Detroit Lions 2026 Training Camp Day 2 Recap
- The Grey Manes Staff
- 6 hours ago
- 23 min read
The Lions are back in Allen Park for Day 2 of camp today, and they will be a bit more shorthanded at a couple of positions due to new injuries that have popped up. One of these resulted in a surprise placement on the NFI and fueled additional speculation about this player's long-term viability with the team.
Injury Updates
Updates from Dan Campbell's press event this morning, providing clarity on existing and new situations since last practice of players not participating.
The list of those not practicing
RB Jahmyr Gibbs, S Brian Branch, S Kerby Joseph, TE Tyler Conklin, OG Christian Mahogany, S, Christian Izien, OL Gio Manu, EDGE/DE Peyton Turner
New
OT Giovani Manu (NFI/Injury)
Campbell said that Manu had a previous injury over the summer that wasn't disclosed. He came off practice field not feeling good and after checking it out, put him on the list. It's a 12–14-week timeline, putting it between Week 7-9 of the NFL season if he is still on the team.
EDGE/DE Peyton Turner
Per Dan Campbell, Turner has a stiff back, nothing serious
Existing (No Changes)
RB Jahmyr Gibbs (Contract Dispute)
Missed Day 2 practice but is in the building and attending meetings per St brown.
S Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph (PUP)
Both are targeted for return around September
Kerby elaborated on his injury a bit saying he woke up with a swollen knee and wasn't as fast on the field, and MRI showed the issue
TE Tyler Conklin (PUP)
Calf injury, return is targeted for ~Aug 12th-13th.
OG Christian Mahogany (NFI/injury)
No specific injury cited but targeted for return around Camp practice Day 3-4.
S Christian Izien (NFI/Illness)
Izien has a Flu bug target is Friday practice to come off the PUP.
Transactions
Lions Placed Giovani Manu on the NFI/Injury list
Training Camp Day 2 Observations form the Lions Media
General Observations
LB Derrick Barnes logged the first interception of Training Camp off a blitz fake and picked off Goff on a crossing route to LaPorta.
The offense was really working the screen game on Day 2 from multiple reports, and the defense was handling it pretty well.
The Lions interior defenders were sharp today, with Onwuzurike and Hassanein observed putting themselves in position to make big plays with good interior line moves.
Theme fo the day was backup skill guys seen making really good plays, including Zach Horotn, Teddy Bridgewater and Ceridck Wilson, who made the catch of the day with a one-hander form Teddy.
LB Jimmy Rolder was observed continuing to be in position to make plays in his run stops, blitzes and coverage duties.
During FGs, Bates was observed going 6 of 8 with a couple of kicks being pushed wide right. Longest makes were ~53 yards with the misses coming on back-to-back 43-yard attempts.
Vaki spent time after practice working on choice routes between the tackling dummies after making the wrong read earlier in a drill and was the last player on the field.
The only player that was observed not handling a kickoff cleanly was Lawrence Keys
Offensive Line
1st OL: Sewell-Scruggs-Mays-Ratledge-B Miller
Borom received work exclusively at 2nd Team OTs and 6th OL
2nd OL: N/A
3rd OL: N/A
RBs
1st Unit: Sione Vaki
2nd Unit: Isiah Pacheco
Depth: Saylors, Small and Robichaux
WRs
1st Unit: Amon-Ra St Brown, Jameson Williams
2nd Unit: Greg Dortch, Toim Kennedy
Backups: Everyone Else
TE
1st Unit: Sam LaPorta
2nd Unit: Brock Wright
3rd Unit: Miles Kitselman/Jackson Meeks
Depth: Horton/Gordon
DL
1st Unit: Hutch-McNeil-Williams- Lacy (Wonnum - nickel)
Tyler Lacy has been the "big' DE in a Five-man with Ahmed Hassanein the 2nd Big End and Onwuzurike getting some reps today
2nd Unit: N/A-Onwuzurike-N/A-Hassanein
LBs
1st Tean - Campbell, Barnes and Rodriguez have been the starters in all sessions
Starting nickel LBs are Campbell and Barnes
2nd Team - Rolder (Mike), Clark (Will) and Nowaske (Sam)
3rd team - Unknown
Safety
1st Team - Avonte Maddox (In for Izien in for Kerby) and Chuck Clark (In for Brian Branch)
2nd team - Thomas Harper, Loren Strickland and Dan Jackson
3rd team - Unknown
Nickel
McCreary and Abney
Outside CBs
1st Team - DJ Reed and Ya-Sin/Rakestraw
2nd Team - Nick Whiteside and Unknown
3rd Team - Nick Whiteside and Unknown
Punt Returners
Day 1 - WR Greg Dortch, RB Isiah Pacheco, WR Tom Kennedy, WR Dominic Lovett, WR Lawrence Keys and WR Amon-Ra St Brown were the reported participants
Kick Returners
Greg Dortch, Tom Kennedy, Isiah Pacheco, Dominic Lovett, Malik Cunningham, Lawrence Keys, Isaac TeSlaa and AMon-Ra St Brown.
Gunners
Unknown
Rookies
Blake Miller - He appears to have locked up that RT starting role as he has taken virtually all 1st team reps in both days but had his "welcome to the league" moment a couple times today by Hutch and McNeil reportedly.
Derrick Moore - Observed as being part of the kickoff blockers unit when the team went with bigger players.
Jimmy Rolder - Rolder impressed some of the folks in attendance with his general awareness and ability to consistently put together plays. Nothing super splashy, just being in the right place at the right time. His Was mentioned as taking 2nd team MLB reps. Was noted as being the 2nd team Mike LB once again and also getting credit for a "sack"
Keith Abney II - Showed up in Camp Day 2 photos
Kendric Law - Done for season with a torn ACL suffered win OTA Week2 practices
Skyler Gill-Howard - Mentioned as seeing an increase in the number of reps he is getting.
Tyre West - Also observed seeing an increase in number of reps in camp from OTAs
UDFAs
Luke Altmyer - Comments from those in attendance is that he had some nice touch passes today but needs to get rid of the ball quicker. He also outperformed Bridgewater on accuracy in an individual QB drill.
Miles Kitselman - Had a great day 1, was observed getting the wrong end of attention on Day 2. He had a couple of pre-snap errors that drew the ire of the staff, but he is still getting the snaps that Ty Conklin would had he not been injured.
Anthony Lucas - Observed as being part of the kickoff blockers unit when the team went with bigger players.
Erick Hunter - It was observed that he was cooked on a wheel route by Meeks, but Altmyer went the other side of the field and missed a walk-in TD.
Lions Rookies CB Keith Abney II, QB Luke Altmyer and OT Blake Miller Photos - Jeff Nguyen & Nicole Scharff Detroit Lions
Dan Campbell Opening Press Conference
Dan Campbell had his 2026 Training Camp Day 2 press conference this morning, and we provided a summary and full transcript earlier today. Below are some quick points that came out of it:
Injury Summary
New:
Peyton Turner - Stiff back, nothing serious
Giovani Manu - Added to NFI/Injury List due to previously undisclosed injury form offseason
No Changes:
Branch - Potentially Early September
Kerby - Likely will linger into the season on same timeline as Branch
Conklin - Calf in Spring, Two Weeks
Izien - Flu bug likely back Friday
Mahogany - Couple of Days
Quick Hitters
No changes on injuries from yesterday, two new items in Manu and Turner came up
Campbell loves Gibbs and was thinking the Gibbs contract situation would have already been done, but he will coach who is present and understands the situation as both a player and coach in the league. says he isn't sweating it, and Gibbs did his conditioning test.
Campbell said the silver lining is that all the other backs will get extended work including with the first team
Really likes that Nick Whiteside has seized the opportunity and continues to improve. Made more plays than anyone yesterday per Campbell.
Manu injury was not disclosed, happened in offseason ad has a 12–14-week timetable, so he went on NFI. Didn't offer any praise or other feedback on Manu in his answer.
Campbell said they are super proud of Tyleik determining that he was too heavy and that he put in tons of work including coming in early, to get himself in shape and down to 325. Which is right where they want him at. Reduced weight means he may be out there more on third down and the line in general will be lighter, with Lopez ad Reader no longer with the team. Will likely change a bit how the DL front works.
Campbell touched on the concern around LaPorta getting his back to where it needs to be for his heath.
Media Scrums with Players
The Lions had media availability with DE Aidan Hutchins, WR Amon-Ra St Brown. S Kerby Joseph and LB Derrick Barnes after Day 2 camp practice.
Aidan Hutchinson
At this point last year, we were asking you about your health and you said you felt great. You proved that 17 games you played and everything. To be back out here in camp, none of those questions are coming at you. How free is it to be out there with you guys with that type of Yeah, extremely liberating, man. It's uh feel like a new person uh physically, mentally. Um I think feel like there was a lot looming last year going into the season and um man, it just feels good like everything's settled and I can really just focus on football. keep it keep it uh you know keep what's important kind of in front of me.
With that being said, how high have you set goals for yourself this year? Yeah, I mean every year we're shooting for the stars.
How does how does that comfortability manifest itself, you know, throughout training camp and through these first two days? Like how does it just allow you to be out there? Yeah, I feel like I'm at my best when I'm just uh when they kind of give me the green light and I can just uh play to my fullest potential, you know, and um talking with Casey, Casey Rogers, he's just uh it's like it's just the full green light and I think he's got all the trust and belief in me and um I do I do to him as well. So, it's just uh we have a great relationship and um one that he I feel like he really uh he really frees me up.
Coach, what has to happen over the next couple weeks for you to feel comfortable going into week one? We could start next week and I'd be all right. Personally, um, but I know we got to install some new plays and stuff. So, uh, and get this defense on the same page. Um, it's been it's been a good start for us, but yeah, I feel like, man, it's year five. I could I could jump into it next week and be uh and be just fine. I feel
You got some new pieces around you. How are the new guys fitting in? Good, man. Good. Uh, a couple new DNS uh with uh PT, Demo, uh DJ, all those dudes. Uh Amed's coming along. We got a lot of new faces, but um man, a lot of those dudes are my kind of dudes, you know, just uh quieter dudes, but like they really show it on the field. Uh I love that, you know. So, um, I'm really looking forward to working with him.
With Ahmed, it's kind of like this is really his rookie year, even though he has a year of kind of be being a pro to an extent. What have you seen from him so far and how he's been able to tackle this as well? Yeah, man. He uh, Ahmed, he I know he trained real hard this offseason, got in really good shape. So, I think physically he's got all the pieces right now. he's just got to, you know, mentally get in football um and get as many reps as he can in order to just, you know, expedite that that learning curve a little bit. And I think he's been doing he's been doing a great job.
Can you just talk about uh some of the biggest changes, I guess, that you've seen from year one to year two now with Shep uh as biggest changes from Shep? Um I think he evolved a lot in the in the season. You know, I think by the end of the season, I felt we were playing some really good ball um defensively and uh man, I think um his ability to like listen to players and listen to feedback. I don't feel like he has an ego in that sense where if I were to go up to him and tell him something, he wouldn't be offended if I was questioning X, Y, or Z. But, um man, he's so smart. Uh, I think I think we have all the faith in the world in him.
Amon-Ra St Brown
How's it feel to be out there? Feels great, man. Feels good to be back. Training camp is here, so it's nice to be back playing ball.
Is there any differences? I think uh Shep said back in the spring like the offense was showing the defense a lot of stuff that they didn't really even get to last year till later training camp. Do you feel like you're kind of the curve from where you were last year? Uh, I mean I guess maybe a little a little so uh just with the stuff that we have in we have a lot of stuff in. We ran a lot of stuff in OTAAS and we're kind of picking up where we left off. So, uh, I think the guys, you know, we understand the offense pretty well. Um, Drew's done a great job of installing it. Scotty's done a great job of teaching us everything. I mean, Scotty's Scott is super smart, so he helps us out a lot. And I think we've just all done a good job of collaborating and just honing in on the offense.
What are you working on at this stage of your career? Like what are you what are you trying to get better at? Um you know for me it's just being consistent every year. That's the biggest thing. Um being a good teammate, being a leader. Um doing whatever I can do to help the team win. That's the biggest thing.
That leader part just how have you embraced that? Dan talked about this is Saints team, this is Penei's team now. And just what's the evolution of kind of getting into that role and now that you're there, how much have you embraced it? Yeah, I think um you know obviously it starts with what you do on the field. Um you know taking care of business there, showing guys, you know, just leading by example. I think that's the biggest thing. And then after that, it's just bringing guys along. You know, whether it's a young guy, whether it's an older guy that's maybe lost some confidence, whatever it is, bringing the whole team along um so that we can, you know, reach that end goal.
So much of what we try to tell about you guys in this in this camp sometimes is so surface level trying to get back to the message of grit and all that, but how much is an offense understanding an offense and feeling comfortable in it that really drives what you guys are trying to do during the summer? I think it's really important um when everyone's on the same page, everyone understands the offense, um you understand why you're doing certain things, um why you have emotion on a certain play, why we're killing it, whatever it may be. Um once you get to that second level, third level of understanding the offense, you're just able to play that much faster. everyone's on the same page. Um, and you can kind of tell when offense is flowing and everyone gets it and everyone's just, you know, making plays. The ball's being spread around. You're got a good run and pass game combination. It's just, you can tell when offense is flowing. That's what I feel like every offense wants to get to, but you got to work through the kinks definitely in training camp with installing different plays. You know, not every play is designed to beat the defense. You want to, you know, coach want to get certain looks and see if certain plays work. So, that's all part of it. But, as soon as you get closer to the season, that's when you're really holding on everything.
It'll be inevitable for us to compare. How did that come from for you guys this year to where you guys were last year? What gives you the confidence that this offense as a whole can take a big step forward this this season? Uh, I think the guys that we have, the guys that we have on our offense. Um, what happened last year? I think is motivating a lot of us as a team, even as an offense. Um, but I think just the guys, the coaches, all of us here in this building, I mean, I'm confident in everyone.
Saint, what do you need to see in order for you to say, "Ah, we got it". Um, I mean, I feel like there's never enough that that you can see as a player. Um, because each week is different. You can have, you know, you can go for 500 yards of off 500 yards of offense one game, score 50 points, and the next game only score six points. So, in this league, it's all about, you know, doing it on a consistent weekly basis and winning games. Um, if we win a game, you know, 6 to 5, that's fine. If we win a game 51 to 50, that's also fine. Whatever it takes to win at this point. Um, but as an offense, we definitely have a standard and we know what our standard is and every game is different, but we want to be up to that standard every game if we can.
Dan keeps talking about you want to get back the way things want to get back the way things work. What does that mean to you? Um, yeah, I think for I think it just means, you know, the way we the way we practiced each and every day. Um, the way we the way we played. um that that chip that we had on our shoulder every each and every game where we felt like we were the under underdog every game. Um just getting back to that I think you know it's not going to be too hard for us to get back to that after what happened last year. Um and I think we're you know we're on our way there. We just got to keep putting the work in each and every day.
You're obviously close to Jahmyr. You've been through the kind of contract negotiating process before. Have you been a sounding board for him during this process for him? Uh you know Jahmyr is my dog. Um I miss him out here. I think he'll be out here hopefully sooner rather than later. Um, you know, I talked to him quite a bit. Um, obviously I can't share with you guys everything. Um, but I love Jahmyr. I miss him out here. Like I said, he'll be out here sooner rather than later hopefully.
How is the team killing with that internally? Just I think they're doing fine. Um, obviously you're missing we're missing one of our best players um on offense which sucks. Um, but he's still in the building. He's still you know at all the meetings and everything. So, I think that the players understand, you know, what's going on. Everyone kind of gets it. Um, it's part of this business, but I think we're, you know, we're still out there practicing, doing our thing. Guys stepping up, Isaiah, Vaki, Saylor. So, um, giving other guys opportunity, too, to maybe show what they can do. So, this is, you know, it all works out for a reason.
So, I take it didn't catch guys. Nah.
Is that the silver lining that uh Dan Campbell can talk about where other guys get opportunities? Yeah, I mean you got to take advantage of any every opportunity you get in this league. Um whether it's a guy sitting out like Jahmyr and this is your chance to maybe get plays that you wouldn't have gotten if he was, you know, practicing or you know, whatever happens, a guy maybe goes down for a week and you got to step up and make plays. Whatever happens, this league is very unique and it um you know, guys get their opportunities in many different ways. And so if this is a way that you know, another running back can maybe show what they can do and help our team win games, then so be it. And then that running back needs to take that take that opportunity.
A lot of people are predicting a year or two jump from Isaac. What have you seen from him this offseason so far? He looks good. Um, you know, Isaac looks a lot more comfortable. Um, you know, I think just him understanding what to expect with camp, the practices, um, the playbook, feeling more comfortable, the speed of the game, understanding, you know, the offense. Um, offense isn't too hasn't changed too much from last year. Obviously, there's some new terminology, whatnot, but a lot of it has stayed the same. So for Isaac, I think, you know, I put myself in issues when I was going into year two. It's like you start to understand the plays. You're like, he's saying to play early on, you already know what the inning is going to be. So he cannot think about how to get open, what release he wants to use. So just being able to play fast, I think, is the biggest thing for him. And he's shown that. And I think he's going to have a big jump this year.
What's the biggest difference you've seen out of the offense with Drew? just is it just the window dressing type of stuff that you guys or how would you how would you characterize that? I think it's still early. It's still early. It's tough to tell. Um a lot of the plays that we run in practice are scripted. Um so it's not, you know, we haven't had any call periods really yet. Um so I'm excited to see that. But I mean, Drew's done a great job of um I mean, the schemes he has, the plays he's designing, the, you know, combination, making run look, making the runs look like passes, everything, making everything look the same until it's not. Um he's doing a great job of that. So, I'm just excited to, you know, to be working with him. I know he's excited to be working with us and we just got to keep on, you know, keep on working through the kinks, like I said, each and every day.
Kerby Joseph
We saw you out here yesterday working out. Looked like a big step. I mean, obviously, you're in the biggest move right now. So, can you just how you feeling after everything you've been through the last 12 months? I just want to say first and foremost, God is so good. Like, I love God with all my heart and he has blessed me in so many different ways and I'm just so thankful and so joyful just to even be here today, you know? So, when I go out there and I work hard, I do it for him.
Have you maybe felt your mindset changed since your baptism? Yeah. Yeah. My baptism, man, it was like a opening. Like, it opened a lot of things to me. Like God opened my eyes and showed me a lot of things and I'm just so thankful for it cuz if I never got baptized, I would never be able to see the things that I needed to see.
What's your level of optimism for the for what you can contribute this year? My optimism? Yeah. What do you mean?
How optimistic are you that you're going to be on the field early in the season grow? I'm super optimistic, man. I never gave up. I never I'm going to always work hard. All I do is work. If you see me outside, I'm working. You know what I'm saying?
The last 10 months been for you. I'd say that was my walk with God. Even though I got bad news, I was walking with God. I swear.
Has it gotten any better? Like, do you do you feel better than you did six, eight months ago? Honestly, like the best way I could describe that right there, I got a YouTube channel called Zap Network. You know, go click the YouTube link on my Twitter, on my Instagram by it. Tell you everything you need to know. It's called Fly. I got a song that dropped. It's called Fly Today. Y'all go check it out. It's It sound pretty good. I'm a part-time rapper, football first foremost, you know. I play football for But the song sound good. Go check it out.
What were some of the lengths that you went to try to do the length? Yeah. Ah, I found God. That's the length I needed. I told y'all I didn't need to do nothing else, nothing more. I just needed to strengthen my relationship with God cuz God going to take care of the rest. It was something out of my control. So, I gave everything to God.
Kerby, you said that you woke up uh one morning last year and the knee was just swollen. It was just swollen. Can you explain when that was and kind of what that meant for you? Uh I don't remember when it was. Somewhere around when they dropped the article, you know, when it happened. It was the same day. I like everybody found it at the same time. I found it at the same time. Everybody else found out at the same time. I woke up, it was swollen. I ain't think nothing much, you know. I just like I can still run. I do all this. I'm going to go out there and practice. You know, we had a scrimmage, but I'm running. I'm like, man, I ain't that fast today. I thought I was, you know, I ate I ate good that day. So, I'm thinking there's a little breakfast or something going out. No, my knees just I couldn't, you know, and I got the MRI. I got the news. I said I peeped though cuz they was telling me about my injury and all that this and that. I'm say only person that helped me with this is God. So, we going to, you know, do what it do until I, you know, God say I got to sit down and God sat me down Kansas game and there you go.
Even if if God was the instrument that made it happen, what doctors, what who else did you see to maybe help me get through it? Okay. See, things like that I can't disclose. Okay. But God brought people into my life and that I'm so thankful that I met these people and I just hope that they're receiving all the blessings they get and all the support and love that they gave me. I'm super thankful for. And that's all I can say about it.
How cautious do you have to be now moving forward? I mean, is it a playby-play thing? Is it cautious? You trying to call me scary? No, I'm not. You trying to call me scary? I go hard. Every time you see me, I go hard. That's it. Yeah. Yeah.
Dan told us yesterday it' be a bonus if you would be on the field for week one. Have you tried to set up a timeline for yourself? God going to work it out. I Hey, God got the timeline. Whenever God want me out there, I'm going to be out there. You know, God don't want me out there, I ain't going to be out there. But God want me out there, I'm going to be out there.
What was you made a couple attempts to come back and practice last year and obviously was like And that was the beginning of my walk with God. You know, he literally sat me down like sat me down and I listened. You know, I feel like when God set sit a lot of people down, they don't listen. Well, me I listen like coach, you ain't got to yell at me, you ain't got to do that. Just tell me what I got to do. I'mma do it. You know.
How does it feel right now? How I feel right now. I can really describe how I feel right now. If you click my YouTube short, go on my YouTube, click my YouTube short, I got fly today. Go check it out. It's a hit. I got more coming. Just stay tuned to Zap Network is coming. All your answers, all your question, all the questions you got, Zap Network. Zoop out.
Derrick Barnes
Are you sort of like, can you talk about linebacker stream? Is that part of it you hope to prove you can you can do this camp and this? Yeah. Yeah, no doubt. I mean, uh, you know, like a bunch of guys I feel like in our room cover really good. I mean, Jack has definitely ele elevated in that game. Um, he's always been all-around player, covering, uh, run stopper, um, playing his own coverage, playing man coverage, blitzing. Um, so, you know, obviously it was put in our ear that, you know, now that Angel's gone, one of the freaking best cover backers I ever been around, um, and ever seen, you know, obviously we have to pick up that slack. Um, and I'm just I'm ready for the challenge. You know, me and Jack, I feel like, and a lot of other guys can go out there and fill that role for sure. I got a lot of good guys, a lot of good athletic guys, a lot of people, you know, veterans who know the game. Um, and obviously coaches don't put us in the right position to be able to be successful in that aspect also too.
Last one for me with sort of the shuffling pieces in the secondary and some of the injuries back there and losses. How much as a front seven are you guys putting on yourselves to kind of set the tone leaders of this defense at least secondary get healthy? Yeah, no doubt. I mean man, even with the secondary, the guys we had out there, man, we got veteran guys like um you know, and people back there, man, they're they do I mean I see them back there competing today, man. It's amazing to see. Obviously, it's competition in that room due to the fact that, you know, a couple our guys are, you know, out, but that's how we like it, man. It's always next man up mentality. Um, it's just fun to see fun to see the competitiveness back there. Um, as far as the front seven, I mean that, you know, we got a bunch of guys that came back from last year, a bunch of veteran guys now, it's crazy that I'm technically in the No, not really. Um well being here I'm the oldest kind of playing wise but obviously we got like Joe Batchi and um Troy people just came in here was a little older than me but they weren't here last year but um no I think that um you know you got a group of guys like that who played a lot of football know especially in the front seven you know there's a lot of more communication a lot more chemistry there um and you know I think that we all had to just pick up where other like the other people slack rather like if you know if we need to pick up the linebackers pick up the slack for the D line and D line pick up slack from linebackers, linebackers, or it just vice versa. Um, and I think that's where we thrive. I think we thrive in, you know, um, coach always say, um, you know, put the fire out and that's what we out there to do, uh, day in and day out. And I'm super excited about what's going on out there, even though it's day two, pass not on, you know, the it whatever you see when we in pajamas, pajamas, it's totally different when the pass come on and hopefully in a good way. Um, so for me it's just, you know, elevating my game each and every day, learning, continue to grow my IQ of the game. Um, watch myself correcting mistakes, not making the same mistakes I did, uh, in the past practices. But, no, I'm super excited for, you know, our defense, man. I'm super excited for what Shep has in store for our defense. Know, we got a lot of weapons, pass rushers, linebackers, some competitive DBs, really good DBs. Um, so yeah, I'm excited to see what this camp takes us.
So, there's no gray in that beard yet? Not yet. I ain't getting stressed yet, man. I you know I I hope I don't start coming but no I just man um No. Yeah, for sure. I'm getting there though. No, I ain't that old. I'm young. Anybody see I'm young. Okay. Just turned 27. There you go.
How hopeful are you that uh Branch and Kirby can be back on the field and how important are they to your defense? Oh man. Um first of all, those two are thunder and lightning, man. They're I remember playing remember watching Kirby in college, man. He uh Big 10 guy. Um man, I always knew that he had it. Uh Kirby, man, he's a ball hog, man. He he knows the game. Um and then you got you got BB, man. He is like the most explosive player I've ever been around. Like, it's insane. I mean, just his playmaking ability on the ball. Um man, it'd be nice to have both of those guys back, but obviously that's not the case right now. So, other guys will pick up that slack. And we have another good group of guys um that's filling in the role for them. um that's fighting for starting jobs and that's doing a wonderful job. Um but with those two man, I just, you know, pray that, you know, everything works out. You know, they're obviously they're in my prayers and um you know, obviously it's it will always be great to have them. Um but at this time, you know, we're really focused on, you know, trying to get them the healthiness that they that they need to be in order to be back with the team. So,
Um obviously, we know that, you know, you guys had some exit through the offseason. Just, you know, we got Malcolm Rodriguez got a chance to step up and take a bigger role in this defense. Just what have you been seeing from him so far and how are you expecting him to play in this bigger role Man uh man I love Malcolm man he um man he's a guy that you know especially when the pass come on that's you hear him you see him you hear him uh man Malcolm man he's super smart man super you know his awareness of the game just like he he's so what you call that just instinctive like it it's really great to watch great to watch and see from him, man. He's uh he's going to help us help us out a lot. Um and so is everybody else. You know, obviously we're still competing for jobs and roles and all that stuff, but man, just know he's he I'm inspired by him, the way he goes out and play and put his all into the game and how he never lets anything get in the way of, you know, what he wants from himself and, you know, that's lovely to see. But no, I'm expecting a big year out of him. Um I know that, you know, him taking over that role, I know he's going to do a wonderful job with it.
The Lions first preseason game is at Cincinnati on Thursday Aug 13th at 7pm.
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