Detroit Lions 2026 Week 1 OTA Recap

The first week of OTAs for the 2026 Detroit Lions has concluded and a significant amount of information came out from the press events, photos, interviews and boots on the ground from the Lions beat reporters. Let's recap the most important bits of news that came out of the three-day camp:

Photo - Jeff Nguyen Detroit Lions

Injury Updates

Dan Campbell in his press conference on Thursday provided several key injury updates on players, including those that ended last year on IR as well as those that came back last year but were still not performing at the level they expected of themselves.

• Brian Branch, Sam LaPorta and Brian Branch are improving, but did not practice per Campbell at his press conference.

  • LaPorta has done some walkthroughs and jog-throughs per Campbell

  • Kerby Joseph (S) - Per Justin Rogers, was reportedly in Street Clothes, but was assisting in drills, catching passes and did not have a noticeable brace or sleeve on his leg or any type of limp.

• Terrion Arnold (Shoulder) and some rookies were also not practicing per Campbell. Arnold being held out, even though it is no-contact, was precautionary.

• Ben Bartch (OL) and Zach Horton (TE) - Addition veterans that did not participate

• Levi Onwuzurike - Campbell stated “I like where Levi’s at, and I’ll leave it at that. He’s working, he feels good. I’m not hyping anybody up, not in May. It’s not worth it.”

Why no Rookie Mini Camp?

Campbell basically said that rookies aren't ready for football, even on a limited basis. Says not worth it anymore. Last year they had guys on the ground, league didn't like it (they lost some practices because of it)

Depth Chart/ Lineups

Campbell also mentioned that the Lions would be split over two fields, so not to ready too much into what the beat writers would see with the lineups and apparent pecking order. However, a few nuggets did come out of their observations.

• Offensive Line -

  • 1st OL: Reports were that the line was Sewell-Mahogany-Mays-Ratledge-Borom with the Rookie Miller subbing in for Borom.

    • It was noted that the combo with Miller at RT was the most common alignment FWIW

  • 2nd OL: Reports were Borom-Scruggs-McLaughlin-Frazier-Miller

  • Versatile Depth: Borom was the 2nd team LT, and with Ben Bartch was out, so Gio Manu was taking reps at both OT and Guard. Frazier also was observed with reps at both Guard spots. Scruggs logged reps at all three IOL spots as well.

  • Jumbo TE: Appears that both Miles Frazier and Larry Borom were observed getting reps as the Jumbo TE that had been filed by Coach Skipper in years past.

• WRs - Per Tim Twentyman, he noted how much more comfortable Isaac TeSlaa was this year vs last year at this time.

• TE Depth - Ty Conklin appears to have become a favorite of the QBs early on and may be surpassing brock Wright for the #2 TE position per Tim Twentyman. Said Conklin was a smooth route runner and had good hands.

• DL - base Defense

  • 1st Team - Hutch, McNeil and Tyliek Williams were clear starters, with the DE spot being rotated in with Wonnum, Lacy, Turner, and Derrick Moore.

  • 2nd Team - Onwuzurike (McNeil) and Chris Smith (Williams) were the backups

• LBs - In base defense

  • 1st Tean - Jack Campbell (MIKE), Derrick Barnes (SAM) and Malcolm Rodriguez (WILL)

  • 2nd Team - Jimmy Rolder (MIKE), Trevor Nowaske (SAM) and Damone Clark (WILL)

  • 3rd team - Joe Bachie (MIKE), Nowaske (WILL) and Erick Hunter (SAM)

• Safety - Base Defense

  • 1st Team - Christian Izien (In for Kerby) and Chuck Clark (In for Brian Branch) with Avonte Maddox subbing in

  • 2nd team - Thomas Harper and Avonte Maddox

  • 3rd team - Aamaris Brown and Dan Jackson

• Nickle - McRearey was running it out as 1st team Nickle to start, with Avonte Maddox and Rookie Keith Abney working into the reps.

• Outside CBs - Base defense

  • 1st Team - DJ Reed and Rock Ya-Sin (with Arnold Out) with Ennis Rakestraw rotating in

  • 2nd Team - Khalil Dorsey and Nick Whiteside outside and McCreary/Abney at Nickle

  • 3rd Team - De'Shawn Rucker and Keith Abney (Outside)

• Punt Returner - Greg Dortch appears to be the first man up to replace Kalif Raymond, but Kennedy, pacheco and St. brown were also observed (in that order) fielding punts.

Rookies

• Blake Miller - Was taking snaps at 2nd team RT and subbing in on 1st team with Borom, with Day 3 seeing Millers OL aligment the most common 1st team line.

• Derrick Moore - Aiden Hutchinson said that Moore is all about business and likes his approach. They have history working together back to Michigan

• Jimmy Rolder - Was playing a lot of the MIKE (MLB) position per Tim Twentyman, getting him experience to see everything form the middle and how the defense fits together.

Lions Rookies LB Jimmy Rolder, OT Blake Miller and QB Luke Altmyer Photo - Jeff Nguyen Detroit Lions

Ray Agnew

Lions assistant GM Ray Agnew sat down with the media on Friday and shared that he had indeed interviewed with the Minnesota Vikings for their open GM position, that ultimately went to Seattle's Assistant GM Nolan Teasley. Agnew stated that he was excited for the opportunity and did reiterate that his ultimate goal was to become an NFL GM. Agnew will be in Detroit for at least the 2026-2027 season, staying as Brad Holmes right-hand man since they both came over from the LA Rams back in 2021.

The Lions second round of OTAs run this upcoming week form June 2nd-4th, third round is June 9th-11th and off-season workouts wrap with a mandatory minicamp from June 16-17th.