Allen Park — Here are some quick notes from Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell’s Friday press conference.
Taking a swing
It had been previously reported that the Lions had checked in on Joey Porter Jr. before the Pittsburgh Steelers traded the cornerback to the Dallas Cowboys for a future second-round pick.
On Friday, Campbell confirmed it.
“Yeah, (general manager) Brad (Holmes), he's been on for a while,” Campbell said. “That's been ongoing and everything's got to align right, you know? The Cowboys did what they wanted to do, but we were very much in on it.”
After missing out on Porter, Campbell was asked if the Lions are still on the hunt for secondary help.
“Just like any year, man, it's nonstop,” Campbell said. “Brad's constantly looking to upgrade his roster to every position. If we can find somebody that feels like it fits us and can help us, and the value's right, we will.”
The NFL’s trade deadline is Tuesday, Nov. 10, a 4 p.m. That falls just before the team’s matchup with the New England Patriots in Munich.
Impending return
Before training camp, there was optimism Brian Branch could return to practice in early September, putting him in line for a debut later that month. Instead, the safety remained on the physically unable to perform list to begin the year and has yet to practice, despite being eligible to take the field last week.
Timetables understandably change, particularly with long-term injuries. It would make sense that the team wants to make sure his leg is close to as full strength as possible after last year’s Achilles tear.
That said, Branch has been much more visible when the locker room has been opened to the media in recent days. That’s far from an official sign his return is imminent, but it is something we’ve seen before with players coming back from long-term injuries.
Asked for an updated timetable, Campbell was vague, but still provided optimism.
“He’s close,” Campbell said. “Yeah, he’s close. He’s ready to go. I’m tired of listening to him. He’s putting in a ton of work and he looks really good. He’s close.”
After this week’s game against Carolina, the Lions head out for a road trip to Arizona. It’s possible the early bye week impacted the Lions approach to Branch’s schedule and we could see a return to practice coming out of the break.
Defensive debut
Rookie linebacker Jimmy Rolder made his pro debut last week, logging 15 snaps, all on special teams. He even had a key block on one of the team’s long kickoff returns.
In addition to the special teams role, Rolder also took defensive reps in practice for the first time since suffering a hamstring injury in training camp that sidelined him for several weeks.
Asked how close Rolder is to seeing defensive work in a game, Campbell suggested it could be as early as Sunday night against the Panthers.
“We got one sample size of him, and that looked good on special teams,” Campbell said. “Is that here to stay? Do you continue to get better? We'd like to mix him in at times, if we could this game, on defense. We'll see where that's at.”
Presently, the weakside linebacking reps are being split between Malcolm Rodriguez and Trevor Nowaske, who took on and thrived in a bigger role a week ago.
“I’m tired of listening to him.”
Do you interpret this as Dan saying BB keeps proclaiming he’s ready to go and should start practicing already?
I’d love to see him practice next week, rest during the bye, practice the following week, then be active for the game. Same for Mays.
There are better ‘gets’ and the lions will get one