The Detroit Lions are one of 10 NFL teams holding mandatory minicamp this week, part of a veteran-friendly schedule that Dan Campbell has followed in each of his four seasons as Lions coach.
Campbell explained Tuesday that he prefers to hold minicamp in the Week 3 of the NFL's four-week Phase 3 period in part to condense the offseason work for veterans before training camp.
"To me the thought is I want to get nine good practices with the vets, and so I would rather, man, they’ve been here working from Day 1 and let’s get this in," Campbell said. "We’ve got this really, call it ... eight-week period here and so to me, man, they come in, they put the work in, they've been here, then we’re good. We can get that work done in those eight weeks and so they don’t need to be here Week 9 and now we can focus on the young guys for one more week, without the vets being around."
The NFL offseason is separated into three phases of mostly voluntary work, with two weeks of strength and conditioning workouts in Phase 1, followed by three weeks of limited on-field week in Phase 2, and four weeks of pad-less practices in Phase 3.
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Teams can only hold seven-on-seven and full-team periods during minicamp and organized team activities in Phase 3, and all offseason workouts except minicamp are voluntary.
The Lions have excused veterans from the fourth week of OTAs every spring under Campbell, and this year they are only scheduled to use nine of their 10 OTA practices.
Campbell said the Lions could hold a 10th OTA practice next week, but that the numbers don't make that feasible.
"I think that we’ll do an offensive-defensive (day on Monday), we’ll do a special teams on Tuesday and then we’re just going to have them work with (strength coaches) Mike Clark and (Josh) Schuler and those guys in the weight room, and so a lot of it is you can’t do full team," Campbell said. "If you’re going to cut most of the vets loose, then we don’t have enough. But we’ll still get good work, fundamentals, individual. It’s still a chance to develop.”
Up for grabs
The Lions have added so much depth to their secondary this offseason that Campbell said they "have no idea who our starting lineup's going to be right now."
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"It’s exciting," Campbell said. "It’s so good. There's no telling who’s going to be outside corners, who’s going to be our nickel, who’s going to be our safeties. This thing is wide open across the board. It’s going to be great to let these guys compete and just go after it and see who goes and is going to be the most reliable guys for us, most dependable. It’s exciting.”
The Lions revamped their cornerback room this offseason, trading for Carlton Davis, signing Amik Robertson in free agency and taking Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. with their first two draft picks. They cut Cam Sutton, one of last year's starting cornerbacks, for off-field reasons and did not re-sign the other, Jerry Jacobs in free agency. They also return Kindle Vildor, who supplanted Jacobs as starter late last season.
At safety, Kerby Joseph and Ifeatu Melifonwu return after finishing last season as starters and Brian Branch is back at slot cornerback, but Joseph and Branch are returning from offseason surgeries and have not practiced this summer.
Robertson has spent most of his time playing the slot, with Rakestraw taking No. 2 reps at the position when healthy, and Davis, Arnold and Vildor have taken most of the first-team reps at cornerback. Robertson also can play outside cornerback, and Branch has safety versatility if he does not win the slot job.
Linebacker Alex Anzalone said the Lions' newfound depth in the secondary should help lift up the entire defense.
"I know already playbook-wise it's changed a little bit and we can, just cause of the new faces and who the organization and the staff believe that we have in the back end, we're able to do a few different things as far as relying on them to just cover their guy," Anzalone said. "That obviously affects linebackers, and we can play a little bit more aggressive and not have to help out zone drop and you can match a little bit more, which is when you make more plays in the pass game. So as a linebacker it helps and then also it's just good for the defense overall."
Contact Dave Birkett atdbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on X and Instagram at@davebirkett.
