Lions 2026 Training Camp Day 14 Recap
- The Grey Manes Staff
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
Day 14 of training camp was a night practice with fans in attendance to switch things up a bit and started with Campbell providing update son injuries and thoughts on some of the position battles and swaps going on and
ended with teh defense having a great day in a scrimmage.
Injury Updates
Updates from those in attendance as there wasn't any during Petzing's press even this morning. Below is the list of existing and new situations since last practice of players not participating.
The list of those not practicing or exiting early
S Brian Branch, S Kerby Joseph, RB Isiah Pacheco, WR Jameson Williams, OC Cade Mays, OT Devin Cochrane, OG Ben Bartch, LB Jimmy Rolder, LB Damone Clark, CB Nick Whiteside, DT Mekhi Wingo, DT Myles Adams and Edge Peyton Turner
New Updates
DT Levi Onwuzurike
Expected at practice and was out there
OL Juice Scruggs
Practiced but was capped to be on capped amount of reps
WR Jameson Williams
Missed practice with the minor shoulder injury, no timeline
CB Nick Whiteside
Missed practice with a minor hamstring issue
Existing (No Changes)
S Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph (PUP)
Both are targeted for return around September
Both were seen working with trainers on side of field today
Branch for second practice in a row was running and cutting
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 and was not supposed to be serious
Has missed all of training camp, likely putting his roster spot in jeopardy
LB Jimmy Rolder (Leg) and LB Damone Clark
Has been working and running off to the side
Clark's injury is undisclosed but has missed multiple practices now
OC Cade Mays, OT Devin Cochrane and OG Ben Bartch
Mays is sidelined for 8-10 weeks with fractured Wrist (Target Week 5)
Cochrane injury is undisclosed - Seen working on side with staff and trainers
Bartch was increasing participation coming of Lisfranc injury, may have had a setback
DT Mekhi Wingo
In Concussion protocol, no return date
RB Isiah Pacheco
MCL Strain - Target Week 1 return
Left Practice
N/A
Transactions
Training Camp Day 14 Observations from the Lions Media
General Observations
Practice was in the evening and also the last for Lions Loyal members, and they were put on a show by the defense during a mock scrimmage, with UDFA Edge Eric O'Neil and CB Ennis Rakestraw really shining.
Scrimmage Notes
Scrimmage Team A - 1st Team Offense/2nd Team Defense
Scrimmage Team B - 2nd Team Offense/1st Team Defense
As mentioned, the defense had itself a night during the mock scrimmage by being disruptive all evening with at least seven sacks and three INTs including pick six by rookie UDFA O'Neil.
O'Neil picked off an Altmyer screen pass by getting his hands up and tipping it to himself and rumbling about five yards into the endzone. He also had a sack, all of which comes on the heels of his TFL and QB Hit and being all over the field against the Bengals
Rakestraw had an INT, TFL and a PBU, but also was caught up in a pick on a slant to Kennedy resulting in a TD for the offense. Despite that play, reports are he had a really good scrimmage on the heels of the poor preseason game.
Other defenders that were noted for special playes were LBs Devin White (sack and many tackles) and Trevor NNowaske (two sacks.)
The Offense did make some plays, including the previously mentioned Kennedy TD, a Sam LaPorta TD of ~25-yards on a bootleg and a 19-yard TD form Altmyer to Lucky Jackson ona sideline route.
Final score was 24-7 first for Scrimmage team A (1st team Offense)
It was noted by many in attendance that Kelvin Shephard and Amon-Ra St Brown have the same "talking" relationship that Duce Staley and Aaron Glenn did on Campbell's early staff.
Dan Campbell played "official" and was throwing flags when he saw fit
Depth Chart Observations by Position Group
OL
1st Team OL was Sewell-Mahogany-Scruggs-Ratledge -Miller
Scruggs was on a snap count and McLaughlin was worked in at 1st team OC
Scruggs and Goff reportedly had multiple botched snaps in the scrimmage
2nd team had OC Niese, OG Priestley, OG Mason Miller, OT Colby Sorsdal and OT Frazier
Frazier was playing multiple positions again on 2nd team OL
RBs
Pecking order was Gibbs, Vaki, Saylors, Smalls
Vaki had a good day including nice elusiveness, tough runs up the middle and a 19-yard scamper that led to a FG
Saylors and Small were splitting 2nd team reps
WRs
Kennedy joined TeSlaa and St Brown with the 1ones with Willaims out
Lovett, Cunningham and Jackson were getting many of the 2nd team reps
TE
LaPorta, Wright and Ty Conklin appear to be the pecking order
DL
Hutch, McNeil, Williams and Wonnum were starters (with Lacy as Big end)
LBs
Barnes and Campbell were 1st team
Devin White and Rodriguez were second team
Safety
Same players in same roles
Nickel
Abney is getting first team reps in the battle with Izien and McCreary
It appears that Abney, McCreary and Izien are in a real battle for the Nickel role, and per Campbell's presser, it's likely that a different guy will trot out there based on the scenario needed from the position during the game
Outside CBs
Rakestraw was 2nd Team along with Dorsey
Returners
N/A
Gunners
N/A
Rookies
Blake Miller - Led the way on a 21-yard Gibbs pickup by pulling around left end
Derrick Moore -Combined with Lucas to force Altmyer to step up into a sack by Ben Stille
Jimmy Rolder - Has been observed working and running off to the side getting closer to a return
Keith Abney II - Appears to be forcing his way into both the nickel and outside CB conversations with good play. Has been getting 1st team nickel reps the last few practices. Had a good PBU on St Brown in the scrimmage
Kendric Law - Done for season with a torn ACL suffered win OTA Week 2 practices
Skyler Gill-Howard - Was in the Training Camp Photos for Day 14. Noted as having a QB Gurry forcing a bad pass form Goff in scrimmage.
Tyre West - No mention today
UDFAs
Luke Altmyer - Was the victim of the INTs by Eric O'neil, Chuck Clark and Ennis Rakestraw, but had a nice TD toss later in practice
Miles Kitselman - Placed on Reserve/Injured with leg injury and is out for season
Anthony Lucas - Combined with Hassanein on a coverage sack of Josh Dobbs in the scrimmage. Was noted as forcing Altmyer (along with Moore) to step up into a sack by DT Stille.
Erick Hunter - No mention today
Eric O'Neil - Scored a pick-six in the scrimmage and combined with Hassanein on 2nd DL for a sack of Altmyer
Amaris Brown - No mention today
Melvin Priestly - Mentioned getting beat badly for a coule sacks on teh final drive of the scrimmage
Detroit Lions TeSlaa, St brown & Gibbs, O'Neil, Goff and Gill-Howard Photos - Jeff Nguyen Detroit Lions
Dan Campbell Day 14 Press Conference
Dan Campbell opened Day 14 of camp from the podium, and he covered injuries, players and competition at various positions and how much he likes having the fans at camp. The link is the transcript of the items he was asked and answered:
Media Scrums with Players
The Lions had media availability with EDGE Eric O'Neil
EDGE Eric O'Neil
This is obviously big plays that are a part of it and returning coaches and but also just the stacking days. Tell me about your mentality in doing that and what you've learned the most about putting these practices together. Yeah, you know, obviously I'm being coached by great guys around such great talent and guys who have proven themselves in the league making me a better player every day. So, you know, it's not hard to love it and have fun and be able to socialize yourself and enjoy doing it. You know, it's harder for guys that feel worried and they're a little nervous and worried but it's not like that here, you know, I got guys like Aidan Hutchinson and DJ Anzalone guys like that that help me every day and support me. So, just for me to go out there and play is the most important and just get a little bit better every day. Don't have to be perfect
It was mentioned the stacking days. You had a pretty good preseason debut for you as well particularly the one rush where you kind of cooked the tackle on the outside and got a hit on the QB. Just, you know, what what's the confidence level for you right now just given the ability to kind of stack some nice days where this camp is progressing? Yeah, you know, obviously I think any rookie especially undrafted is going to be real nervous going to their first game. Not worried but you know, almost anxious to play. Um, so after the first play that was really it for me and you know, now it's just being able to stack that confidence like you said from that, you know, first rush and first game every day and eventually, you know, just solidify myself as a regular everyday NFL player where it's, you know, everyday is regular to me. It's not like wow, I'm in the NFL right now.
Did your phone blow up after that? Tell me the messages after that game for the hit on Bro. Yeah, yeah. Um, so I was just home for a while because, you know, obviously I turned pro for the combine and I was hanging out so I was hanging out with all my guys and they were like, wow, you know, I just hooked you up a couple weeks ago and then I see you just hit Joe Burrow. Pretty interesting. I was like, yeah, I didn't even know what to say. And I was like, yeah, it was pretty cool to meet you. So, I can't complain about that.
The Lions second preseason game is home at Ford Field against the Washington Commanders on Thursday Aug 22nd at 12pm.
Transcripts are created with an assist from AI
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