Summer Camp/Training Camp

[Blkbrd671]

ICE

I read on DFP that Fairley,young, Reiff all look phenomenal in prac. Can you give us your own assessment? haven't heard anything about Leshoure?

Also

Read A. smith see's himself as the best DB in the group, his only problem is , is avoiding the tendency to start roaming instead of sticking to the scheme. is he the best DB? how do our rookies look?

[Icness]

Sorry I've been away for quite a bit, including a week in Michigan. Here's what I got from the OTAs:

Titus Young was the best offensive player on the field. His route precision and footwork have both dramatically improved, and he played with great passion and effort every single rep. He was by all accounts a model teammate and has gotten the message about his act, which wore thin on those at Boise when he was there too.

Reiff looked good but remember this was light contact and mostly no contact. He clearly has quicker feet and a more effective punch than Cherilus. The impression I got, and some of this is me reading between some lines, is that Backus and Cherilus will be the starters again but Reiff will play a lot more than most #3 tackles and will be starting in 2013. Gosder is really on the spot and the team wants him to play out his contract year and see if he can keep building on his strong finish to last season. If he plays well again, he and Reiff will start in 2013 and Backus will be gone, but if Gosder regresses then he's the odd man out.

Jason Fox has probably blown any chance of cracking the lineup by being unable to participate once again. The patience with him is pretty much over. Too bad because he has some skill, but staying healthy is clearly not one of them.

Kevin Smith looks good, cutting at full speed and able to drive with his legs well. The team feels better about its RB situation than what outsiders do. I will reiterate my Senior Bowl conversation with Jim Schwartz where he gushed about Mikel Leshoure and how integral his addition to the offense will be this year. After his suspension, of course.

The impression I got about Best is that the team is hopeful he can contribute but is not counting on him as anything other than a 3rd down back, if at all.

Doug Hogue turned heads by his growth. He has grown at least an inch in height and added about 15 pounds of well-worn muscle, but he still has his quickness. The team is very confident in his ability to replace Bobby Carpenter and the nickel LB job is his to lose. He is ahead of Tahir Whitehead though the rookie showed he can blitz a little and isn't lost in coverage. I initially thought they would be fighting for the same roster spot but it sure sounds like both are keepers and will be the reserve LBs this year.

The only UDFA that has any shot of making the team is Alonzo Lawrence, and he could wind up starting opposite Delmas if he keeps it up. Speivey is still hurt and the team is losing patience there too. More likely that Lawrence sticks as the #4 safety and plays a lot of special teams. John Wendling supposedly looked good but that's third-hand info out of me.

The quote I got on Kellen Moore from an offensive teammate: "he will get our receivers killed waiting for the ball to get there." The coaches unanimously like his character and attitude and he will probably make the practice squad, but they are more grooming him for coaching in the way the Browns did with Ken Dorsey a few years back. Stafford and Hill will be the only QBs on the roster, period.

Broyles is still not medically cleared and it sounds like he will start the year on PUP. They do not want to rush him back at all. One coach I exchanged texts with says Broyles has already learned the offense, which is a very good sign even if he can't contribute right away. Consider the Jarrett Dillard signing stopgap insurance and nothing more, though I do really like the signing.

Bentley is almost certain to be the starting nickel back, and given the schedule that means he's ostensibly a starter. The coaches love his aggression and attack mentality and he did very well in film breakdown. The lack of contact in camp hides his biggest weaknesses though (tackling and fighting thru traffic) so don't get too excited just yet.

Greenwood was looking solid before he tweaked his leg. He's a guy capable of making the acrobatic INT and he showed he can turn and run with anyone in coverage. He's still guessing and reacting too much but the coaches like what they see and he's a hard worker. They are working with him to shorten his stride when he's changing direction and teaching him how to read the receiver and understand the situation and what is likely to happen. Sure sounds like practice squad to me, but if he makes an impression on special teams he will absolutely beat out Smith or Speivey for a roster spot.

Green is freakishly fast but even rawer in coverage and not at all fluid when having to change direction. Do not be surprised if he's cut before the final cuts.

As the Avril contract situation continues to drag, watch for a strong year from Willie Young. My take on Avril's situation: he is going to play the year under the franchise tag, but the team will use him less frequently and hope that Young and Jackson can more than capably cover it, then Avril goes away next summer in a move both parties would welcome. Just my guess though.

[ajaX82]

^ Great stuff Ice, thanks. I'm especially pleased with the progress of Titus Young...that passing game should be unstoppable

[TSE]

Yeah great read produced by Ice. I also heard that Calvin Johnson is stronger and faster than ever before. 6,000 yards? lol

[Icness]

Update: the Lions released Lawrence in order to sign Dontrell Johnson, who was cut by JAX. Johnson is a corner but more pertinently to the Lions, he's a punt returner. Lawrence did not impress on special teams and that hurt him in a logjam at safety. They released him as a favor to his agent so he can latch on somewhere else quickly and get a better shot. Ironically JAX has already expressed interest. Lawrence could still wind up back in DET if Silva or Carey (now exclusively a safety and also a former Jaguar) get hurt or lose favor. Silva's special teams work probably keeps him safer but not a given.

Johnson has to beat out Logan and Patrick Edwards for the return gig and it seems like an uphill battle. Honestly I don't know much about his corner skills but he's small at 5'9 and 178 and played at a low-level FCS school. I love Edwards' speed and fearlessness as a receiver but he's incredibly frail looking and has had loads of injury issues already. He's the same height but about 5 pounds lighter than Johnson, built like a high school JV point guard.

Also, the team signed RJ Archer to copete with Moore for the #3 QB job. Not sure what to make of that infojust yet other than sending a message to Moore to not get too comfortable.

[Icness]

Sorry this is a clumsy split from the other thread, but the summer camp and preseason deserve their own thread.

[Blkbrd671]

Thanks ICE. love reading your assessments, makes me excited and weary at the same time.

didn't see you mention Fairley. i know you don't particularly care for him

[ajaX82]

I renamed the thread to make this the training camp thread. Post anything you are hearing about our guys. Vets report the 26th and rooks should already be there.

Football is so close!

[ajaX82]

Camp opened today. We signed two CBs: Justin Miller (hasn't played football in a bit, not very exciting) and Drew Coleman (more exciting)

Reiff's deal was about 4 years for 8 mill. Not too shabby

Johnny Culbreath gone, Jonathon Scott back for OL depth

[motorcity15]

I read somewhere that Justin Miller was in better shape now than he's ever been in his pro career. Anyone know how true this is?

[ajaX82]

Apparently our FB, James Bryant, was doing work during practice today. Opened some big holes. A good FB would be really nice for the run game

Other notes gleaned from writers:

Suh dominated, Willie Young looking good
John Wendling pick-6
Donahue punting well
Cunningham still an angry old man

[ajaX82]

Some other gathered notes from camp:

Bentley looks good
Kellen Moore winning battle for QB3
Stafford and Megatron already in sync and deadly

[Lionlifer]

didn't the Freep or Mlive run an article about how Titus has been a monster in camp? I have high hopes for him this season, should be able to put up some real good numbers with the D keying in on CJ.

[ajaX82]

More notes for those not actively hunting them down:

Willie Young doing great. Had a pick-6 which was pretty wild apparently
Avril back with the team; good to have him
Backup LBs getting high praise. Whitehead and T. Lewis have apparently been very good
Lacey looking good, Jonte Green showing potential

[Icness]

Delmas had knee surgery today. They're playing it quiet but it sounds like it was a minor thing to clean up scar tissue and make sure the last surgery took properly. Best case is he's out for a month and plays in the opener. Worst case is it was more than an easy scope and he's out at least 8 weeks.

[Blkbrd671]

Anyone that watched the first preseason game give me a idea of how it went and how our team looked. particularily corners and rb's.


Also , why don't we have any interest in Cedric benson?

[TSE]

Anyone that watched the first preseason game give me a idea of how it went and how our team looked. particularily corners and rb's.


Also , why don't we have any interest in Cedric benson?

We don't have the cap space to afford him or anybody else because we have a done a terrible job every single year in managing contracts, plus we have a larger quantity of RBs than probably any team in the NFL. Our problem at RB is the lack of smaller numbers of high quality players, and Benson isn't that high of a quality so I don't see how he would add anything special.

For our CBs/RBs in the game well Bentley looked pretty good. He was active and aggressive out there, he made tons of mistakes and shown off a lot of his flaws pretty well, but he did bring excitement to the defense and show that he isn't afraid to attack to try and create turnovers. Jonte Green looked pretty terrible from a skill and instinct standpoint, but he showed fantastic athleticism and has a lot of raw talent. Joique Bell had a good first game and he might be worth a roster spot if we could figure out a way to trade away some bodies so we don't have to cut guys and get nothing out of them.

For other defensive positions, our DEs all looked good. I'm so glad we picked up Everette Brown for nothing or he would have been a guy that I would have chastised Mayhew all season long for not picking up like when he missed out on Blount and another 100 good football players we could have on our team in place of losers. Ronnell Lewis and he had a really strong showing. I think I see why they call Ronnell "The Hammer".

Whitehead cost us a TD because he has intelligence and instinct problems. He surrendered his responsibility to provide extra QB contain when other guys were handling the QB contain. He ended up doing nothing productive on the play whatsoever and only opened up the TD chance by going out of his way to do something stupid. He would have been more effective by brainlessly not thinking at all than to go with his strategy. Our coaches have shown for many years now that CBs and LBs are amongst our toughest groups to coach up so all we can do is hope that Whitehead finds his way. I saw a tremendous amount of sloppy positioning, movement, and tactics by our Secondary and LB groups all day long. Carmen Messina had a couple of decent moments but he'll never make it in this league without a lot of coaching help and direction. It's the same set of problems that we have always had in those areas, otherwise our team would dominate the crap out of everybody. We have too much talent but not enough guidance and it could be a long season of frustration by again not getting the most out of our players in those groups.

[Blkbrd671]

Despite overtures from the Lions and Raiders, Cedric Benson opted to sign with the Packers.

"Both teams that needed backs," Benson said of his decision. "They talk about a Super Bowl around here, not about winning their first playoff game."

Benson insists he has a lot left to give the Packers despite carrying the ball more than 1,500 times over the past seven NFL seasons.

"I think I've got plenty," he said. "I still feel good. I'm still loose, I diet well and I train well and do the best I can to contribute to the longevity of my career as best I know how. And I think I've got plenty of years left. I feel great."

Read more: http://football.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ ... z23X5UKgBc

i can't wait for the meeting. hope suh dismantles him

[Blkbrd671]

According to nfl insider , detroit wasn't interested

"But La Canfora indicated that his off-field issues (four arrests since 2008), his age and number of carries (1,529 attempts) were all concerns for the Lions"

[Blkbrd671]

Anyone have any insider news on MJD? and if lions are interested.