Lions Training Camp Takeaways: Great Vibes, ‘Salty’ Edge in Detroit

Defending NFC North champs know how to practice, and they could be even better in 2023 after falling just short of advancing to their first Super Bowl.

Campbell and Holmes have the Lions in a good place as a legitimate Super Bowl contender. / Kimberly P. Mitchell / USA TODAY NETWORK

Not much has changed in Allen Park, Mich., the past four summers, other than the general public realizing that head coach Dan Campbell knows what he’s doing. For the time I was out there Friday, I saw a fast, physical practice. Here are five takeaways from my training camp visit …

 

• If there’s been a star of camp, it’s probably former second-round pick Levi Onwuzurike, who was the second draft pick of the Campbell–GM Brad Holmes era. Injuries blew up the first three years of his career—with major back surgery in 2022 the big one. Now fully recovered, Onwuzurike is showing himself to be the fast, violent player the Lions thought he’d be as an interior pass rusher coming out of Washington. Combining Onwuzurike with Alim McNeill and D.J. Reader, when he gets healthy, the Lions should have a fearsome interior rotation bookended by Aidan Hutchinson and Marcus Davenport, who Campbell and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn know from New Orleans.

• The team’s flexibility in the secondary has gotten better and better over the past four years. What the Lions added this year is what they hope will become real bedrocks at corner. First-rounder Terrion Arnold has shown an elite corner’s mentality—fearlessness, a little arrogant, always wanting to play man, and possessing a short memory. And second-rounder Ennis Rakestraw Jr. has been a ball magnet early in camp (he had three picks in one practice the other day). Adding these guys to the mix, at least on paper, should allow the Lions to do even more with their safeties. One piece to the puzzle that needs to be figured out is who will play in the nickel, with Amik Robertson and Emmanuel Moseley battling for snaps. Safeties Brian Branch and Ifeatu Melifonwu have the ability to play there, too.

• The Lions know what they have in Amon-Ra St. Brown. How the other receiver spots go is still coming together. But Jameson Williams has had a nice offseason after dealing with ACL recovery in 2021, and having a suspension hanging over him last summer. And the extra time learning on the field, which is where he learns best, has Williams playing faster, and closer to his elite foot speed. Daurice Fountain, who has bounced around for the past six years, is making a run at being the third receiver. He spent last year on the team’s practice squad and could give Detroit a bigger, longer target to complement St. Brown and Williams.

• Campbell was wearing a shirt that said “Salty” at practice Friday. He explained to me it has two meanings. The first one is obvious: He wants a team that plays that way, with a real hard edge, which everyone knows. The second is less apparent. He wants guys to be “salt of the earth.” It’s important for him as he tries to keep his team grounded after last year’s success, something that’s actually been relatively easy because he has a lot of guys who are, yes, salt of the earth. In fact, the work of three guys who just got paid—St. Brown, Jared Goff and Penei Sewell—came up with folks I talked to, which is a good sign that all the praise and hype the Lions have received won’t change them.

• I was at a scrimmage-heavy practice, and one thing that really stood out is that this Lions team knows how to practice. It sounds like a simple thing, but any NFL coach will tell you how important it is. Yes, the morning session was physical. Yes, there were big hits. And the key, to me, was seeing a few where you’d think a fight was about to break out. That never happened, and I think it’s a real credit to what’s been built in Detroit. Great vibes here, as you’d expect. I’d be surprised if the team isn’t better than it was in 2023.