Day four of Detroit Lions training camp is in the books and there was a lot to take in. Here's the biggest takeaways from Saturday's training camp that featured fans back in the stands.
Chippy
The Lions are definitely ready to get the pads on this coming Monday. There were multiples skirmishes during the day and just about everyone got involved. Obviously there's no hard feelings, but the competitiveness is very much alive.
The big one that caught everyone's eyes was that there was a heated exchange between Jameson Williams and Aaron Glenn. They loudly exchanged words until Williams was walked away by players.
Hendon Hooker had a very bad day
Hooker might be in some trouble when it comes to that QB2 spot. Saturday was a very rough day for him. He held onto the ball for way too long on multiple snaps and it cost him every time.
Hooker had multiple balls hit the dirt during the day and nearly all the other balls were short or overthrown. He had multiple passes broken up by DB's.
With that said, he had a very nice pass over the middle to Isaiah Williams that showed what he can do with a clean pocket and some confidence.
Nate Sudfeld looks like a completely different player
Last year Nate Sudfeld had a rough camp and preseason. He was anything but sharp. On Saturday he looked like a guy that could command an offense during the regular season if he had to. He was very sharp and hit on nearly all of his passes. We'll have to see what he looks like in the preseason still, but Saturday we saw a guy that looked like he handled pressure a lot better and was zooming throws in there.
Detroit! The Bloodline is now in your city!
A funny moment from the day was when Penei Sewell was walking by and someone from the crowd shouted "head of the table!" Another fan chanted "let's go Uce!" Obvious references to Roman Reigns and The Uso's from the WWE.
Jake Bates has his first struggles in Detroit
Jake Bates started the day off hot by hitting four straight kicks against air with a long coming from 55-yards out. But then he cooled off quite a bit later in the day when he went 1-4 against pressure. That includes a miss from 60-yards out. His one make came from 35.
There's no doubt the leg is there because the guy catching the ball for the Lions got a workout in chasing the balls down, but the accuracy still needs some work.
Maurice Alexander might be a stud
The guy that maybe impressed the most on offense Saturday was receiver Maurice Alexander. We saw what he could do return wise in 2022 and 2023, but he's showing real growth as a receiver in 2024. He made multiple contested catches on Saturday. One of which had him going up against Kindle Vildor and snatching the ball from him.
He spiked the ball and the whole receiving corps came over and celebrated with him. It was the biggest highlight of the day. Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp said early Saturday that players were going to have to bring more than just special teams play to make the roster this year , Alexander is one of those guys that showed it.
Steven Gilmore looked really good
Gilmore was one of the guys everyone was hoping to see a lot more of after a really good preseason in 2023. On Saturday he showed a lot more. He had multiple pass break ups on the day and had some tight coverage the rest of the day. The Lions must have really seen something they liked last year when they stashed him on the 53-man roster without playing him. This year he looks like a guy that's definitely going to get some run.
Emptying the notebook
- Jameson Williams really had the fans out of their seats for everything he did Saturday. He continues to look like a guy that's ready for big things.
- Sione Vaki is ready to do some things in this offense. He has some really good speed out of the backfield and the Lions are surely going to look to use it.
- After a rough start, Antoine Williams came into his own and had a good day.
- St. Brown is still St. Brown. Goff is still Goff. LaPorta is still LaPorta.
- Terrion Arnold had a nice day with some strong coverage. He had at least one PBU.
Related: Making the Detroit Lions roster just got a lot harder if you're a depth guy
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