Lions camp observations: Gibbs in uniform, Hassanein continues hot start, rep chart gets adjusted for injuries
Allen Park — Here are some notes and observations from the Detroit Lions’ Thursday morning training camp practice.
● The huge news from the day was the unexpected appearance of running back Jahmyr Gibbs in uniform.
Not surprisingly, Gibbs was held out of any of the individual drills or full-team reps, only going through a short workout with a trainer off to the side. However, his presence is strongly indicative that we’re on the cusp of an extension announcement for the superstar.
Prior to his workout with the trainer, Gibbs chatted with teammates and was walked to his place in the stretch line by coach Dan Campbell, who threw his arm around the player as they walked.
Gibbs didn’t stop for questions as he exited the field after practice, but gave a thumbs up to a reporter who asked him if a deal was close.
● Several players were held out of practice, two exited to be evaluated for injury and several others were in and out of the lineup do to dehydration/cramping during the hot and humid morning.
Allen Park — Here are some notes and observations from the Detroit Lions’ Thursday morning training camp practice.
● The huge news from the day was the unexpected appearance of running back Jahmyr Gibbs in uniform.
Not surprisingly, Gibbs was held out of any of the individual drills or full-team reps, only going through a short workout with a trainer off to the side. However, his presence is strongly indicative that we’re on the cusp of an extension announcement for the superstar.
Prior to his workout with the trainer, Gibbs chatted with teammates and was walked to his place in the stretch line by coach Dan Campbell, who threw his arm around the player as they walked.
Gibbs didn’t stop for questions as he exited the field after practice, but gave a thumbs up to a reporter who asked him if a deal was close.
● Several players were held out of practice, two exited to be evaluated for injury and several others were in and out of the lineup do to dehydration/cramping during the hot and humid morning.
Not practicing on Thursday were quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, cornerback DJ Reed, linebackers Jimmy Rolder (hamstring) and Malcolm Rodriguez (ankle), running backs Isiah Pacheco and Sione Vaki (broken nose), offensive lineman Juice Scruggs and defensive end Payton Turner (back).
During practice, defensive tackle Mekhi Wingo left to get looked at for a groin injury, while defensive back De’Shawn Rucker exited with an ankle injury.
Defensive tackle Tyler Lacy also went inside early. With no injury report provided by the team, this was likely a cramping situation.
● Detroit did two waves of one-on-one work. I focused on the offensive and defensive line for both segments, with the first set mostly involving backups and young players.
Here are some quick notes from that work:
— The offensive line dominated most of the early set of reps. The defender who really caught my eye was Ahmed Hassanein, who bulled offensive tackle Blake Miller into the pocket and bent the edge around Colby Sorsdal.
Rookie Tyre West also picked up a couple of wins working against Mason Miller, while Skyer Gill-Howard split his reps, getting pancaked by Melvin Priestly before ripping past Miles Frazier.
In the second set, Hassanein stayed hot, getting the best of Miller and Frazier.
— Offensively, center Seth McLaughlin stood out in the early set, shutting down a trio of rush efforts. I couldn’t get an ID on the first defender, but reps two and three came against Aidan Keanaaina and West.
— Priestly continues to catch my eye in these individual reps. In the first set, he shut down Gill-Howard three times, then held up West twice during the back half of the drill work.
— Christian Mahogany also continues to shine, and it was a good day to do it with Scruggs sitting this practice out. Mahogany stymied Alim McNeill and Myles Adams during the first segment, then got the best of Levi Onwuzurike and Adams during the second batch of one-on-ones.
— Penei Sewell and Aidan Hutchinson matched up just once with the offensive tackle winning the matchup. Similarly, Tyleik Williams only worked against center Cade Mays one time, but this pairing went to the defender, who bulled his blocker deep into the pocket.
— DJ Wonnum and Miller had a competitive rep, with the rookie mirroring Wonnum’s initial and counter moves before losing his balance late as the defender spun inside.
— Tate Ratledge scored a pair of quality wins, first against Alim McNeill and another against Gill-Howard.
— Onwuzurike bounced back from his early loss to Mahogany to dismantle the blocks of Frazier and McLaughlin.
● In full-team work, a ton of veterans seemed to be on pitch counts, leading to opportunities further up the depth chart for players who otherwise hadn’t been getting them.
For example, the first 11-on-11 snap saw Devin White and Levi Onwuzurike lining up for the defense and Jacob Saylors in the backfield for the offense.
Gill-Howard and Hassanein saw first-team work later in the day, while quarterback Luke Altmyer got a ton of run, leading both the second- and third offenses with Bridgewater out.
● There were a string of run plays to open the full-team work with White filling the lane twice, including a tackle for a loss. Jack Campbell and Damone Clark also had quality stops.
● Once the pass game was introduced, the defense continued to have a good start. Derrick Barnes and Gill-Howard combined on a run stop at the line, Avonte Maddox fired around the right side on a blitz for a sack, and Campbell had a pass bounce off his helmet because he was in such tight coverage on tight end Brock Wright.
With the second team, Hassanein was in the backfield for would-be sacks on consecutive plays. The first can be credited to the coverage as he and Eric O’Neil crushed the pocket while Altmyer searched for an open man.
However, on the second, Hassanein absolutely blew up Larry Borom. The veteran offensive tackle also gave up pressure to Anthony Lucas a few snaps later, leading to Chris Smith knocking down Altmyer’s throw at the line of scrimmage.
● Flipping back to the first team, the offense appeared to get back on track with a screen to LaPorta, but it was called back by an unidentified player lining up in the neutral zone. Still, it’s worth noting how quickly Mays fired across the field to deliver a punishing block to Rock Ya-Sin on the perimeter.
After a misfire from quarterback Jared Goff to Brock Wright, running back Jabari Small had a nice run behind a Ratledge block, followed by a long throw from Goff to St. Brown, who came wide open on a slot wheel route after his defender was picked by Isaac TeSlaa.
● Yesterday, I wrote that Tom Kennedy was off to an unusually sluggish start. I’m confident he didn’t read that commentary, but he played like he had. The veteran receiver, pushing for the No. 5 job, regularly got open and had several completions on Thursday, including a post pattern win from the slot while working against rookie Keith Abney.
● Cornerback Roger McCreary struggled on Thursday, extending a disappointing overall start to camp. He got beat on a hitch by Kennedy, cooked deep by Malik Cunningham and surrendered a touchdown to Dominic Lovett in red-zone work later in the day.
Opening camp as the favorite for the starting nickel job, McCreary has surrendered pole position. Right now, Christian Izien and Ennis Rakestraw appear to be on a better track to win that fole.
● The hit of the day belonged to safety Loren Strickland, who popped running back Kye Robichaux just after the ball arrived on a swing pass, dislodging it for an incompletion.
● In the red-zone segment, the starting offense found the end zone multiple times, including twice on the ground. Saylors ran behind a pulling block from Mahogany and juked past Rakestraw to get the corner around the right edge for a 5-yard score.
That was followed by a 4-yard scoring run for Small, running behind Ratledge, once again.
And the top offensive grouping finished their set with a well-placed fade to Jameson Williams, who came down with it in the back corner of the end zone, despite physical coverage from Rock Ya-Sin.
The second-team got inside the 10-yard line after tight end Jackson Meeks caught a short throw and picked up some quality yardage after the catch with a stiff arm against Khalil Dorsey.
However, an end-around to Greg Dortch was stuffed, Abney took away a corner shot to Kennedy and a screen to Kennedy went nowhere, thanks to Izien snuffing it out.
After the chains were reset, recently signed running back Raheem Blackshear scored on a left-side run behind Devin Cochran and Priestly from 5 yards out, followed by Lovett’s grab against McCreary.
The final snap of the segment, intended for tight end Thomas Gordon, was knocked away by a diving Dan Jackson at the goal line.
● Kicker Jake Bates was a little shaky after a great day on Tuesday. Bates attempted eight field goals and missed two, sending a 48-yarder wide left and 39-yard effort wide right.
● Practice closed with situational work between the second-team offense and defense. Down one, the offense was tasked with scoring and killing as much of the 3:30 remaining as possible.
However, the defense made easy work of things after the situation-starting punt was downed at the 6-yard line. After securing a quick first down, Frazier moved early on first-and-10, then Hassanein broke through for a sack off a stunt on 2-and-15, accidentally running over Altmyer in the process.
Resetting things for the offense after that badly botched sequence, Altmyer got things going with six consecutive completions, including a post to Kennedy and an 18-yard corner to Gordon. After a pair of Robichaux runs to drain the clock, Bates capped the day with a 41-yard “game-winner.”