Time to break out the bricks.
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Yep… we could throw those bricks at glass house types like cow manure pile
I was thinking Mighty Ducks and passing the eggs.
It sounds like Perriman has stone hands… He may not make the season.
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Last week, after OTAs, I noted how much Victor Boldin was standing out. He still had a good practice, but man, Quintez Cephus was the guy that kept catching my eye all day today. Really strong practice for the second-year receiver.
From Eric Schlitt:
The Lions’ practice today was pretty straightforward. Warm-ups, positional drills, one-on-ones, and two sets of 7-on-7’s, with special teams work in between sessions.
Positional drills
I spent the first half of the Lions opening session watching the defense and their whole unit drills had a lot of familiar players taking first-team reps. Jeff Okudah was paired with Amani Oruwariye at outside corner with Mike Ford in the slot, along with Tracy Walker and Will Harris at safety. Collins was inserted back in with the ones next to Alex Anzalone at the linebacker level. It’s still plenty early to make any conclusions about if these players are slotted to be starters, but it is an indicator that the coaches like what they’re seeing from them.
In the last half of positional drills, myself and Jeremy Reisman took advantage of the looser media rules from this coaching staff and made our way over to the offensive linemen. Typically, they practice out of the way, and quite some distance away from the media, but with a wider range of access, we watched them work from roughly 20 yards away.
Without pads, you’re a bit limited with your evaluations, but there is still plenty to learn. I focused on who the players were paired with, which positions players saw reps at, movement off the snap, and hand placement with bag work.
The Lions didn’t run drills as a full five-man unit but instead spent time working in pairs of two (center-guard) and three (tackle-guard-center). The starters remained the same—it was Crosby’s first day back on the field, so it’s too early to say if he will challenge Penei Sewell—but the reserves got work at different spots. If players like Matt Nelson can show he is capable of playing tackle and guard, or if Logan Stenberg can perform at both left and right guard, it’ll go a long way towards them making an impression on coaches.
Even though Sewell admitted it’s “not that easy” switching back to right tackle, he looked plenty comfortable to me and showed both quickness off the snap and pop in his hands when hitting the bags.
One-on-ones
While the linemen continued their work with their position groups during the next session, the skill players on both sides of the ball matched up for some fun one-on-one battles. It’s worth noting that Jared Goff was throwing to the receivers against cornerbacks/safeties, Tim Boyle threw to the running backs against the linebackers/EDGE, and David Blough targeted the tight ends versus the safeties/EDGE.
Because the tight ends versus safeties/EDGE were matching up next where the offensive line was, I stuck around for the first cycle of matchups. T.J. Hockenson and Darren Fells won their matchups, as expected, but the third tight end that continues to show up is Alize Mack, who could be the early front runner for the TE3 spot. We also got to see Julian Okwara drop into coverage and it looked very natural for the edge rusher.
For the second cycle I shifted down to the running backs versus linebackers/EDGE, and I quickly realized this was the place to be for energy level and trash talk. Running backs coach/assistant head coach Duce Staley and linebackers coach Mark DeLeone had a ton of fun banter back and forth showing faith in their players. Staley wasn’t shy about extending the trash-talking to the players as well. This banter is healthy competitive fun that typically involves a lot of laughing and embracing after some witty comments.
As far as the actual players, let’s be frank, I’m not sure I’ve seen a defensive answer for either D’Andre Swift or Jamaal Williams in coverage. They’re both too smooth and too quick in their routes to handle. That’s a great sign for the offense, but also something defensive coaches have to be hoping improves on their side of the ball.
Punting drills
The Lions continue to cycle players through key positions on special teams looking for standouts. C.J. Moore is still the preferred option at the all-important Personel Protector (PP) spot, but the rest of the surrounding blocker spots saw a rotation of players. Potential gunners got some work on a new drill asking them to dip or swim a block at full speed, which really illustrates a players agility—or lack thereof.
While these drills were going on, players new to the field today got some one-on-one coaching time. Collins spent the session working with DeLeone, while outside linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard worked with newly signed Reggie Gilbert.
7-on-7s
We got to witness these take place in both directions, first watching from behind the offense, then behind the defense.
I once again want to place the caveat that it’s still way too early to make any assumptions on who the starters may be, but both sessions opened up with the same five matchups:
- Jeff Okudah vs Tyrell Williams
- Amani Oruwariye vs Breshad Perriman
- Amon-Ra St. Brown vs Mike Ford
- Tracy Walker vs T.J. Hockenson
- D’Andre Swift vs Alex Anzalone
Unlike last week in OTAs when the offense was making plays, today it was the defense’s time to show off. The highlight of the day for the defense had to be the first play of the second session when it produced a Will Harris interception.
Without getting into too much detail, the offensive play was designed to suck up the safety into coverage and slide a receiver in behind to the vacated area. The problem for the offense began at the snap when Okudah jammed up Williams at the line of scrimmage, altering his release and throwing off the timing. By the time Williams broke free, Harris drifted over into the vacated gap and jumped the route for the interception that probably would have gone for six.
This wasn’t the only time we saw the benefits of a split safety look. On another play, Hockenson was matched up with a defensive back in the slot and a quick stab step inside caught the defender leaning hard inside to cover. Hockenson shifted back outside with ease and started to pull away, a look we have seen from this defense far too often in recent years. But this time, with the safety Dean Marlow available, he dropped down to cover Hockenson mid-route, rode him to the sidelines, and the play ended up being incomplete. If this was straight man-coverage, like in the previous system, that’s an easy touchdown.
We also saw several other defensive highlights including pass breakups from rookies CB Ifeatu Melifonwu and LB Tavante Beckett, as well as from vet CB Quinton Dunbar. Safety D’Angelo Amos stood up rookie RB Jermar Jefferson at the goal line, which drew some more playful banter from the trash talkers.
While the defense stood out, the offense did have some highlights. Fullback Jason Cabinda, WR Damion Ratley, and WR Tyrell Williams all had their first touchdowns that I’ve seen in camp, while second-year WR Quintez Cephus caught two touchdowns and continues to look strong.
“I also didn’t see defensive end Austin Bryant anywhere.”
Just cut him right now, seriously.
Maybe that’s why they brought in OLB/pass rusher Reggie Gilbert.
Given the more traditional DE role Bryant played at Clemson, I have a hard time seeing him dropping back in coverage ala Okwara and Flowers.
Excerpt from interview with Brad Holmes:
►Q. You mentioned analytics, and one of the comments that was eye-catching this offseason was running back Jermar Jefferson having the third-fastest GPS game speed for running backs, which ran counter to his 40-yard dash time. Who provides that information?
► A. "Yeah, you know, schools are utilizing GPS a lot more, especially the Power-5 schools. About three or four years ago, we started asking our scouts, when I was with the Rams, to start asking for the GPS data. Because it was kind of new, (schools) were kind of hesitant to give it out. Often schools are like, ‘No one has ever asked for that.’ I think it’s becoming a lot more liberal now, where they’re offering that information, where they’ll say this guy has hit this much on the GPS.
“There are companies that are providing speed analytics outside of GPS. With the Jermar Jefferson stat, that piece of analytic data that we use, that are actually a little more relatable to game speed, even further than GPS, that we’ve been pretty impressed with and we’ll continue to utilize.”
► Q. So you’re contracting with third parties for some of this data?
► A. “Yep. You know, it really hit, I want to say it was with Cooper Kupp.”
► Q. You’re talking about at the Senior Bowl the year he came out?
► A. “Yeah, I think he had the fastest GPS time at the Senior Bowl. And every time you watch Cooper Kupp, you love watching him play football. Again, it goes back to let’s utilize analytics, but let’s not forget about the football. I say it all the time, they’re football players. So every time you watch Cooper Kupp on film, you like him, good football player, but you see him at the Senior Bowl, man, this guy looks explosive, his routes are a different speed than the other guys. Then he goes to the combine and runs a 4.6 whatever, goes to his pro day and runs a 4.6 whatever. But it’s like, OK, when he was actually playing football he was actually playing faster than what that 40 time was. Different players have different reasons why they’re going to have those numbers.”
One of the all-time examples of that was Terrell Suggs. I remember Millen talking about him as a possible No. 2 overall, but then he ran a 4.84 40. Suggs played much faster (and better) than his timed speed.
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No turds–another excerpt from the Brad Holmes interview:
► Q. In previous interviews, you’ve talked about the emphasis you put on intangibles. Beyond a passion for football, what are some other intangibles you’re trying to identify through the scouting process?
► A. "Oh, well it would be leadership — there are so many different types of ways to lead. It’s accountability, dependability. Oftentimes, the way you lead your life off the field will kind of run into how you’ll operate on a team, inside a building. Your teammates are relying on you. You have to be dependable.
"I was just telling someone a story about how I was trying to interview a prospect one time. We were talking about how we were going to approach the interview process and I said, ‘Well, I had to interview this prospect that was a highly touted prospect. I’m trying to text him, go through his agent, and he wouldn’t respond back and he wouldn’t follow up.’ So he showed up late, he didn’t know how to get there and you kind of saw the signs to come. OK, if we acquire this player, as many of the school sources are saying he’s a great kid, I’m seeing something different. He’s coming in and he’s not reliable and he’s struggling to be accountable. When the life skills aspect is not falling into place, we can’t be surprised.
“Some guys, their background might cause a little bit of those struggles. They might have good intentions, a good heart, all that stuff. We take them case-by-case. We don’t put them all in a vacuum, but those are some more intangibles.”
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He’s got a minor injury according, but it is undisclosed. I think there’s a good chance AB gets released at some point cuz the guy just can’t stay healthy and the Lions would save some cap space too, $850k I think. If they need is spot on the 90 for another player, fine. Otherwise, WTF; run with the guy through TC and see how he does. It appears as though the Lions have a lot of guys competing for the same job that he does though.
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I’m no authority on the matter, but I already have him outside of the final 53. I think Harris takes his roster spot as a situational pass-rusher.
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For practical purposes I wouldn’t consider it a cap savings at all. He pretty much makes the minimum cost of replacement for a non-rookie.
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