The Detroit Lions held their first scrimmage of 2025 training camp in an effort to get their starters some reps, as most won’t play in the team’s upcoming Hall of Fame preseason game.
Participation report
The Lions saw the participation levels of Alex Anzalone and D.J. Reed increase for this scrimmage, but Terrion Arnold was forced to leave the practice early to be evaluated for a hamstring injury. For all the details on the Lions currently injured players, check out our Lions injury updates from on Tuesday.
Aidan Hutchinson dominates
Erik:
The Lions held offense took the field for 10 possessions during their scrimmage on Tuesday, utilizing their starter on seven of them. Overall, the Lions’ first-team defense definitively “won” five of the seven series, and three of those possessions ended on third down sacks from Aidan Hutchinson.
On the first possession, the Lions opened the series with a run, and then got behind the sticks on a great play from Jack Campbell, setting up an obvious passing situation on third-and-long. Hutchinson made quick work of Dan Skipper and was in the backfield to secure the sack before the play even had a chance to unfold. This was a theme for the day.
The Lions had a seven-play series that ended in a missed field goal next, followed by a three-and-out. Then in the fourth series, the offense showed some life, but again ended up in a third-and-medium. Hutchinson, again, unleashed on Skipper and ended the series with another sack.
Two series later, the Lions’ first-team offense started on the opponent’s 40-yard line, but after two short gains, the offense had another third-and-medium, and once again, Skipper failed to hold back Hutchinson’s power—a third sack that killed yet another drive. While Jake Bates was able to successfully kick a 60-yard field goal to get points on the drive, this was a series that was certainly won by the defense.
Hutchinson is all the way back, folks.
Defense secures 8 sacks in 10 series
Jeremy:
In addition to Hutchinson’s three sacks, the following players got to the quarterback during Tuesday’s scrimmage:
- Jack Campbell (through a Jahmyr Gibbs block attempt)
- A split sack between Keith Cooper Jr. and Pat O’Connor
- Anthony Pittman
- Trevor Nowaske (who fought through a chip from a tight end and blew through the running back)
- Nate Lynn (nice inside move)
The Lions continue to be very aggressive with their pass rush, constantly sending extra linebackers and defensive backs into attack mode.
Jack Campbell and Brian Branch are consistently around the ball
Erik:
In previous years, we’ve seen several Lions player make significant strides in their third NFL seasons. While it’s not often we see large jumps from established starters, it’s easy to see the improvements from third-year defenders Jack Campbell and Brain Branch.
Campbell’s physicality in the middle of the Lions defense is impressive. On the second play of this scrimmage, Campbell blew up a pass blocking attempt from Jahmyr Gibbs (noted above) and secured a sack. On the first play of the second series, he was in on a tough run stop of David Montgomery with some help from DJ Reader. Campbell’s ability to make plays on early downs, combined with Hutchinson’s ability to shut drives down on third-down make for a very effective combination in the front-seven.
While Campbell and Hutchinson have found succes at different times, Branch is all over the field on what seems like almost every play. We’ve seen Branch making impacts blitzing, filling run fits, drawing penalties, and dropping into coverage—and that was just today. If this trend continues, we’re going to start seeing/having conversations about him as potentially being the best safety in the NFL.
Play action gets offense out of rut
Jeremy:
The Lions’ passing attack was having a miserable day, mainly due to the pass rush. However, they were able to finally break free in the second half of practice by getting the quarterback on the move. The play that worked consistently all practice was a play-action bootleg, allowing either Jared Goff or Hendon Hooker to find some open space and typically hit a receiver on a crossing route. I counted at least six instances of a play-action rollout resulting in a “win” for the offense, including the game-ending touchdown pass to Tim Patrick.
While a lot of attention has been on new offensive coordinator John Morton opening up the deep shots, much of the damage the Lions offense has done this camp has actually been the middle-of-the-field stuff that worked well last year. We actually haven’t seen Detroit connect on many long passes during full-team drills this training camp, although they have certainly tried a few times each practice.
Running game leads to points
Erik:
While the play-action pass helped get the Lions passing game out of a rut, their running game is what helped them get a rhythm on their drives and eventually led to points.
After four series with the Lions failing to score, Detroit opened with two runs from Gibbs that gained around 8 yards. After a successful third down pass, the Lions went back to Gibbs on the ground for another 4 yards, followed by a play-action pass, and then another Gibbs run that gained 20 yards. The Lions swapped in David Montgomery, who ran on consecutive plays, gaining 16 yards and the first touchdown of the day. The Lions would score on their next two drives.
Special teams notes
Jeremy:
It was an up-and-down day for Jake Bates. After pushing some warmup kicks wide left, that carried over into the scrimmage. He shanked a 54-yard field goal way left, and then it appeared a 51-yard field goal also drifted (just barely) wide left.
That said, he rebounded nicely for the rest of the scrimmage. He drilled a 60 yarder with plenty of leg to spare, and split the uprights on both of his extra point attempts.
One thing to keep an eye on this preseason: kick returner. The Lions have tried a bunch of players at that position, including Jameson Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs, Craig Reynolds, Dominic Lovett, Tom Kennedy, Terrion Arnold, and more. One unexpected player got a return during the scrimmage: linebacker Grant Stuard. We’ve seen them play around with Stuard earlier in camp, but this seems to give some legitimacy to him at that position.
At this point, I don’t have a clear frontrunner for the job, and that figures to be an important position with an increase in returns expected in 2025. Don’t be surprised if the kick return winner earns that job through the preseason.
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