Lions vs. Texans: Breaking Down Competitive Joint Practices!

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The Lions Joint Practices have been insanely competitive!

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[Music] Hey. [Music] Welcome back to the Lions Collective bonus episode. Bonus app. Yeah, Will never left the studio. He slept here. Uh, it’s good. Uh, I’m Justin Rogers, Detroit Football Network. joined as always Colton Pouncy from The Athletic, Will Birfield, uh at his place of employment at 971. Yeah. Um and and we’re back not on our customary Wednesday time slot doing a little Thursday action today because we thought the joint practices merited uh a little conversation and um so got to start this thing, fellas. Apology apologies to Khalil Dorsy. Uh, we did this big roster breakdown yesterday if you weren’t with us and we go an hour and 15 minutes and we forget that Khalil Dorsy exists and then we get phone calls from Cle from Cleo Dorsy who was like, “Hey, these these people actually probably believe that happened.” But, um, maybe he did. Maybe you got a call. But, uh, look, I I think we’re all putting Khalil Dorsy on the roster. That means Ian Canelli andor Eric Howlet probably out. Uh, are we in agreement with Eric? we just move on to the next thing and and shed our embarrassment. Yeah, I’ll I’ll ask Howlet in order to keep Dorsy. Does that mean Hal’s going to give us a call now? Is that Is that what that means? I just blocked his number. Yeah. Um before we get into the joint practices, uh we always talk to Dan Campbell before uh a practice and I thought it was kind of a an interesting session today and um I don’t want to say he broke any news, maybe maybe a little bit. Uh it sounds like Josh Pascal is going to start uh the season on NFI, make some of the roster decisions easier. I think we kind of slotted him in that spot yesterday. But um there were a couple comments on on Mai Wingo and and Henden Hooker that I just want to touch base with you guys and and you know see what your thoughts were coming out of it. And so um as Campbell uh just with the the difficulty of Wingo being activated here um at the late stages he’s not going to do any team drills uh before the end of camp. And so I just wondered what the challenges of that that evaluation was and and Campbell acknowledged it’s it’s tough. It’s It’s really tough. And And I was listening to the answer and um I think there were a couple different ways you could go at the interpretation. It wasn’t clear, but I I kind of heard it as they weren’t 100% sold on on Wingo making the roster. I think it was not a done deal decision. And um you know, I was curious first of all what what you guys thought of of my interpretation or what maybe your interpretation was. Yeah, you know, when we talked to Wingo at locker room cleanout, he seemed very optimistic that he would be ready to go by maybe even OTAAS, if not then the start of training camp. Um, he revealed a couple days ago when we spoke that he had a cleanup procedure this summer, which kind of set him back a little more. Um, so I was kind of always factoring in Wingo on my roster projection just because, you know, I think at one point Campbell said they hope to have him back in early September and I’m like, okay, then if that’s the case, maybe he can be ready to go for week one. So, I was just kind of slotting him in there tentatively. Um but yeah, I think after hearing Campbell say it’s tough, we don’t really know where he’s at, he’s not going to participate in team stuff, um that’s sort of a curveball and if he’s if they want to give him some time to ramp up fully and actually get out there and practice, then he might not be ready for week one and maybe you can kind of delay that a little bit. But, uh there were a couple guys and and Justin asked some good questions to get some clarification on that that I think kind of changed the equation in terms of the roster math, but Wingo is certainly one of them after after hearing Campbell a little bit. Yeah, it feels a little bit like Wingo is viewing his situation and his timeline through a slightly different lens than maybe Campbell and the coaching staff are. I mean, he said that’s never happened before. Couple he said a couple days ago like he fully expects to be ready to go by week one and and certainly sounded today like the coaching staff thinks otherwise. Now, that might mean he still makes the 53, but I don’t think they’re counting on him to be on the field in Lambo in what is now just two weeks two weeks away, even if Mai in his own mind is. Yeah, I I think the Wingo debate is really interesting because he’s already a unique body type. He, you know, he gets often eclipsed when we’re taking attendance because he’s the smallest defensive tackle by by a mile and you just lose him behind Brick Martin. Uh but he’s he’s already small. uh he didn’t have a very productive rookie year. He’s coming off a very lengthy absence. And I’m half wondering if if Brad Holmes is going, I I think I might be able to slide this guy through waiverss because he only is going to fit so many teams. And I know the Jets had uh some defensive tackle issues that they resolved yesterday with with two trades for defensive tackles. I don’t know, you know, really what Aaron Glenn’s love of, you know, Mai Wingo schematically, but um yeah, I I don’t think it’s a done deal. And I think that’s a I guess an interesting thing for us to watch here as the the 53 is set next week. Um in regards to Hooker uh you know Dan was asked by uh another reporter if if you know the difference between keeping two and three quarterbacks and kind of what goes into that. And you know he stated the obvious you know if we’re going to keep a third quarterback we’re going to have to make a cut somewhere else. Linebacker, safety, offensive line somewhere. And then he said the interesting thing. He said, “Last year is on our minds, you know, with with the way we got hammered with depth issues and and losing guys.” And suddenly you give pause because Campbell doesn’t say these thing like he’s just so honest and he’s he’s just speaking honestly about, you know, how that affected them mentally to lose all those guys. And so suddenly I’m like, I don’t I don’t know. I was so locked in on them keeping the third because of Brad’s tendency to to give his draft picks that longer leash and and the progress we’ve talked about Hooker making. But I I’m less convinced today by a significant margin than I was yesterday. Yeah, I totally agree. I feel like today for the first time we heard the Lions beginning to rationalize cutting Henden Hooker if that’s indeed what it comes to. And I agree. Campbell was just kind of thinking candidly out loud. And I I you know I feel better about what I said here last night, which is that if it were up to me, I just don’t think a roster that is built to win right now this season should be prioritizing a roster spot on a QB3 who’s highly unlikely to ever see game action over a more deserving depth player at a position that might become one of need in week five if you need an extra defensive end or week eight if you need an extra defensive back and with some of the other names that are now re-entering the roster picture, whether it’s Dorsy or even a guy like Wingo, um that could put a pinch on a player like Jackson Meeks or a player like even Keith Cooper. And I think the Lions are being real with themselves when they admit that they’re they’re sort of scarred for the right reasons psychologically by like this mountain of a this avalanche of injuries that buried their defense last year and they don’t want to experience that again just for the sake of keeping a quarterback that might never see the field. It kind of felt today like they’re like maybe soft launching. Uh that’s what I mean like the rationalization was already being explained. Yeah, like I was sitting next to Justin in the press conference at the end of it, we kind of had a conversation like, “Okay, that feels a little different, doesn’t it?” And I don’t know when you hear comments like that where like they know the injury situation they dealt with last year and like you’ve seen it kind of affect their offseason decisions whether it’s, you know, adding guy like Roy Lopez for extra depth in the interior, like some of the moves they made, the guys they brought in. They are focused on like avoiding the situation they went through last year. And that’s easier said than done. That was kind of a freak deal. You can’t really expect that every year, but at least it seems like they’re trying to take account for that and and do everything they can to set themselves up to have that depth ready to go without having to do it, you know, bringing guys from the outside. So, if you’re developing guys in your own camp and you like the players you have and it comes at the expense of a third quarterback who by all accounts is never really going to see the field, that’s a tough decision that you’re going to have to make. And it I I understand that the investment they put in Hendin and you know for a long time it was hard for me to kind of process them cutting him when they spoken so highly of him over the years and were patient with him. They knew that first year is going to be in the ACL, second year was sort of his first year. Like they’ve told us all that in the past, but I think they’re at a point now where the roster is so strong and you are going to lose a good guy or two um if you end up keeping Henden. And if that’s not a decision they’re willing to make, then they’re going to do what’s best for the organization. And if we’re to take them at face value, that could involve cutting Hendon. Yeah, I think their I think their comments on the past in Henden felt to me anyways more like justifications to keeping him around and today’s comments felt more like explanations as to why it no longer maybe no longer makes sense to do that. And the other piece of this to remember is like as damaged as the Lions were on defense last season, they were remarkably and fortuitously healthy on offense. And you can’t really and reasonably expect that to continue this season. And we may have seen the first piece of evidence in regards to that today when when Graham Glasgow leaves practice. And we’ll get into it. But it’s it’s just another reason to consider keeping players at depth spots that might actually be used whether it’s offensive line or defensive line in particular. That 2023 draft is shaping up to be such a weird one. I mean, just four Hall of Famers, right? We’re talking Gibbs, Campbell, Leaporta Branch. Like, you’re talking star power. Campbell’s the worst of that bunch and it he’s pretty damn good. And then you got the back half and and none of those guys might be on the roster after Tuesday with with Henden, Rod Martin, Kobe Sorsdale. Well, IR, but you know what I’m saying, and Antoine Green, just a very very weird draft. But, uh, I think we’ve we’ve talked a lot enough about yesterday. Let’s let’s talk about today. Um, joint practice with the Texans. I I said to Colin, I’ I’ve seen a lot of joint practices. That might have been one of the most entertaining. We had touchdowns, we had turnovers, we had big plays, we had blown big plays, highly competitive, back and forth, but uh we would be mistaken if if we don’t have this Graham Glascow conversation kind of right out the bat. And um we we don’t really know uh what his status is. I I will say it didn’t look terrible uh particularly with with him walking off the field under his own power at the end. And when we say walk off the field, it’s a long walk from the far field to the building. That’s a good 100 plus yards. So, it’s not like uh he didn’t they didn’t need to pull the cart out. Um and he walked off alone, right? Like he wasn’t even attended to by a trainer. Yeah. But it it raised the question for me. Um, it I think it’s a very funny one given how maybe this fan base felt about Glasgow at the end of last season, but he’s kind of now one of the most important players on the roster in the sense that if you lose him, uh, the the replacement is is concerning. And King Kingsley Aguan stepped in today and um, you know, I think that looked about how you would expect it to look. Yeah, I mean that’s unfortunate. I think it happened. Was that the situational period at the end of practice that he left? Um. Yeah. Yeah. So, he went down. He he got up on his own. He was kind of slow to walk, but did walk off under his own power. So, you know, I know when when you’re when you’re on Twitter and you see Graham Glascow leaves with a lower leg injury, you think the worst. It didn’t look entirely bad, but again, we don’t know the diagnosis yet. Um, so I probably have to wait for either one of the insiders to put it out there as they do sometimes or Campbell talking Saturday. But, um, yeah, I agree with you, Justin. he has quickly become one of the most important players on this roster. Uh, one because he already was important because he’s one of the vets in that room and it’s a really young young line right now. Um, but two, it’s just the depth behind him. Uh, they have repped Date Ratlets exclusively at right guard since maybe day three or four. Like that was quickly kind of sorted out. We thought it might drag on a little bit. It really hasn’t. Um, and the guys behind him, uh, you do have Kings League Wakon. Um, you know, Tristan Cologne was a guy that has some center starts under his belt in the NFL, but he goes down with an injury. Um, you know, there’s not many guys that can play that center position. I know Colobby Sorzo was kind of getting some reps there. He goes down. So, like they’re a little bit thin at that at that center position. So, um, again, we could just This could all be for nothing. Maybe Graham’s fine and they’re just easy with him. Uh but if he does have to miss some time, you might have to look outside the organization to bring someone in or maybe get Kingsley ready to go because um you know it it we don’t really know the situation right now, but it could be something. And even if you do go outside and bring in a proven veteran of some kind, he’s just simply not going to have the rapport with Jared Goff that Graham Glascow does. And that’s the reason to echo something you said Justin last night that I think they pivoted so quickly from Tate to Graham and Camp was there just there there wasn’t the the natural flow between Tate and Jared that there obviously is between Tate and and Graham. And um like Tate has all of the physical abilities and physical stature to play center. And Brad Holmes will be the first to tell you in some ways he’s already the the the presence and the specimen and the athlete that Frank Ragnau ever was. But that’s only half of the job there uh at at center. And uh if if Graham does miss time, they’re going to have to ramp up Aquacon quickly uh and and try and get him on the same page with Jared, which is not easily done in an offense that is very dense. I I keep thinking like if it’s if it’s Kingsley, if they had to go into a game with Kingsley, you’re talking about now an interior of three guys that have one regular season starter and and two, if you want to count the postseason, Ken, um starts between them. Like that that level of experience just plummets and it it brings back Cologne, who I I thought was was making kind of a a push uh to maybe jump a guac in there. I believe he got the start in Atlanta when he when he got hurt uh hurt the elbow and we saw him for the first time today. I think that’s the the promising thing. He was out there running the hill with the the trainer on the side. Um so usually when you see that it kind of implies that guys are getting back. But but that’s a guy that’s got five years of experience in this league. He’s got more than a thousand snaps. Played in Baltimore, which I think gives me a little bit extra confidence. Certain guys or certain organizations, you know, a guy comes from there, you feel a little bit better about it. He’s got center experience. He’s played all the different guard spots, but he hasn’t started a game at center since 2021. He’s got three starts at center. And so like it’s it’s still kind of the same thing with the experience, right? And you know, certainly doesn’t have uh I mean maybe maybe zero snaps to golf if you know just based on what we’ve seen in practice. I don’t know why they would have uh Cologne snapping to golf. And so, um, you know, you hope for the best with with Glascow, but he is older. He has had some durability issues the last several years, obviously a bunch in Denver that ended his tenure there kind of early. And so, um, it’s it’s a really really big concern, I think, and, you know, the offensive line is already kind of tenuous, right? Like, it’s already teetering on an edge, and we’re, you know, waiting for these young guys to take that step forward. I think you take Glasgow out of that middle and, uh, it it’s a problem quickly. Yeah, remember the reason he wanted to play there was because when he was playing at guard, he felt like he was basically also playing at center with with having to help Tate so much with those calls and those adjustments. And having a veteran to the right of Mahogany and the left of Rattlage goes a really long way. And again, like we should reclarify, Graham might be fine. He he he looked okay walking off the field. We’re not treating this like this is some long-term injury that that has had a major impact on the season. But, uh, just to to reiterate how important he is, it’s not just because of what he does and how he operates with Jared, but it’s it’s the load that he takes off of Tate and and and Christian who are highly inexperienced when he’s playing between them. I’m wondering if they would Sorry, real quick. I’m I’m wondering if they would, and I asked this last night, but I’m wondering if they would maybe try to get Tate ready to go and play some center. I know it’s not ideal. And then you put in a veteran like Yodi that knows the offense that has been in there just as a as a reserve just to get more some more experience on that line instead of going with your guys and a rookie in the interior. That would be kind of it’s amazing that this is what’s become at least in theory of Taylor Decker, Graham Glascow, Frank Ragnau, um Kevin Zitler, Pane Su like whoa this this could be gut check time. Um, not just for the offensive line, but for the offense and for Jared Goff in a really big way. For sure. I think Rattish is going to need some sleepovers at Goff’s house just so they can bomb play some some Sega Genesis till 2 in the morning. Just, you know, that’s I think that’s the only way that’s the only way to get him over the hump. But, uh, as I mentioned earlier, a ton happened in this practice. And I mean, the first thing that jumped out, the receiving talent across the board between these two rosters is absurd. uh which led to I think a lot of the playmaking, but I I I want to kind of just maybe tap into uh your big takeaways of the day. I know I watched the Lions offense most of the day. Will was was focused on the Lions defense and Colton was trying to do the madman thing and and bounce around and and watch both. So, uh I I think we got a pretty good wide scope of of what happened in practice today. So, uh let me start with Colton. You know, what what was your your your takeaway uh from from the day’s action? Yeah, I think after the Dolphins first joined practice, I tweeted that was the most lopsided practice. Lopsided. Lopsided. Uh would not say that for this one. I would say that was the most even practice joint practice I’ve ever seen. Uh and like you kind of expected that coming in. These are two teams that probably consider themselves Super Bowl contenders. They have a really good shot. Two really strong rosters. uh two really, you know, culture, head coaches, uh CEO kind of mindset and and they preach physicality and they demand um that that sort of style from their teams and you see it when when they’re out there. Um so I was kind of floating back and forth between both fields. Probably didn’t get the most detailed practice because I was kind of going back and forth, but I do think I saw quite a bit. Um starting with I think Houston secondary is going to be really good this year. Uh, I know this is a Lions podcast, but uh, Houston secondary, I thought it was going to be a really good test for these receivers. And when you got Derek Stingley, Kamari Laceder, who I really like coming out of the draft, um, I believe out of Georgia 2024. Uh, those guys were were performing at a high level. Um, I think it was Stingley that got a hand on a on a pass intended for St. Brown in the end zone. Don’t see that very often. Um, but normally he’s winning those battles as we saw against Miami. Uh last year is a very physical corner. I think he had a pass break up against J Mo, maybe an overthrown ball in the end zone at the end of the situational period, but I would still consider that a win for him. Um you got the two pass rushers, obviously Denil Hunter, uh Will Anderson. Those guys are going to cause some some some damage out there uh when they’re when when they’re out there. But uh yeah, just starting with that side of the ball, I thought it was an even day. You saw G have some success. He did throw an interception. Um there were some drops. The Porter had a couple drops. That was kind of uncharacteristic. So, not the cleanest day, but also some good work. Um, I thought Gibbs had a really impressive day out of the back field, bouncing runs to the outside. So, some promising stuff, some wins, some losses, but uh overall like that’s how you get better going against quality teams like this. Yeah. To continue the Texans theme, they also have some really good receivers. And I’m not breaking news here, but Nico Collins looks like he’s about to assert himself as one of the best receivers in the NFL. I mean 1,000 yards last year and only I think 12 games probably on pace for something like 14,500 and he looked every bit a wide receiver won today. He had some great battles all afternoon or all morning I guess with with Terion and Terion got him a couple times but but so did so did Nico against Terion and he he was he’s he’s a a specimen. He’s he’s a he’s a physical fast strong receiver who can get in and out of his breaks who can win balls in the air. Um, and then you have Christian Kirk who’s who’s working out of the slot alongside him. And I just felt like this Texans offense with CJ Strad under center can can pose all kinds of problems, especially when they get Joe Mixon back and healthy. Though, it was good to see Nick Chub out there today after that like gruesome kind of devastating injury that he suffered a couple years ago. Um, I thought the battles between TA and and Nico Collins were really entertaining. And TA got him early on a on a deep ball in 11 on 111’s playaction pass. Straoud drops back and he’s one probably 45 50 yards and TA was pretty much step for step with Nico the whole way and it it came down to a jump ball maybe five yards from the goal line and Terion went up and made the play and um it’s a play that he probably doesn’t make last year because he’s flagged for PI and I don’t I don’t say that to be funny. I I say that um probably because it’s funny. It’s funny because you’re right. It’s funny because it’s true, but it but but it’s also true in that it signifies the ways that Terion’s grown so far this season. And it goes back to the first meeting that he had with DB’s coach Deay Townsen at the end of last season when Desa really latched on to to the area of growth for Terrion as finding the ball when you’re in phase, tracking it, locating, and getting your head around to to make plays and to ideally not just make plays but come down with picks. And in this case, it was just a knockdown. But Terrion really last year never struggled to to be in phase or in stride and almost every man cover route that that he was assigned. It was when the ball arrived, he too often didn’t have his head around and he’d get flagged for PI because he was just so tight. But it seems like this year and on this particular rep today, he was not just there, but he was able to get his head turned around, locate the ball, go up and make a play on it and knock it down. So, um, again, Nico had a number of good reps against him. I thought he won most of or at least half of like kind of the inb breaking routes he ran against TA from the outside. But when it came to to longer developing throws where where it was Terrion’s job to find the ball then make a play, I thought he did a really good job. I remember when the schedule came out last year and um the the game I was most interested in watching was was actually the Lions Texans. I I really like this team. I think they’ve uh kind of followed a similar rise. I really have a lot of respect and and kind of enjoy uh you know listening to Demo Ryan’s talk when I’ve had a chance to to be around him at like league meetings and and whatnot. Matt Burke, former Lions linebacker coach under Jim Schwarz, really really smart guy. Knew he had a bright future in this league. He’s their defensive coordinator and I don’t know much about their their brand new offensive coordinator, another branch of the McVey tree. So, um, you know, there’s there’s probably some some upside there. I I think that the Texans are going to be a really good team, uh, this year on both sides of the ball and, uh, you know, possibly be a thorn in the side of of the AFC if they can, you know, uh, win their division and and, you know, get a couple home games in the playoffs. Um, I want to talk a little bit about the the Lions wide receiver situation because it it continues to be a topic and I thought just so many guys stood out today and we’ll skip St. Brown because he stands out every day. Uh, J Mo doing the normal JMO stuff as well. Lots of big plays, a couple uh concentration blunders, but that that’s who he is. It’s it’s the rest of the guys. And um you know, we’ve been having this this Tim Patrick Isaac Tlad debate kind of all all off season. And what we’re ignoring, I think, is that wide receiver three right now is Khalif Raymond. Um and I don’t know if that’s uh uh something that that John Morton sees in him. Um I certainly know that that Jared Goff obviously is is a huge fan of Raymond’s. uh he does all the things right, but his production has declined. Uh two years in a row, I think only 22 receptions last year, down from, you know, 48, 49 the first couple years he was here. And it’s it’s weird because this is a guy that’s in the final year of his contract, might be in his final year as a Lion, you know, with with some of the the moves they made for the future. And yet, it looks like he’s ready for this bounceback year. And I thought he had a great practice. I know that he dropped one in that situational drill that was a shallow crosser with all the green in the world in front of him. Probably a 50-yard touchdown like right off the bat, but bounced back, had two first down receptions, caught a lot of passes today. Uh was kind of menacing. And so, you know, just open the floor like what what kind of season do you think that maybe Raymond could could have? I like I said, I think there might be something there with with what Morton sees in him more than anything. Yeah, if he were on another team, I think he could really have like a 500 yard season. Uh like he’s done it for this team before, but just it’s hard to kind of picture him him in with so many weapons here because you’re talking about J Mo Saint, Leaporta, Gibbs, Tla, Patrick, you know that that’s a lot of miles to field feed. So, I don’t really know, I guess, his place in this offense, but you do see him out there with the first team quite a bit. Yeah. And I I agree with you, Justin. It seems like Morton’s trying to work him in there. So, maybe he’s a guy that we’re not talking about enough. We talk about other guys like, oh, Sam Porter is kind of flying under under the radar. That’s hard to say because he’s a second team allpro as a rookie. You know, like this guy is a bonafide stud, but with a guy like Raymond, you see it on days like this uh where he caught two touchdowns. uh he’s, you know, juking the secondary in space uh with his footwork, his quickness, his short area speed. Um and he’s got the lawn speed, too. And if Morton really wants to throw the ball deep a little bit more this this offseason or this season, I should say, uh Khalif is one of their fastest receivers, so he’s going to be on the field and he’s going to have packages. So, if that’s the emphasis, if that’s where he wants to take this offense, I think that’s where you could see him kind of make his mark. Um but he’s so reliable and you can tell that he has the full trust of Jared Goff. is always going to look his way if he beats his man and and without hesitation doing it. So, uh he certainly earned the trust of this this coaching staff, this quarterback, and this offense in general. And and Raymond’s almost always going to come down with the ball. Not that he’s like a a jump ball artist, but if you put the ball in his general vicinity, he’s got really sure hands. And I think John Morton’s arrival here is the key point. If you go back to 2022 when he was on staff and helping Campbell and Ben Johnson install this offense, who finished second on the team in receiving that year? It it was Khif Raymond. And I know the receiving room then was much different than it is now. And you know, it was Josh Reynolds and and DJ Shark and Leaporta wasn’t here yet, but it it was Khalif Raymond with with a 600 yard season. And if I recall correctly that year, a number of of deep balls. He he would get over top of the defense and and and find himself 40 50 yard catches and he has real speed, not just the ability to win on like stutterep, jitterbug type routes out of the slot. He can he can stretch it a little bit. And obviously Morton sees something in him that that maybe was overlooked when all of these different passcatching weapons join joined the court. Um, I’m going to close on on this because um, Campbell, you know, today talking just about the the roster decisions, the difficulty of the cuts that lie ahead. He said right off the top of his head he had three like roster decisions that were already kind of weighing on him and, you know, acknowledged maybe even more than really sat down and thought about it. and and we we’ve talked, you know, maybe at nauseium about about the receivers, but I think today was a perfect example of how difficult their decisions are. I thought it was a a really really strong day for Dominic Love it. Uh multiple chain moving catches on third down, doing the the little things that you really want to see, the the gritty things, if you will. Jackson Meeks, you know, catching some passes in the end zone. Tim Patrick, I thought, you know, continues to to have his uh late surge back to the guy we thought he was, even if it’s coming against the second team. And uh Tesla doing kind of what he’s done all camp and and having some big catches. And so, you know, they’ve got these seven guys and you know, I I still struggle to figure out how they could possibly get seven on the on the roster, but man, all all seven of them are are deserving. And uh you know, just to go back to Colton’s point from yesterday, Tom Kennedy, big plays today. Big plays from Tom Kennedy. Never wrong, just early. Never wrong, just early. And so, like, I don’t know. Is there was there anything else that stood out to you or jumped out to you? Like what what is the other what do you think the other roster decisions that are weighing on Campbell? What do you think those are? Um I I think on the defensive line he’s he’s facing some difficult decisions. I I thought Ukwise today he he popped for a sack late in practice and um he seems to be surveying the offense in a way that um he he wasn’t last year and and and able to diagnose things a little bit more quickly. And I think the way he’s played over the past week, including last week’s preseason game, is is is maybe going to force the Lions to give him a little more thought than they probably were a week ago. Yeah, I would say Uku is definitely one of the ones on their mind. Um I kind of have Nate Lyn in, but you look at that edge room, there’s they’re they’re quickly dropping. And if Pas is if if Pascal is not a part of that equation, maybe you have to go outside the organization and pull Tim Patrick and try to get someone else in there. Uh if you don’t like Uku enough. Uh but he’s certainly one. I’m wondering if they try to find a place for Eric Howlet just because he’s so versatile. He could play multiple positions. So uh maybe that allows you to stay a little bit thinner at at that DB spot as a whole. Um but yeah, I mean they’re they’re going to have the work cut out for him. I feel like again kind of the the Henden Hooker conversation. It feels like they are soft launching a little bit. Like, hey, just floating out there. It’s gonna be tough, man. We got got so many guys we like. We’re got That’s my Campbell impression in case anyone hadn’t picked up on that. Um, but it does feel like they’re they’re leaning on that and they’re just it’s it’s weighing on Campbell. He’s a guy that every every cut down day, he’s miserable because he cares so deeply for these guys and he knows that, you know, these are guys livelihood. like guys are trying to make the roster, get paid, make a name for themselves, and it’s on him and Brad Holmes to make these decisions on the roster and kind of dash some dreams there. So, I know it’s not easy for him and and you can kind of see it starting to wear on him and I’m sure it’ll ramp up when we talk to him on Monday and even after the game Saturday, but uh some tough decisions lie ahead for sure. Jeffrey makes a really good point in the chat and it’s one that uh Dave Bquette made when we were talking today just the if you notice a lot of the trade action going on right now around the league. there’s a lot of wide receivers involved and um you know I don’t know if that means that one of your guys is maybe marketable or uh you want to hold on to guys because maybe you maybe you’re less sure that a love it or Meeks is going to be able to to slip through uh waiverss and so um you know it just adds to the the conversation for sure. Um, hey, lastly, uh, just I wanted to to note one more guy who who stood out today kind of in the same way that Jir Gibbs stands out every day and Aman Ross St. Brown stands out every day, but on defense, Brian Branch is such a menace. And I feel like as we’ve focused so much of our attention this training camp on Hutchinson and Tyreek’s integration and Anelone’s return, we we’ve almost forgotten how much of a a weapon Brian Branch is. and we we put him on the the cover art for this episode. So, I do want to touch on him briefly. They they’re just deploying him in so many ways right now. I think the very first play of 11 on 111s this morning, he combined for for a run stuff with with DJ Reed and then later on, maybe two or three drives later, he he was lined up basically at the line and he crashed through the offensive line and took down Chub from behind with a tackle in the back field. And um look, I I understand we had like a running gag last year on our podcast, Justin, that I thought Brian Branch was was the best defensive player on the Lions, and that’s probably going too far just how dominant Hutch is. But I maintain that he’s the most versatile chess piece on the Lions defense. And I think we’re going to see Kelvin Shepard just be incredibly creative with him this year. And um this might this might be pushing it a little bit too far because they’re different body types, but I see Brian Branch making the kind of impact on the Lions defense this year that Kyle Hamilton makes on the Ravens defense. um the ability to to to get into the back field for tackles for loss, the ability to cover, the ability to come down with interceptions, the ability to I think potentially end up with more sacks this year paints the picture of a player who’s going to do everything in so many ways for the Lions. And he just looks to me even more explosive than maybe he has in in years past. And with Shephard calling the shots this year, it feels like he’s poised for for a monster year. Maybe like Antoine Winfield given the body type uh is is a better comp for him. But just that comprehensive impact on the defense is something that only Brian Branch can provide to this unit. Colton, I am never bringing up Tom Kenny again after that love letter. That was a love letter from Will to Brian Branch. They’re getting like a 1% cut when he gets that monster contract in a year. My I agree with everything he said. I do too. Hey, point. Hey, point point to the holes in the logic, man. Man, he was just sitting there checking the box of all the things he wanted to say. Uh, hey, we made Mustafa put him on the artwork. We We had to give it to It’s a It’s a good thing you did. I was I don’t think of that enough. But, um, look, our goal was to to have a truncated episode today. We wanted to make sure to to come back and and check in with you. But, I got dinner reservations, fellas. Youngest turned 11 years old today. We’re going to get that done. Uh we will be back normal time slot next Wednesday and that is significant because the Lions 16man practice squad should be established by the time we go on air. So we’ll be able to have all your practice squad updates and maybe maybe some stuff on the 53man roster. I don’t know if we get to it if we have time. Yeah. Uh all right fellas for Will Birfield for Colton Pouncy. I’m Justin Rogers. Subscribe, like, do all the things you do on YouTube. I don’t I don’t run these shows, but uh I think that’s what the kids do. And for Brian Branch, I’m Will Birfield on that. [Music]