Campbell recap: Decker practicing, Hooker starting, Arnold injury update and Manu's preseason performance

Allen Park — Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell met with the media for the first time since the team’s preseason opener. Here are the takeaways from that Sunday morning conversation.

Wellness check

There were a few, largely positive injury updates ahead of Sunday’s practice, starting with the return of starting left tackle Taylor Decker.

Decker had an offseason cleanup procedure performed on his shoulder, and Campbell had set the recovery timeline for early August at the start of camp. With no setbacks, the veteran offensive lineman was back on the practice field for the team's first session following the Hall of Fame game.

Entering his 10th season, Decker is being reacclimated slowly. With the team in full pads on Sunday, he only participated in individual drills during his first day of on-field work.

As for Decker’s replacement at left tackle to open camp, Dan Skipper will be out approximately a week with the ankle injury he suffered Thursday against the Chargers.

The other injury from that contest wasn’t nearly as significant, despite how bad it looked live. Tight end Kenny Yeboah wasn’t out there on Sunday for personal reasons, but he's expected back for Monday evening’s practice.

Finally, cornerback Terrion Arnold remained sidelined with the hamstring strain he suffered early last week. Still, Campbell confirmed it wasn’t serious. The team is hopeful to have the second-year cornerback back at practice mid-week.

Righting the ship

Developmental prospect Giovanni Manu replaced Skipper in the second quarter of the Hall of Fame game, showcasing some of his year-to-year improvement from rookie to sophomore season.

Campbell noted the outing was a pleasant surprise from an otherwise dismal performance from the team.

“It was better,” Campbell said. “That’s the best way to say it. The beginning of camp has probably been more downs than ups, and then the game was more encouraging. And actually, I will say this, I thought his last practice before this game was better. I do feel an uptick here. Now, you just have to build off of that. Always going to be things to work on, but it was better.”

Talking to reporters after practice, Manu seemed surprised by Campbell’s praise. The young offensive lineman was harder on himself, proving that players live up to the cliche that they’re often their own harshest critics.

Manu, a fourth-round pick in 2024, has primarily been repping as the second-team left tackle behind Skipper during camp. On Sunday, Manu saw a little more action on the right side, still with the second group.

Changing places

After starting Kyle Allen at quarterback in the preseason opener, it will be Hendon Hooker’s turn against the Falcons on Friday.

“Yes, I see Hooker starting this first half versus Atlanta, and then Kyle will take the back half,” Campbell said.

Both quarterbacks struggled against the Chargers, with Allen turning it over twice and Hooker unable to move the offense with four second-half possessions before ending his night with an interception.

“It goes without saying, they’re frustrated with the way that went,” Campbell said. “They both want to improve and get better, and they will.”

Hole in the evaluation process

The beauty of joint practices is teams can be purposeful with each day’s script to get the specific evaluations they need. In a preseason, you’re left more to the game’s flow.

I asked Campbell if there was anything they hoped to see going into the Hall of Fame game, but didn’t, for one reason or another. After quipping he’d have liked to see more first downs from the offense, Campbell noted they’d like more opportunities to see how the offense operates inside the 20-yard line.

“If anything, you’d like to have felt like you got down in the red zone a little, more offensively, and gotten some of those reps,” Campbell said. “I mean, defensively I felt like we got a little bit of everything, probably minus a good two-minute drive. Everything else, we pretty much saw defensively. Offensively, you like to see — just to get down there in that red zone a little bit more. And that requires not turning the ball over, as we know, converting on first downs, but that would be the big thing. Whereas joint practices, you know you’re going to get those. You’re going to get plenty of your base reps, red zones, third downs, all of those.”

Intent of schedule change

The Lions have consistently run their early camp practices at 8:30 a.m. On Monday, they’ll switch it up, getting their work in at 6:30 p.m. Here’s what Campbell had to say about the schedule change.

“We do this once a year, we do this night practice,” Campbell said. “I just know I always liked it as a player. It was a good changeup. It just kind of breaks the monotony of camp a little bit. And then it’s, as to what our schedule has been over the last two to three years, you don’t know when you’re playing. You’re playing in the afternoon, you’re playing at night, you’re playing five days away, four days away, six days, seven across. So, it’s just how do we mix up things a little bit and get them used to a little bit of the chaos in a good way.”

A different look

I'm not going to get too much into the topic, because I plan on expanding on it later after talking to the player. However, Campbell noted the team has liked how veteran cornerback Rock-Ya Sin has fit in during his first camp with the team. So much so that they’re looking to expand his usage and versatility.

“There are a number of things he can do,” Campbell said. “We’d like to start working him at some safety, too.”

Less than an hour later, Ya-Sin was taking his first safety reps of camp. No, scratch that. They were his first safety reps since high school.