Lions minicamp notebook: Day 2 sees the defense rise again
The second session of the Detroit Lions minicamp took a familiar theme from the first day and ran wild with it. For the second practice in a row, the defense emphatically outplayed the offense, from the first team through the bottom of the roster.
It was even more pronounced on Wednesday, largely because the offense simply wasn’t as sharp as it was during Tuesday’s practice. Other than a couple of noteworthy exceptions, the defense dominated their offensive counterparts on the hazy, breezy afternoon in Allen Park.
Here’s the notebook from Wednesday’s session of Lions minicamp. There is one more day left on Thursday.
OL depth issues
Even though the players are not padded, there is some contact in blocking drills. Think flag football level of contact on the lines, but with a little more intensity and urgency.
On Wednesday, the offensive line depth effectively threw up the white flag against the Detroit defense. It was not a fair fight and it favored Aaron Glenn’s defense.
With center Frank Ragnow, right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai and left tackle Taylor Decker all sitting out the team drills, the Lions tested out the offensive line depth. The result of the depth stress test was not pretty.
The interior wasn’t great. Ross Pierschbacher as the first-team center fared okay. Graham Glasgow as the right guard was rough. There was a great example on one outside run play. DT Alim McNeill lined up on Glasgow’s inside shoulder. Yet McNeill burst to his outside and beat Glasgow to the point of attack around Glasgow’s outside shoulder in less than three steps. It was simultaneously an impressive display by McNeill but also one of several examples of Glasgow just not having the agility that Big V has at guard.
As troubling as that was, the tackle play was abysmal. Matt Nelson was a slow-footed turnstile at first-team left tackle. The depth behind him at both right and left tackle was largely worse. The defense got free runs (notably James Houston getting to the QB untouched twice in three reps) at the quarterbacks several times because the tackles lacked the athleticism to get outside and stop the rush. Even starting right tackle Penei Sewell had some issues, getting badly beaten around the outside by Aidan Hutchinson for a “sack” (no contact on the QB allowed) and losing inside leverage on a couple other rushes to No. 97.
Again, it’s not padded. That can only help the linemen who are more built for power (notably rookie Colby Sorsdal and guard Logan Stenberg). It had better, or else the Lions could have a big problem if any of the starters on the offensive line go down. Ben Johnson’s offense with Jared Goff running it will not work so well without a great line.
Playmaking defense
Aaron Glenn wants his defense to make plays. Mission accomplished on Wednesday.
There were several pass breakups, including at least three passe swatted down at the line (two from Jared Goff, one from Nate Sudfeld). Safety Kerby Joseph snagged an easy interception on a deep Goff pass that hung up too long. Undrafted rookie Brandon Joseph picked off Sudfeld on a similar pass concept later in practice, a play which Kerby Joseph sprinted onto the field to celebrate with his namesake (but unrelated) safety.
Late in the session, another UDFA, CB Starling Thomas, intercepted a pass a little too easily for the offensive coaching’s liking. Kerby Joseph nearly got another pick, knifing in front of Amon-Ra St. Brown to get a breakup on a Goff pass that was rushed to avoid a sack. Undrafted rookie Steven Gilmore and CB Jarren Williams — who saw quite a few 2nd-team reps — also made nice plays with the ball in the air in drills.
Surprise standout: Jameson Williams
It shouldn’t be a surprise when the No. 12 overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft is the best player on the field, but that hadn’t yet been the case for Jameson Williams. He was just that on Wednesday.
His performance moved me enough to shoot a quick video about it:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/drySt5VvdfQ
After finishing the team drills of Tuesday’s practice on an upswing, Jamo carried it over into the next day. Stacking positives is a very welcome sign of progress for the young Williams. So was him being the last offensive player to come off the outdoor fields.
Levi Onwuzurike update
Third-year DL Levvi Onwuzurike took part in positional drills on Wednesday. He’s still not cleared for team drills as he recovers from fusion surgery in his back, but he looked noticeably more limber today during stretching than he did a week ago.
I recorded a quick clip of Onwuzurike going through a drill. He’s No. 91, the second player in the rep here. No. 52 is Christian Covington, who continues to get first-team reps at nose tackle.
That’s the most movement we’ve seen from Onwuzurike since he left on the very first play of training camp last summer with his latest back injury.
Quick hits
–During positional drills, LB coach Kelvin Sheppard presided over a drill designed to keep the LBs and slots from overpursuing responsibilities in the run game.
–The Eastern Michigan Eagles coaching staff was in attendance as guests of the Lions. They saw undrafted rookie WR Dylan Drummond impress in individual drills. The EMU wideout continues to show polished routes, solid hands and twitchy athleticism.
–Through OTAs and the first day of minicamp, there was some thought that UDFA Adrian Martinez might be able to challenge Nate Sudfeld for the No. 2 QB spot while third-round pick Hendon Hooker recovers from December ACL surgery. Anyone who watched Martinez routinely hold the ball too long and throw inaccurately any time he faced even token pressure would no longer hold that opinion.
Sudfeld wasn’t great, but he looked better on Wednesday than Tuesday. Aside from a grounder to a wide open Tom Kennedy in the end zone, Sudfeld got the ball out largely catchable and cleanly, and generally on time.
–Veteran EDGE Romeo Okwara talked with reporters after practice and noted that he’s feeling more explosive and confident in his surgically repaired Achilles. It shows; No. 95 looks good.
–There was no kicking competition during today’s practice. Like, none. The specialist spent a good portion of practice working out of sight in the adjacent indoor practice facility.
–Ifeatu Melifonwu filled in for C.J. Gardner-Johnson (undisclosed absence) as a starting safety. In my notebook, I put plusses and minuses by players for good/bad plays. No. 6 was the only defensive player with more minuses (5) than plusses (2) from the practice.
–In positional drills, seventh-round rookie WR Antoine Green snagged a couple of over-the-shoulder deep passes and impressed adjusting on another deep outside throw that floated out of bounds in the breeze. He got a finger on it but couldn’t secure the catch unless he ran both feet out of bounds. He’s fast, folks.
