednesday. “His key and diagnose, and coming downhill, and hitting the way that (defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn) AG and (linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard) Shep want those guys to hit it and playing an aggressive style. But yet, he can play in coverage as well.”

Rodriguez seemed to turn a corner this week, making countless splash plays once the pads came on. While the promotion is certainly warranted, he is still in the developmental process, and as Campbell mentioned on Tuesday, at his size Rodriguez needs to be mistake-free in order to keep himself in plays.

“So, I think the big thing is he can do it, and the size is not an issue as long as everything is perfect every play,” Campbell said. “I mean, that’s the reality of it. As long as you do that and you’re consistent and you’re on top of your – I mean, there’s a number of guys in this league that have played that position and been able to do it that were undersized. So, he’s explosive and he’s fast, and he can key and diagnose, I know that. And we’re early in camp, so we’ll see what happens.”

Consistency is key, and so far, Rodriguez has been incredibly consistent. But asking a rookie to be perfect on every play is a daunting, and honestly, maybe unrealistic task. And because that is such a tall order, needing to be consistently perfect, Rodriguez will probably remain out of the starting lineup for the time being, as he stacks day and gains experience.

But don’t expect him to drop too far down the depth chart. When the Lions moved into team drills, the Lions opted to go back to a starting combination of Alex Anzalone and Chris Board, but Rodriguez still stuck around with the second team, this time switching to the WILL, lining up opposite Derrick Barnes.

It’s still early in camp, but Rodriguez is flirting with the lofty expectations many thought he might reach by the end of training camp. With uncertainty at the position, there will be days Rodriguez drops back to the third team, but if he continues to stack perfect days, it’s going to be hard to not keep him at the top of the group.

[Cody_Russell]

Sounds like Chark is heating up. Good to hear that.

…

Huh, weird. Lions media posted a mic’d up Antwaan Randel El video today that was entertaining. The video was then deleted a few minutes later. Must be because of Hard Knocks or something.
Some fun Randel El + JaMo interactions. Also funny that Randel El was handing out Smarties Candy to people. Reminds me of school.

[jaadam4]

Chark is going to destroy this year and cash in next year.

[Futureshock]

Lions sign OT Kendall Lamm; Zein Obeid becomes 4th Lion to retire

By Jeremy Reisman

[Futureshock]

Detroit Lions plan to play starters for 1 quarter vs. Falcons in preseason opener

By Jeremy Reisman

[Cody_Russell]

Jamaal Williams… oh man.
Awesome Inside the Den episode. Sets things up for Hard Knocks. The full Jamaal Williams speech… don’t think the full speech was revealed until now.

[-Deborah-]

Bring on Hard Knocks!!!

[Futureshock]

Tonight!

[Futureshock]

Dan Campbell on fourth Lions retirement of offseason: The NFL’s not for everybody

Posted by Josh Alper on August 8, 2022, 5:09 PM EDT

Getty Images

The Lions placed tackle Zein Obeid on the reserve/retired list on Monday and that’s become a somewhat frequent transaction for the Lions this offseason.

Defensive tackle John Penisini retired in June and Obeid is the third of the team’s undrafted free agent signings to retire since the start of camp. Wide receiver Corey Sutton and defensive back Jermaine Waller are the others.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell said on Monday that “you would have never guessed something like this” would happen with three of the players when asked about evaluating how much the retired group loved the game of football. He added that he thought General Manager Brad Holmes did a good job of assessing that and didn’t draw any lines to connect the moves to anything in particular with the team.

“I know why you’re asking it, I mean, because it is the obvious,” Campbell said, via Kyle Meinke of MLive.com. “But I just feel like it’s, you know, everybody’s different. [The NFL’s] not for everybody. Not everything is easy about it, and it’s not just about football. I wish [Obeid] the best of luck. He’s a great kid. He was a grinder. He worked. On with the next endeavor.”

The Lions filled Obeid’s roster spot by signing veteran Kendall Lamm to compete for work behind Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell.

[Futureshock]

Dan Campbell would like starters to play “maybe a quarter” in preseason opener

Posted by Myles Simmons on August 8, 2022, 4:00 PM EDT

Getty Images

The Lions will host the Falcons for the first matchup of the preseason and it sounds like there will be notable players on the field for both sides.

Detroit head coach Dan Campbell told reporters in his Monday press conference that he’s planning to play the team’s starters.

“I talked to [Falcons head coach] Arthur Smith. I know they’re playing their starters early in this game,” Campbell said. “And I had already thought that was the way to go, too. So I’d like to get our starters some reps in this game — maybe a quarter. Because, again, you just can’t mimic game speed and game intensity. The only way to get ready for a season is to simulate that intensity.

“But at the same time, I want to be smart, too. And so we’re going to meet as a staff tomorrow night, really go through this, talk about it. But my intentions are to do that right now.”

Both the Lions and Falcons have second-year coaches who would like their teams to make significant improvements from Year One to Year Two. They’ll get that process started with Friday night’s matchup in Detroit.

[Futureshock]

Training camp Day 11 observations: WRs continue dominance

By Jeremy Reisman

[Cody_Russell]

Friendly reminder of where you can go to subscribe for Lions Hard Knocks:

HBO Max -

https://www.hbomax.com/?utm_id=sa%7C71700000067030777%7C58700006926526610%7Cp62287911527&gbraid=0AAAAADfTTRHDmssXRGADGpepXUVymsGFn&gbraid=0AAAAADfTTRHDmssXRGADGpepXUVymsGFn&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIs5WTkYi6-QIV0dSzCh0r_QDOEAAYASAAEgLDGPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I was just reading about all of the technical updates to HBO Max in the last year. Updates rolled out in time for “House of the Dragon.” Can confirm that the platform is much better than it used to be... Especially if comparing to “HBO To Go” from 2 years ago.

Episode 1 drops at 10pm Eastern tonight. So excited.

[kdk2002]

Should the Lions be interested in Roquan Smith? They have an extra #1, but do they have cap space? He sure fits a need.

[chemiclord]

I suspect the Lions value LB about as much as anyone else right now.

The Lions most likely are going to hold onto that extra 1 in case they need to move up for a QB.