OTA Week 2 observations: Offense gets off to a hot start before rookie CB nabs INT

Our Detroit Lions OTA Week 2 observations features big plays from the offense, some skirmishes, and Terrion Arnold arriving.

Last week during the first week of OTAs, the Detroit Lions offense looked like it had some significant rust. They opened 11-on-11s with three straight incompletions, a near interception, and a draw play that went nowhere. Soon after, Jameson Williams dropped a big pass, and while the offense eventually recovered, it was more bad than good.

On Thursday—the team’s fifth OTA session and second open to the media—the offense got off to a much better start. Let’s get into it with our Week 2 OTA observations.

Note: For more information on who was practicing and who was out, check out our Week 2 injury/participation report .

The deep ball is back

Jared Goff kicked off both 7-on-7s and 11-on-11s with successful deep shots. The first was to Jameson Williams, who had beaten Kindle Vildor by a step. Williams did a very impressive job finding the ball over his shoulder and holding on for a huge gain. Tracking the ball was an issue last year, but this was a high degree of difficulty and Williams absolutely nailed it.

The second deep shot came in 11-on-11s, when Kalif Raymond successfully threaded both safeties (Brandon Joseph and Ifeatu Melifonwu). The ball was a little underthrown, but Raymond had enough separation to slow down and make the catch.

Arise, Terrion Arnold

The defense did a nice job striking back in the second half of practice, sparked by an impressive play from first-round pick Terrion Arnold. During a situational drill—1:19 left, starting on the offense’s own 37-yard line—the first-team offense lasted just a single play. Goff held onto the ball too long, then tried to hit Williams on a crossing route. The rookie cornerback stepped in front of the ball and took it the other way. It was sticky coverage and great anticipation.

Other situational drills

When the second-team offense attempted the same drill, Hendon Hooker was able to move the team into field goal position. Thanks to a 23-yard pass to Daurice Fountain—who saw plenty of targets from Hooker on Thursday—Detroit moved inside the 35-yard line to set up a 54-yard field goal. Unfortunately, Michael Badgley came up a smidge short, but James Turner knocked it through with ease.

After those two sessions, the Lions offense moved into a much more urgent situation: down three points, 24 seconds left, starting on their own 30-yard line.

The first-team offense quickly gained 36 yards thanks to a 7-yard crosser to Amon-Ra St. Brown, who got out of bounds. That was followed up by an impressive deep shot to Jameson Williams—which required more in-air adjustment from Williams—for 29 yards. Again, though, Badgley missed the ensuing 52-yarder while Turner made it with nearly 10 yards to spare.

While it’s certainly disappointing to see Badgley struggle in these situational drills, it’s worth noting that while kicking off to the side on an unused field during practice, he was consistently making from 50+ yards.

High-impact day from Mathieu Betts

With Julian Okwara off to the Eagles and James Houston still sidelined, this is a prime opportunity for CFL star Mathieu Betts to prove his worth in Detroit’s SAM linebacker role—which has him playing the edge but also dropping back into coverage often. The coverage aspect is still very much a work in progress. But I logged him on three separate occasions recording what would have been a sack or half-sack.

I’m wary of jumping to any conclusions on offensive line/defensive line play when the pads aren’t on yet, but Betts has caught my eye in each of the three practices I’ve seen (two OTAs and rookie minicamp). Of course, padless practice accentuates his strengths—speed, agility. If he maintains that production when things get more physical, then he’ll have a real shot at making an impact here.

Mini-fight stops practice

Early in practice, two scuffles during one session forced Lions coaches to stop the practice entirely. Dan Campbell pulled the entire team together, spoke for about a minute, then the Lions moved onto the next session. It was the far end of the field, so I didn’t catch what exactly had caused the skirmishes, but at one point, Levi Onwuzurike appeared to have his helmet ripped off.

Rough day for Hendon Hooker

I described Hooker’s practice last week as up-and-down. On Thursday, it was mostly down. He had accuracy issues all day, and it wasn’t one consistent issue. He struggled to hit receivers in stride, overthrew some, short-armed others. And on a few occasions, he held onto the ball too long. The worst play came on what looked to be some sort of miscommunication. Hooker dropped back to throw a WR screen, but threw it right at cornerback Steven Gilmore, who made a nice grab and took it to the house for a pick-six.

If there was one positive note from practice, it was his work on the move. One throw in particular, as he was rolling out of the pocket to his right, had nice velocity and decent accuracy given his inability to set his feet. He also gained 20+ yards on a scramble up the middle, although it looked like the defense should have been awarded a sack on the play.

That said, Campbell noted that Hooker had a strong practice on Wednesday and showed “some improvement.” So maybe it was just a bad day for him.

Notable personnel moves

• After getting most of his reps at tackle last week, second-year offensive lineman Colby Sorsdal worked mostly at guard with a shorthanded offensive line on Thursday (notably: Kevin Zeitler was not present). It’s clear they’re still cross training him at tackle, as well.
• The Lions rotated players opposite Aidan Hutchinson, but the most common player with the starters was Josh Paschal. With no DJ Reader, Chris Smith and Levi Onwuzurike split time with the first-team defense alongside Alim McNeill.
• Brandon Joseph took all the first-team reps that I saw at safety with Ifeatu Melifonwu, as Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch are both expected to miss the rest of offseason workouts.
• With no Antoine Green, Donovan Peoples-Jones and Kalif Raymond took most of the first-team reps alongside St. Brown and Williams.

Emptying the notebook:

• It doesn’t mean much without pads, but the run game was lifeless on Thursday—likely due to Detroit’s shorthanded offensive line. Several plays were blown up in the backfield.
• Daurice Fountain had a notable practice. He has continually flashed his athleticism with leaping grabs and seems to be a favorite target of Hooker. However, he also had a drop.
• Speaking of WRs, rookie minicamp tryout receiver Kaden Davis made another big play during the final sessions of 7-on-7, coming down with a contested deep shot with Khalil Dorsey draped all over him.
• The Lions did a drill I haven’t seen them do in the three years under Dan Campbell. It was just a single play, but it started with wide receivers already down field, and St. Brown “tackled.” Basically, the offense was tasked to hustle back to the line, give the ball to the ref, call, and then run a play with the time ticking, while the defense had to adjust to everything on the fly. The play “failed” for the offense, as Hutchinson got a pressure (possible sack) lined up against Dan Skipper and Goff threw it away.
• Another strong day from Amik Robertson, who nearly got an interception on an out route intended for Sam LaPorta.