Lions practice notebook, Day 5: D-line dominates as the pads come on

USA Today

25-07-2025

After four days of unpadded practice that got a little too aggressive at times, the Detroit Lions put the pads on for Day 5 on Friday morning. With friends and family in attendance for the first time, the Lions had a more civil and focused practice full of action and intensity.
Overall, the defensive line dominated the day on all levels--first-team through the deep reserves. A few players on both sides of the ball had notably positive practices on a steamy morning where the weather fluctuated between bright sun and light rain showers. My focus was primarily on the lines, but some other action wound up right in front of me, so I expanded the vision (and the notes) out a bit.
Here's what I took away from the Lions practice on Friday, July 25th.
Player of the day: Aidan Hutchinson
This is a tough call because there were a few standouts, but my goodness, Aidan Hutchinson. I won't profess to focusing on him on every rep, but he completely dominated throughout both OL vs DL drills and the team period. No. 97 was on fire from the very first rep of the "pit" drill, where he made All-Pro right tackle Penei Sewell look like a rookie with a nasty, ridiculously quick spin move. It's been a recurring theme amongst everyone here at camp so far: you would never know Hutchinson suffered a serious leg injury last fall. He's picked up where he left off--as the Defensive Player of the Year front-runner--and might be even quicker off the snap.
Honorable mention goes to guard Christian Mahogany. The first-team left guard was the only lineman, Sewell included, who consistently won their battles in team drills. Mahogany's ability to quickly reset his feet and keep his shoulders and grip locked in proved incredibly effective all morning.
OL alignments
Graham Glasgow was back in as the first-team center for the second day in a row, with second-round pick Tate Ratledge moving to right guard. Before practice, head coach Dan Campbell downplayed reading too much into Ratledge not being at center. Both Glasgow and Ratledge had more minuses than plusses in practices, with the veteran Glasgow really struggling against interior power.
Jamarco Jones worked at both left tackle and right tackle with the second-team offense at varying points, with Giovanni Manu also playing on the left side at times. Jones had (by far!) his best day of training camp, making a couple of nice reach blocks and also pinning DE Ahmed Hassanein inside on an outside toss play. In the pit drill, he easily nullified an uncreative bull rush from Myles Adams. Nate Lynn got Jones with a great, quick inside dip on the next rep, however.
Kingsley Eguakun took a lot of reps at right guard after primarily playing center on the reserve units throughout camp and OTAs. Much like the Glasgow/Ratledge dynamic on the starting O-line, the Lions appear to be cross-training and looking for combinations that click more than anything else that can be read into the early days.
The walking wounded
Rookie DT Tyleik Williams was not seen at practice, unexpectedly. He spoke with the media after Thursday's practice and gave zero indication of anything bothering him. He's been very impressive thus far and noted he was really looking forward to getting the pads on.
Undrafted rookie safety Ian Kennelly was not spotted at practice. Kennelly has impressed throughout camp, notably in coverage situations.
CB Terrion Arnold and LB Derrick Barnes were back in action after leaving Thursday's practices. Barnes had his left hand in a small club.
Not in action but present: LB Alex Anzalone, DL Roy Lopez, CB Ennis Rakestraw and RB Sione Vaki.
WR Tim Patrick went and worked with a trainer on Mt. Patricia after the early position drills. After a few minutes, he was back with his group but did not take any team reps. LB Malcolm Rodriguez worked extensively with trainers on the side, including some light change-of-direction drills and work on the hill, too.
D-line domination
The pit drills were roughly 60/40 in favor of the defense, which is to be expected; the defender has the slight advantage in the one-on-one contests. Once the units moved to the full team 11-on-11 drills, the ratio in favor of the defense skyrocketed to roughly 90/10.
DT D.J. Reader was a complete wrecking ball on the inside. He pushed and drove Glasgow almost at will. On one rep, Reader took out both Glasgow and Ratledge (at RG), steering the double-team to the side for an easy TFL on David Montgomery for Barnes and DB Brian Branch. On another rep, Reader's quick up-the-gut pressure forced Jared Goff to hurry a throw that blew up the timing on a pass to Sam LaPorta that could have been big with more time.
Hutchinson and fellow DE Marcus Davenport consistently crushed the can, to borrow Dan Campbell's preferred vernacular for outside-in pass rush. When the next unit came in, Pat O'Connor and Isaac Ukwu each had clean wins for tackles right at or just behind the line in the run game. O'Connor bagged a likely sack of QB Hendon Hooker while rushing from a 5T alignment on the left side, though Hooker did make a quick step outside to avoid it too.
I did spend a considerable amount of attention on OT Giovanni Manu, which I'll write up separately. Baby steps today for the precocious giant.
Tackling drill
As the pit drill was getting set up, the offensive skill positions and the non-linemen on the defense engaged in a one-on-one tackle drill in space. The offense carried the advantage on the first time through, but the defense scored a few more wins on the repeat matchups. That started at the very beginning, with WR Jameson Williams scooting past CB Terrion Arnold on their first rep but Arnold getting him back on the next one with an audible pad pop.
Jack Campbell and David Montgomery also split their battles, as did RB Jabari Small and LB DaRon Gilbert. Rookie wideout Isaac TeSlaa abused DB Morice Norris on both reps, while rookie TE Zach Horton (impressive once again) got over on LB Anthony Pittman both times, the second with a stiff arm that drew some oohs from the friends and family in the stands.
The biggest victory came from CB Amik Robertson, who annihilated rookie WR Dominic Lovett after the wideout tried a premature and superfluous jump move. Robertson drove his shoulder pads through a hapless Lovett's chest just as he landed, to the great joy of the defensive players and coaches.
Quick hits
--Arnold made a very nice play on a pass from Goff to Williams up the sideline in a coverage drill. Williams had the ball in both hands but Arnold got his hand (or arm) in between them and the ball popped free as they went to the ground. The two Alabama products jawed loudly but (relatively) good-naturedly for the rest of the drill--as they've done all camp.
--The Goff-to-LaPorta connection continues to be the most reliable thing for the first-team offense.
--WR Ronnie Bell had his best day of camp, thriving in team drills with on-the-move receptions from Hooker and QB Kyle Allen. His quick feet and ability to change speeds on horizontal routes worked well.
--Special teams drills involved gunning, inside containment/pursuit and blocking. Winners: LB Grant Stuard (as always), RB Craig Reynolds, WR Jackson Meeks, DB Morice Norris, LB Jack Campbell (yes, he played ST) and LB Trevor Nowaske. Non-winners include S Dan Jackson, WR Isaac TeSlaa, WR Ronnie Bell and CB Dicaprio Bootle, who would probably like to forget the entire practice ever happened.
--Aside from special teams, where his blocking is too tall and unnatural, TeSlaa had a fine morning playing both in the slot and outside. He flashed an extra gear to run under a deep throw in early drills that earned a pat on the head from Bootle.
--Second-year safety Loren Strickland hasn't done much of note other than being completely lethal when he blitzes from the slot. He got a sure sack on Kyle Allen and had the offensive coaches fuming after the rep that nobody even tried to pick him up. No. 24 hides his intentions very well and gets to top speed in a heartbeat.
--Most lighthearted moment: Jameson Williams bobbled and then fumbled a kickoff return attempt. After failing to fall on it once, he finally secured it before the coverage team could quite get on the ball. Safety Kerby Joseph came over as if he was going to help Jamo up, but instead swatted the ball out of his hand.