Day 2 of Detroit Lions training camp was my first day in Allen Park for the 2026 edition of camp. On a wonderfully sun-soaked morning, the Lions ripped through an unpadded practice that was scheduled for 90 minutes but wound up running a little long.

Here’s some of what I took away from the on-field action.

Offense was sloppy

It’s never a good sign when the offense has to re-huddle on the second snap on the 11-vs-11 team script, but that’s what happened. Someone wasn’t aligned properly, regardless of the defensive look. It happened again later in the same series, too, to the vocal bemusement of assistant head coach Scottie Montgomery.

The defense, by and large, held the upper hand on the plays that actually ran, as well. D.J. Wonnum ruined a run play by immediately knifing inside rookie first-round RT Blake Miller with a sweet low rip move. Tyleik Williams played matador to an offensive lineman (likely Tate Ratledge but my vantage point was obscured) to quickly snuff out another inside run.

Jared Goff was generally sharp with his passes, but he did get victimized by a very impressive Derrick Barnes interception early in the same team drill. Barnes feigned a blitz and quickly dropped into the lane for a backside slant. Goff never saw him and Barnes leaped to make a nice two-handed catch.

QB notes

Teddy Bridgewater remains QB2, but he was not sharp on Thursday. Even in the receiving drills before the team session, Bridgewater had a couple of notable bad misses. He airmailed a simple seam throw to Tay Martin, and made both Tom Kennedy and Malik Cunningham work much harder than needed to secure catches. This is without any defense present. Later, he threw a “hospital ball” to TE Zach Horton, who made the catch only because safety Loren Strickland wasn’t allowed to hit and pulled off.

Teddy did have a couple of throws in team session that remind you why he’s a welcomed presence back in Detroit after a year coaching high school football. Bridgewater expertly feathered a sideline ball to WR Greg Dortch (impressively quick) between layers of a zone, though that play might have been done early because of a “sack”. Near the end of practice, Bridgewater made a quick read and perfectly led RB Kye Robichaux on a swing pass that turned into a massive gain up the right sideline.

Undrafted rookie Luke Altmyer was more accurate than Bridgewater in both drills and during team sessions. Altmyer shows a consistently quick release and there is some zip on his throws across the middle. The rookie is less adventurous than Bridgewater, more accepting of taking his first checkdown read.

In general, there was a focus on the shorter/quicker passing game throughout all the units.

Play of the day

Wideout Cedrick Wilson made an exceptional one-handed stab up the right sideline over what was very tight coverage from CB Khalil Dorsey. That elicited some oohs and ahs from several teammates and coaches, as well as the media–it happened right in front of us.

Special teams

One constant throughout the Dan Campbell era is the importance of special teams in deciding depth position battles. That is not expected to change in 2026, and we got some early winners and losers in kick return/coverage drills.

Thumbs up:

Eric O’Neill
Trevor Nowaske
Damone Clark
Loren Strickland
Ahmed Hassanein

Thumbs down:

Anthony Lucas
Derrick Moore
Jackson Meeks
Miles Kitselman

The sequence of returners, which may or may not be indicative of the team’s pecking order:

Greg Dortch
Tom Kennedy
Isiah Pacheco
Malik Cunningham
Lawrence Keys
Isaac TeSlaa
Amon-Ra St. Brown

Dortch and Kennedy each took a second rep before Dominic Lovett ended the drill with his lone rep. As far as the returns go, Dortch, Cunningham and Keys had the most successful ones. Keys might’ve housed a return thanks in part to a great block from Trevor Nowaske and some blown backside containment.

Kicker Jake Bates went 3-for-5 in actual FG attempts versus a defense. He missed twice from 43 yards, kicking from the left hash. Both were wide right and the second missed worse than the first. Bates kicked the third attempt from that spot almost out of the practice facility and right down the middle.

Quick hits

–One of the consistent voices resonating from the coaches is the phrase “Super Bowl level”. I heard it quite a few times, mainly on plays that looked good but could be a little better.

–CB Nick Whiteside was the star of the first day, and he stacked another strong outing on top with a diving breakup on a quick pass to WR Malik Cunningham that showcased both anticipation and click-to-close burst.

–Sione Vaki took the most first-team RB reps with Jahmyr Gibbs sitting out. He still lacks vision and acceleration as a runner, but he is a load once he gets rolling downhill.

–Vaki was the last player out on the practice field, working on his footwork and pad level well after media sessions for other players ended and the WRs (St. Brown and others) got their work on the Jugs machine.

–There were a lot of 3-LB sets in the coverage drills, even against some looks with just 1 TE and 1 RB. Malcolm Rodriguez joined starters Jack Campbell and Derrick Barnes in those looks. Results were a mixed bag for the unit as a whole.

–In the first rep of a series, Jameson Williams ran a picture-perfect out route, snatched an accurate throw from Jared Goff and focused on getting both feet down inbounds, which he did easily. As it happened with him nearly running into the media scrum on the sideline, a smiling Jamo hit us with a “Y’all like that?” a la Kirk Cousins.

–Jamo and Dortch each earned loud praise from WR coach Scottie Montgomery for their attention to detail on a blocking drill.

–One of my overriding takeaways that extends from an impressive minicamp: Greg Dortch is closer to Isaac TeSlaa as WR3 than anyone is to usurping Dortch himself as WR4. And TeSlaa, who looks great, has nothing to fear. That’s how big the gap looks between Dortch and everyone else competing to make the WR room.

–Even though he claims to have dropped 50 pounds, Tyleik Williams is still built and bulked like a nose tackle.

–As for the post-practice Kerby Joseph press conference, I don’t really know what to add other than to add that it appeared Kerby voluntarily came over to the media station to hold court. I didn’t learn anything of consequence from it other than to check Kerby’s YouTube channel.