Detroit Lions Training Camp 2017, day 3 of open practice, August 2nd

On my 3rd and final day at the Lions training camp I decided to sit in the same location as day 2 hoping they would do more on that side of the field, the used to in order to not tear up any one part of any one field too much, and that did seem to be the case this time as well. Unfortunately, my notes and roster sheets ended up in a car south of Chicago while I drove back to west Michigan arriving very late at night. I had my notes photo'd and emailed to me to complete this blog entry. Now for my camp report...

The first thing I watched was some kick/punt return work. A new body was added to the group, that being #36 Washington. The players working as returners in the various drills were numbers 10; 13; 17; 36 and 39. At one point in the practice the kicker failed to connect with the ball and the players just stood around... then the coach got after ALL of them for not taking off after the holder who still had the ball (and hadn't moved either). That seemed to get them all into the spirit of things.

Another series of special teams practice had multiple things going at the same time. In one part of the field they worked on catching the ball at the same time as 2 blocked 2 in front of the returner. The ball being fired from a jugs (tire) machine over the heads of all sets of players and coaches.

The second group was 3 blocking 3 with just about anyone pretending to be the returner (one of who was Muhlbach). And then yet another group was 2 on 2 doing blocking and gunner practice. While all that was going on further yet behind the jugs machine the QBs were practicing throwing to coaches in various out and in patterns.

Next up were the WRs doing various drills, most of it involving the end zone. Later they were joined by the QBs for more end zone work. The sets were different in that #9 Stafford did a lot of work only with the first 4 or 5 WRs and #14 would work with the rest, with #8 getting almost no snaps. After a number of sets going either up and in, up and out, at the corner pylon or a 1 yard short of EZ and then step in inches from that pylon... only after most of the WRs did this did #8 get a snap or two.

After all that occurred the DBs joined in to defend the various throws in or near the end zone. The defense was doing better defending then the WRs were with actual catches, so once again I'm not entirely sure if the point of the drill was defense, offense, both or what exactly.

About this time the rain clouds started moving in, then lightning to the NE of the fields. I started heading for my car and got on the road just as the skies opened up. So my last day of camp experience was cut about an hour short.

I was there with 2 of my grand kids. My grandson Tom (age 4) apparently has a thing for cheerleaders, especially redheads. Whilst my granddaughter (age 8) taught the cheerleaders one of her own cheers, she was a bigger fan of Roary, the mascot.

The face painting was all free, courtesy of the Lions. So were the various interactive games there. Only the merchandise and food costs anything, as even admission was free.

When my notes arrive back in Michigan next week I may make some more points, and I have a lot more pics to share as well, but without the notebook it's hard to know which pics belong to which notes. My overall impressions of camp where that they were a lot more organized then previous ones (going back to 1998) and the layout of the fans experience was the best to date since the Saginaw days. The food trucks were great, I even escorted (un-officially) Mrs Slay and baby back to the taco truck on day 3. The player I was most interested in was Golladay, and I think he's going to be a great player after his rookie year trial-n-error experience. Who wins kick returner is going to be an interesting fight, as will most positions on the team. Some very good talent will eventually be cut from the Lions roster, I look for some of them to catch up with other teams come September.