Through the first four days of training camp, the Detroit Lions have been unusually healthy, and as of Saturday’s practice, that good fortune seemed to be continuing. Apart from the unfortunate announcement that kicker Michael Badgley will miss the entire season, the Lions still only have two players missing from practice: rookie guard Christian Mahogany, who has been sidelined due to illness, and defensive tackle DJ Reader, who is still, predictably, listed as physically unable to perform.
On Saturday, the Lions received even better news: it seemed that two key players were cleared to participate in team drills. On Saturday, defensive end Marcus Davenport and running back Jahmyr Gibbs played their first 11-on-11 drills of training camp
Gibbs is expected to take a big step in his second NFL season after posting 945 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns in his rookie year. The Lions’ focus for him in Year 2 appears to be route running. We’ve seen Gibbs take individual reps with receivers early in camp, and he has also been putting extra work with Amon-Ra St. Brown to hammer out details with his releases and footwork.
“He’s kind of a ton better at that too, you can see he’s been working on it,” quarterback Jared Goff said. “He really has. His hands and his route running has improved pretty significantly, and I know we plan to use him in a lot of ways.”
For Davenport, it marks the end of a protracted recuperation process following his ankle injury, which necessitated tightrope surgery back in November. The Lions gave Davenport a one-year, $6.5 million contract with a $3 million guarantee this offseason in an attempt to strengthen their pass rush in lieu of Aidan Hutchinson. After recording 9.0 sacks in just 11 games in 2021, Davenport has struggled with injuries ever since.
Davenport is a large, athletic man with a lot of positional flexibility, according to defensive line coach Terrell Williams. In this level, he has a history of playing quite physically. With him and Hutch, we have two extremely large defensive ends—two tall, athletic guys. Actually, that’s all we’re hoping for from him—to play how
After an excused day off, Brian Branch returned to practice, but he is still not allowed to participate in anything other than walkthroughs and individual drills due to an offseason cleanup surgery. Despite this, Branch expressed optimism that he will be back on the field next week, saying, “Hopefully. I’m trying to get back out there with full pads. Hopefully towards the end of next week.”
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