The Detroit Lions welcomed 2,600 season ticket holders to their fourth day of 2024 training camp and the energy in Allen Park was impressive. From the moment players gravitated over towards the fans, the cheers were as loud, and they remained for the majority of the day.
The Lions continue to get healthier and were able to return both Jahmyr Gibbs and Marcus Davenport to full participation, leaving only three players not participating at practice. DJ Reader remains on the PUP list, Christian Mahogany is still working through an illness, while Brian Branch is only working during walkthroughs and individual drills, but is still being held out of team drills.
Players are ready for pads to come on
Another camp practice and another day with a few scuffles after the play, as the intensity continues to rise. During the first set of 11-on-11s, the physicality started to ramp up and eventually, the smack talk began. After one play, Kalif Raymond and Ifeatu Melifonwu shared some words, at the same time Jameson Williams and Kerby Joseph also jawed at each other, eventually boiling over into some mild pushing and shoving. A minor skirmish in the grand scheme of things, as evidenced by Penei Sewell jokingly jumping on the pile and lightening the mood.
After some breakout sessions of one-on-one drills, the team held another 11-on-11 session, and things heated up much quicker. On a screen play to Shane Zylstra, Dan Skipper found himself downfield executing a block on Derrick Barnes and a few players ended up on the grass. It’s not entirely clear what was happening while the players were on the ground but something triggered a response from Alex Anzalone, who quickly entered the fray.
“Everybody thought I was at the bottom of the pile, but I did my thing and slithered out,” Barnes told the media following practice. “And when I went back, everybody was like, ‘Did you see Alex?’ and I was like, that’s my dawg, man. I tell everybody, that’s my Day 1, Alex is my best friend, and I’m telling you, I didn’t have to blink and I knew he was gonna be there. They didn’t even have to tell me and I would have guessed he was gonna be there. That’s my man. That’s how it is, and vice versa, if he got into something, I’d be the first one out there.”
Barnes, who has been in two other skirmishes in the last two days, reiterated this happens in football and the players involved are quick to put things behind them.
“Nobody is in there trying to start a whole brawl, that’s not what it is—mostly it’s people trying to break people up—but if somebody on the other side does something crazy, then somebody else is gonna see it and react. But usually, it’s more of the breaking up. It’s quick, it’s fast, you get it out there and you get back to work.”
Skipper echoed Barnes’ comments that cooler heads quickly prevail and the players are quick to get back to work.
“There is a high level of competition going on right now,” Skipper told the media. “Everyone is giving it everything they’ve got. Sometimes things get carried away a little bit, but at this point, move forward. No hard feelings in any way. We’re out here trying to get better, and that’s all there is to it.”
With the Lions planning on wearing pads on Monday, don’t expect the competition level to decrease after a day off.
Alterations to the depth chart
As we have seen in previous days, certain position battles continue to rotate players through. Nate Sudfeld was back with the second team, pushing Hendon Hooker to the third team. Reserve SAM linebackers Mathieu Betts and James Houston switched spots again, as did nickelbacks Emmanuel Moseley and Amik Robertson.
