The Detroit Lions are officially in the early stages of the most anticipated season in franchise history. The regular season begins in less than two months. In the meantime, training camp serves as the football fix that's been craved since the vindictive ending of last season.
Training camp kicks off Wednesday, July 24th, while Monday, July 29th, is the first day open to the public. Here are five of the most intriguing storylines heading into training camp for the Detroit Lions.
Can Jameson Williams levitate above competition?
There's no player the Lions are more dependent on to take a leap than Jameson Williams in 2024.
After a torn ACL sidelined Jamo for the first 12 weeks of his rookie season, the infamous and egregious gambling suspension kept the former 12th overall pick out for the first four games of the 2023 campaign.
More importantly, Williams wasn't fully present for training camp for the second consecutive season, hindering his opportunities to develop chemistry with Jared Goff. The lack of reps with his quarterback was apparent during his first month back in action, registering five drops in four games. Williams didn't record a drop in the final 11 contests of the season, including the playoffs.
Though Williams only recorded a total of 433 receiving yards on 30 receptions in 2023 (including playoffs), the former Crimson Tide racked up six receptions on nine targets for 78 yards in three playoff games, adding on two touchdowns in the NFC Championship game.
Williams' flashes of stardom were enough for Lions' GM Brad Holmes to invest in their young wide receiver. Holmes and the front office elected not to replace the loss of Josh Reynolds in free agency or the draft. Reynolds finished with the 2nd most receiving yards, touchdowns, and 1st downs amongst wide receivers on the team last season. The team had intentions to re-sign Reynolds.
The soon-to-be eight-year veteran eventually signed a two-year deal with Denver, leaving 608 yards, five TDs, and 64 targets worth of production to disperse amongst the likes of Jameson Williams, Antoine Green, Kalif Raymond, Sam LaPorta, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Jahmyr Gibbs, etc., with the hope Williams can take the bulk of it.
Even Dan Campbell praised Williams during spring OTAs.
"Give me one player that is the most improved from that start to finish in that time, and Jamo would be that guy right now," Campbell said. "He is a man on a mission, and I'm just going to leave it at that."
Entering year three of his NFL career, Jameson Williams is seeking his first full preseason training camp barring any injuries. Whether or not Williams is ready to take on a much larger workload will directly impact the Lions' offensive ceiling. Flashy plays every other week won't cut it anymore.
Williams can't blend in with the receivers behind him in the depth chart. He must levitate above them, giving opposing defensive coordinators another weapon to gameplan against. What a headache.
Who emerges as Hutchinson's running mate?
Detroit certainly doesn't lack star power on offense. Amon Ra St. Brown, Jahamyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta, and Penei Sewell dominate conversations centered around why the Lions can win the Super Bowl. But don't underestimate what the highest overall draft selection on the roster is capable of.
Aidan Hutchinson led the league in QB Hits (23) during the 2023 regular season, while finishing second in hurries (67) and pressures (101), per PFF. However, the Michigan native only recorded 4.5 sacks through the first nine weeks of the season. Hutchinson rebounded well, finishing with 11.5 sacks in the regular season. Including playoffs, the 23-year-old recorded eight sacks in his final five contests, proving to be one of the league's most dominant young pass rushers.
Hutchinson has the talent to become the best player on a defense capable of winning a Super Bowl. PFF recently ranked him as their sixth-best EDGE in the NFL as his pass-win rate nearly doubled from 2022 to 2023. Fan Duel gives him the sixth shortest odds to win Defensive Player of the Year. But to climb the rankings and take home awards, Hutchinson will need help from the rest of his defensive line.
After signing defensive tackle DJ Reader in free agency, this will undoubtedly be the most talented support group Hutchinson has received on the defensive line thus far in his career. The combination of Reader and Alim McNeill should shrink Hutchinson's double-team rate naturally.
However, who ends up taking the majority of the reps as the pass rusher opposite of Hutchinson is currently unknown.
The two most likely candidates are Josh Paschal, the Lions' 2022 second-round draft selection, and Marcus Davenport, who the Lions signed to a one-year contract worth $6.5 million this offseason.
Davenport is entering his 7th season in the NFL, none of which have been as productive as his 2021 campaign with the New Orleans Saints where he tallied nine sacks in 11 games. Since then, Davenport has just 2.5 sacks in 19 games, as injuries have plagued the last couple of seasons of his career. It was a high ankle sprain that kept Davenport out 13 games for Minnesota last season and is the reason he'll begin training camp on the PUP list.
Still, Davenport is only 27 years old and the Lions coaching staff believes they can bring the best out of the former 1st round pick. Lions' DC Aaron Glenn and Head Coach Dan Campbell both spent three years on the New Orleans coaching staff while Davenport was in the early stages of his career.
Paschal has youth on his side at just 24 years old but lacks production. In two seasons, the former Kentucky Wildcat has played in 22 games (eight starts), registering just three sacks, however, finished the season with a 65.5 PFF Run Defense Grade (49th).
Paschal missed five weeks last season due to a knee injury before returning and seeing an increase in playing time. The key for the 3rd year veteran in 2024 will be consistency according to Dan Campbell.
"He does have the versatility to play inside on third down, play outside, kind of the big end," Campbell said. "He's strong, he's pretty heads-y, but he's still a young, developing player."
"Just some of the one-one-ones and getting to where he consistently wins when he's got a one-on-one there."
At 6'3", 275 lbs, Paschal still has athletic upside and build to emerge as the front runner to play opposite of Aidan Hutchinson next season despite being mostly unproven up to this point.
James Houston should also be mentioned as a candidate to see the bulk of snaps in that role. After all, Houston did rack up eight sacks in seven games during his rookie season before a broken fibula kept him out 15 games in 2023. But at 6'1", 245 lbs, Houston has to prove he brings more to the table than just getting after the QB if he wants to take a firm grasp of the starting role.
Whether it be as a run stopper (45.9 PFF Run Defense Grade), or someone who can drop back into coverage (44.1 PFF Coverage Grade), Houston needs to make up for his lack of size. Until then, he'll likely be used in situational pass rush downs.
How does the secondary shakeout during training camp?
If there's such thing as a good problem to have, Aaron Glenn is facing it during training camp when it comes to the revamped secondary.
After Cam Sutton allowed the most receiving yards of any corner in the NFL last season, the Lions added Amik Robertson from Las Vegas via free agency, gave up a 3rd round pick to acquire Carlton Davis from Tampa Bay, and drafted Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw with their first two picks in the 2024 NFL Draft. Not to mention, Emmanuel Moseley is back with the Lions after playing two snaps last season before tearing his ACL for the second time in just as many seasons.
So what's the problem? Well, for some of the recent additions, snaps could be sparse.
By all accounts, Brian Branch will be playing more safety this year, after spending his rookie season as the primary nickel corner. While Branch excelled at that position for a rookie (11 PBUs, 3 INTs, 34 STOPs), it limited his ability to stay on the field when the Lions elected to have an extra LB on the field rather than a DB. For example, in a Week 14 loss against the Bears, Branch played just 52% of defensive snaps. A player as talented and versatile as Branch needs to be on the field as much as possible, and the simplest path to do so is to embrace him as a safety.
Does Branch start at safety alongside Kerby Joseph, pushing Ifeatu Melifonwu to the bench while opening the door for Amik Robertson or Ennis Rakestraw to take over the nickel roll? Or does Branch continue starting at the nickel, leaving Amik Robertson and Ennis Rakestraw to fight for the second string roll? Time will tell.
It's safe to lock in Carlton Davis as a starter on the outside. The expectation is for Terrion Arnold to take the reigns as CB2. Kerby Joseph isn't losing his starting spot at safety after back-to-back seasons with four interceptions. The rest is up in the air.
Jack Campbell ready for more responsibility?
Sam LaPorta, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Brian Branch were amongst the best rookies in the NFL last season. Jack Campbell was not.
Not all Lions fans were pleased when Holmes took an off-ball linebacker 18th overall in the 2023 draft. But the Lions saw something in Jack Campbell that not everyone else did.
Jack Campbell played in all 20 games for the Detroit Lions this season, including a career-high 59 snaps in the NFC Championship. Aaron Glenn used Jack Campbell as both an off-ball linebacker and a pass rusher with mixed results at both positions.
There are few linebackers built like Jack Campbell. At 6'5", 243 lbs, the former Iowa Hawkeye recorded a 9.98 Relative Athletic Score during his NFL Combine, the sixth-highest RAS score of any linebacker tested at the combine. He scored higher than All-Pro LB Fred Warner, NFL Hall-of-Famer Brian Urlacher, and future Hall-of-Famer Bobby Wagner. It's unfair to put those types of expectations onto the soon-to-be 24-year-old. But Lions' LB coach Kelvin Sheppard wouldn't be shocked if Campbell eventually becomes a star in this league.
"I'm telling you it's at another level. This guy here's operating like an eight-year vet as far as making the calls, how he sets the standard of how we practice as a defense, and I think other guys are starting to look towards him now."
High praise.
Campbell was given the "green dot" during OTAs this spring, giving him direct communication with Aaron Glenn. Alex Anzalone, who wasn't present for OTAs, wore the green dot last season for the Lions.
He's got the athletic tools, work ethic, coachability, and all the other un-coachable traits you want in a linebacker. Now it's just a matter of putting it all together on the field. Is he ready?
What Rookies will rise up the depth chart?
The Lions typically start their rookies at the bottom of the depth chart and make them earn their way up. With the roster as talented as it has ever been, the path to rise up the depth chart will be uphill and rugged for most of the 2024 draft class.
Terrion Arnold is the exception here, as he is the starting CB2 in my eyes walking into training camp. Ennis Rakestraw's path for playing time will be dependent on how Aaron Glenn uses Brian Branch this season. He'll likely battle Amik Robertson for snaps.
6th round pick Christian Mahogany and 4th round pick Giovanni Manu will serve as backups, as the starting offensive line is swell established.
The second 4th round selection, Sione Vaki, in my opinion, was drafted to be the kick returner under the new set of kickoff rules. Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery will get nearly every snap at RB so long as their healthy. Craig Reynolds and Sione Vaki will battle for the RB3 spot. Reynolds has been with the Lions for three years, so has the advantage of knowing the playbook and system. However, Vaki has been studying the playbook since before the draft.
DT Mekhi Wingo, the Lions 4th round draft selection out of LSU, finds himself in an interesting situation to begin camp. Alim McNeill and DJ Reader will start. Wingo will have competition with 2021 2nd-round pick Levi Onwuzurike, and 2023 3rd-round selection Brodric Martin, who played in just 28 snaps in his rookie season, to earn backup reps. Wingo is undersized at 6'0", 291 lbs, but is athletic enough to bounce to the outside for NASCAR packages and get after the QB. Will his versatility be enough to earn him significant playing time in 2024?
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