Dan Campbell Camp Day 17 Press Event

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Dan Campbell Camp Day 17 Press Event 08/25/26

Dan Campbell kicked off his Day 17 by going strright to questions.

Injury Summary

• New/Updates:

  • Kerby Joseph - Still away from team after leaving to handle personal matter. Cambell said he is doing well, but last true update on knee is that it will linger into the season on same timeline as Branch.

  • Damone Clark - Campbell said that Clark is done indefinitely with his undisclosed injury.

  • Thomas Harper - Dealing with Ankle injury, likely missing another week

• No Changes/Updates:

  • Branch - Potentially Early September

  • Peyton Turner - Has not practiced all camp despite a "minor" stiff back

  • Giovani Manu - Added to NFI/Injury List due to previously undisclosed injury form offseason

  • Cade Mays - Mays is sidelined for 8-10 weeks with fractured Wrist (Target Week 5)

  • Mekhi Wingo - Concussion protocol

  • Isiah Pacheco - MCL Strain - Target Week 1 return

  • Sam LaPorta took a shot to the hip in the night practice, and it flared up. Hope to have him for Week 1

  • Jimmy Rolder will NOT be ready by the time camp ends (four more practices) and may linger into the season.

  • Ben Bartch is in concussion protocol

• Transactions

  • Placed RB Raheem Blackshear and WR Cedrick Wilson on Reserve/Injured and signed DB Jason Taylor and RB Roydell Williams.

  • Lions signed OL Gus Hartwig and placed Damone Clark on Reserve/Injured.

  • Had RB Kareem Hunt in for a visit

Quick Hitters

• Updated injuries of Harper, Clark and Kerby Joseph

• Talked through the balance needed to get the team ready for New Orleans while still identifying the last of the roster guys and competition on the back end of position groups.

• Likes the new jerseys, saw them a couple years ago and hasn't seen them since Campbell is a big black and grey guy...

• The O-Line and D-Line are the most up in the air right now with identifying the final roster spots. Campbell was lamenting the amount of talent they have on DLine and some of those guys won't be here

• Campbell also casually said that there may be Lions backups not on the roster currently.

• Was asked about Ben Stille and mentioned what a great job he has been doing and how versatile he was, also saying that versatility is key and there was a comparison to former Lion DLineman John Comminsky and how versatile he was.

• Campbell said he gave Gill-Howard the "Sun Bleach" nickname on day one when he saw his frosted tips.

• There was some back and forth about potentially drafting smaller D-Lineman due to moving to more of a nickel-based system, but Campbell didn't really give a straightforward answer other than to say they draft and play the best players.

• Nickel role is still a competition between Izien, McCreary and Abney, and will not neccesarrily be a single-player role but be based on the needs of the defense who is out there. Campbell also tossed out Whiteside if he makes the team as an option.

• Campbell didn't want to wade into the NFL cut back to College issue that is going on other than say that he hates to see guys who are invested in and likely will continue to get invested in go back and start over. But understands where they are coming from. His response indicated that he is surprised that is where we are at today.

Dan Campbell Press Event Transcript

• Opening Statement: How's everybody doing? Good. Questions.

• Um, couple injury questions. Uh, Thomas Harper missed the game in the practice before and then we haven't seen Damone Clark on the practice field for quite some time. Um, is he may be close to getting back out there? No, Demone will be he's he is done indefinitely. So, um, this injury took place. Shoot, man. three weeks ago, I guess, two weeks ago. Um so unfortunately, um it's significant enough to where he he'll be out definitely. And then um Harper has an ankle, you know, it's just how fast uh could he be ready this weekend? I think it's unlikely, but you never know, you know.

  So, what is sort of the goal to accomplish this week? You got to kind of get the starters ready, but then there's still a few, you know, jobs on the line, I guess, for some of the back end guys. How do you balance those two? Tricky. It is tricky, but I do think number one, the focus is on getting this team prepared to play the season and us to be the best version of ourselves. That's number one. Number two is we still have spots available on this roster that we're going to need to fill with guys that are here right now that we think have an opportunity, but we don't know who that is. So, there are there are real spots still available. Um and with that not just spots those guys could be playing for a significant time. Okay. he is roster and there's a chance if he makes his roster he's going to play for us a few snaps a game or he's you know what I mean? So that that's important too. That's kind of the next step in this. So, um so you have to balance a little bit of that. But ultimately um I also know you know I'm really I'm trying to get this team ready for New Orleans um physically um you know mentally, emotionally, all of those things. We're not diving into them yet. We're not game playing, but I just know we have to start um working on us a little bit here to get ourselves sharpened up.

• A lot of excitement with the new jerseys released. What's your early thoughts on them? I know y'all won't wear them in week eight, but Yeah, I think uh I like them. I mean, I think they look pretty good. I mean, I saw them two years ago. I haven't seen them since. Are they out? I um it Yeah, I like them, you know. I mean, to me, uh, I think they look good. I think our guys will like them. You know, anything's a little bit unique. I kind of like the gray grayish. You guys know me. I like black. I like gray. I like um So, I think it looks good, man. Those helmets are always uh pretty cool. So,

• You mentioned uh roster spots and starting spots. What are some of the positions that have the most room for moving and shaking over the this last week? It's a good question. Um, man, look, the Dline room is um that one is I mean that can go anyway right now. It really can. I mean, there's a number of guys in there. The hard thing is you can't keep all those guys. You just can't. Not without uh it hurting the rest of your roster. And there's some good players in there. And uh there's some veterans, there's some young guys, there's raw talent, there's but there's things in there uh that you really like. And that thing is up in the air right now in a number of spots. Um that's probably the most significant. um you know back into the O-line uh is always going to be up and that there might not even I say that there's a chance that player's not even here yet either. So it's not just here, it's also with the other 31 teams. Uh that's a competition right now with somebody that might not even be in the building. Um those are big receivers still back into that receiver room is still pretty big right now. So look, there's still spots available. There's it it's interesting. The D line room is the most interesting. It's just top to bottom. There's a ton of good players in there. We feel like

• Specifically to that group, Dan. Um guy that joined midstream and just seems to kind of be steadily climbing the rep chart. Uh Ben Stille. Uh what have you liked about him and you know, where does his I guess chances still fall in this thing? He's a pro. Uh smart, you know, really smart. He's got versatility. Strong. uh very strong. He can shed blocks, you know, shock shed, make plays, kind of knows himself, you know, knows what he is, knows his own limitations and can play fast enough to cover up for some of those, but that's what's the intrigue with him is the versatility, man. He can play some big end. We think he can play the nose certainly and then three if you needed it. So, um, the more you can do and the more that you can prove you can do, it's that that is always going to help your case.

• Yeah. Does he remind you of Commish (John Cominsky) at all just in his demeanor and versatility on the defensive line? I would say that's fair. He's um I think that's fair. I think he's a much more and believe me, Commish was a jacked up this guy's even more he's more suited inside out. Kamish was a little more three big end that could swing on some other things, but there the versatility is real. Uh we feel like when you just kind of watch it and what they're able to do and I think that's a that's a fair comparison of the versatility

• Since Will mentioned Commish. Can we just uh drill down on the Sun Bleach nickname? Was that you that came up with that? How did that one come about? Well, that was just first day he showed up in camp. I just saw the golden tips and I said, "Oh, the sun bleached it, huh?" And uh so he's been sun bleach ever since. He's done a good job, man. Kids worked his tail off and just keeps getting better and better. All those guys do.

• You give a player a nickname, not just you, but whoever. Like that's sort of endearing, right? I mean, any of those guys. Commish, right? A guy. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I would say so. I mean, I don't give nicknames. I don't like you. But that doesn't mean that if you didn't get a nickname that I'm not I don't like this guy. You're just freaking whatever. Bart. Uh so but yeah, you know, I like to have a good time.

• The defense migrating more towards nickel. How did that change the kind of defensive tackle? Well, you wanted you wanted it. See, obviously it see you drafted uh Gil Howard. He's a little bit smaller than the typical guys that you've had before. I mean like Reader and Lopez. Here's what I would say. We always try to do the best we can with this and Brad does an unbelievable job. You know, he does every year he has every year. And I mean, as a matter of fact, he's grinding right now. I mean, the guy is just he's a grinder. He's a grinder. I mean, he is going to watch everything he can over any and every player. And he is not going to recommend or say something about a player that does not he has not seen, you know. Um, but I think with that, to answer your question, um, man, who are the best players, the most impactful players we think that have a shot to come in here and compete? Okay, Gill-Howard is one of those people, right? Just like Wingo was a couple of years ago and uh certainly Mac and Levi and we got Lacy last year and we can

  keep going. Chris Smith. All right. Yeah, Nickel. But ultimately, Shep's done a good job. Just like Drew, man, what is our best personnel group? Who are the best players? And let's ask them to do what they do well. Now, they're going to have to do some of the things maybe they don't do as well, but they're not going to major in that. Somebody else can do some of those things. And so, we will we're going to find the best personnel for us and that's what we'll play in too. So, not only roster, but look, yeah, nickel, we'd like to, but if we're not suited for nickel right now because of whatever an injury or this, man, we'll play base. We'll play it the whole game. We'll play dime. We'll play dollar. We'll play we're going to put the best guys out there that we think give us a chance. So, we're not handcuffed by that.

• But I mean, as far as like with the nickel though, I mean, do you have to play, you know, stylistically a little different like with the defensive line because, you know Not necessarily because we can package those guys and it doesn't mean that an offense can't, okay, hey, that's a lighter group. We're going to run the ball. Well, yeah, we somebody's going to run it. They should. We would do that to people, too. But, uh, they're not going to make a living of that. And if they do those things, then something that might not suit you. You got to be able to, you know, you got to hold your own. You got to hold your own at times. So, um, am I answering your question?

• We'll package those guys. Profile player, you know, for a defensive line, does it change a little bit because you want maybe the players to shoot the gaps more? No, no, no. We don't shoot gaps. Yeah, we we don't shoot gaps here. Now, rush is different. You tell me at second long we can pin our ears back or and we can get some keys. Yeah, rush. But we don't we don't shoot gaps, man. We're not doing that now. We'll we'll by pressure we move, but then we get back in the gaps, stuff like that. We're Yeah, we're a different scheme than some of the stuff that, you know, other teams run. That's just us.

• Is there anything new with Kerby? I haven't seen him as much here lately. Uh nothing new. He's doing well. Nothing new. He's not here right now. He will be though.

• Topic of the nickel job, Dan. Does that still feel like a three-horse race between Christian, Roger, and Keith? And do you guys prefer to have like a single starter there? Are you open to having multiple guys fill that role based on opponent matchups, down and distance, all that stuff? Yeah, I would say yes, it's still open. And and yes, we'll use whoever we think is best by down and distance or personnel or who whoever it is. It could be any one of those guys potentially if they make it or, you know, or could even be a guy like Whiteside. Let's say he makes it. Maybe he's one of those pieces that he's put in there for a certain down or whoever that player is or they're playing 12 personnel or they're you just, you know, that's where you're we're trying to figure out some of this is we how do we build this roster? What can they do? Where can we assume can we get them to the game? Um that that's kind of part of the trick with all this.

• I know you have a a lot going on. So I don't know how closely you follow this, but there's a player or two who signed contract. You got a lot going on. I do. Cuz if you did, we wouldn't even be doing this right now.

  Dave, you'd let me get up there. No, keep going.

• There's a player or two that have signed NFL contracts that are going back to college. I don't know. I'm staying out of that. I I have no comment. I don't even know what to do with that. I just I think that's uh Well, look, from our perspective, it's that's it's crazy cuz you know, you giving a guy an opportunity and you're like, "Hey, man. This guy's got room to grow and is he going to make it? Is he not? It's close." Um and then and then they leave. you know, you just you try to develop a guy that just took off, you know, I don't know. Um, but you put yourself in their shoes. I can kind of see that, too. If I'm that guy, that player, and I don't think I'm going to make it, and I don't know, man. It's crazy, right? It's unbelievable.

• If you had gone back to college for the 2000 season, what would that have looked like for you? Well, I can't run anyway. It wouldn't matter. Wouldn't it change anything?

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