Pride of Detroit
Five observations from Day 1 of Detroit Lions OTAs, based on team highlights and photos.
On Wednesday, the Detroit Lions took the field for their first of six Organized Team Activity (OTAs) practices over the next two weeks. With media not yet present for Lions practices, all we can gather about the session is from what the Lions themselves offered via highlights and a photo gallery. You can access the photo gallery here. The highlights are below:
Because we’re starved for Lions content (both from a content producer and consumer standpoint), here’s everything notable I noticed:
As he promised last week, Hutchinson was medically cleared from his broken leg to participate. He was clearly the focus of cameras, as we see him come on the field and participate in some positional drills. We do not, however, see him do any team drills. That doesn’t mean he didn’t participate in any, but it’s worth pointing out. He may still be limited.
At the 26-second mark, we see No. 23 (Rock Ya-Sin) with the ball already in his hands and running in the other direction while the offense is chasing him. The pass appears to have been intended for Jameson Williams (now wearing No. 1). It’s hard to tell who the quarterback was, but there is a brief shot of Kyle Allen with his hands in the air.
If Allen was indeed the culprit in the interception, that means he was throwing with Williams out here. Allen is later seen throwing a nice pass to Sam LaPorta for a toe-tapping reception along the sidelines. Could he be getting early reps? Both Jared Goff and Hendon Hooker were present, as evidenced by the final photo in Wednesday’s gallery. Obviously Allen isn’t in play for the starting job, but could he possibly start OTAs as QB2? Will he and Hooker split days as QB2, like the Lions have done in previous years? It’s tfoo early to jump to conclusions, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye on.
A well-timed freeze frame of the highlight reel shows a few players who were at practice but clearly not participating. It’s hard to identify most of them, but one looks to be Lions third-round rookie receiver Isaac TeSlaa (in the shorts)
TeSlaa did not appear anywhere else in the highlights nor the photo gallery. He participated in the first day of rookie minicamp a few weeks back, so it’s unclear if this is injury-related or not.
No reason for panic at this point, but there have been three players who have been noticeably absent from offseason workout photos all year: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Alex Anzalone, and Frank Ragnow.
For St. Brown, we know he’s been in the facility, as TeSlaa previously mentioned passing him in the hallways. The Lions All-Pro receiver skipped the [Pro...
