LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL TRAINING CAMP DAY 17 QUOTE SHEET
August 21, 2025
Opening Statement: “Pretty excited about today, this is kind of the last big one for us. Competitive practice. I’ve got a lot of respect for what (Texans Head Coach) DeMeco (Ryans) has done out there. The type of person he is, the type of coach, the way that team plays. They hustle, they hit, they’re disciplined. They’ll be a good test for us, and I know we can get better. This’ll help us get better, and hopefully we can reciprocate that to those guys as well. Really excited about today. We’ll be smart and get good work done.”
On activating Lions DL Mekhi Wingo off the PUP list and how he factors in how much he can contribute from missing time: “It’s going to be tough. It’s hard, because there’s really not enough time. But he’s done all he can do to this point, and now it’s time for football to see where he’s at. I mean, it’s tough. It’s tough. There’s no easy answer to that. I don’t know if we can find out fast enough, so we have to make a decision there. He’s doing individuals, some group, he’s not going to get any team this week, so that makes it even harder, but we’ll see. We’ll see. At some point we’re going to need him.”
On Lions EDGE Josh Paschal and how he evaluates where he will fit on the roster given his time missed due to injury: “Good question. I think Paschal could be a little later than we had hoped, so that could sting a little bit. It also cleans it up, too. At least you’re not hoping and waiting and whatever else.”
On how challenging it will be to finalize the 53-man roster: “It’ll be tough. I feel like every year it gets a little bit harder to decide what you want to do. I just keep bringing it up, we’re looking for the best 69 players we can find, and how do we keep all of them? Because we’re going to need all of them. That’s the challenge. We’ve got some pretty good competitions going, we’ve got some guys who have really raised their play, and they’ve caught our eye. There are some guys here, certainly, my mind’s not made up. My eyes are open. We’re going to take it down to the wire and see if some of these guys really can just take that next little jump, because they’ve really grown a lot. We’ll see.”
On factoring in vetted players versus rising stars when making final roster decisions: “Yeah, I mean body of work is always going to speak for itself. But if you’re a late climber here over the last three or four days, and now today, the game – I mean, today’s pretty significant. I mean, this is really significant, and so does the game. That’s the good news, it’s not just – this isn’t some throwaway practice. I mean, we’re about to get some really good work. Some of these guys are going to go against the goods, and we’ll see what they look like. That’s good for us and for them.”
On if his philosophy has changed over the years about deciding the final roster in the last week of training camp: “From ’21, basically? When we first got here? I don’t know how much – we were in such a different position back then. I mean, it was so different than it even is now. Any changes that were made were because of where we’re at now, roster-wise. I wouldn’t say philosophy or anything has changed. I guess if anything, every year, I feel like there’s more and more importance on the fact that you’re going to need every player on the roster and the practice squad. That vet squad is going to be very important, so how do you determine who goes where? Is this somebody that, you really like them, but you think you can squeak them through? On one end versus the guy that you’re not – you keep him on the roster because you know somebody would claim him or pick him up or whatever that case is, but you really like both players. It’s just about trying to keep all the good players that you know you’re going to need, and that will always be true. I think every year that’s become more and more significant.”
On how often he is right about the ability to get a player back after roster cuts: “Well, I’ll tell you what, I’ve told you guys before, I lean on (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) for that, man. I use his judgement, and I don’t know he’s ever been wrong that I can think of in five years. If he says somebody’s going to make it through, they make it through, and I trust that. From my standpoint, it’s pretty easy. It’s a lot harder for him, but for me, when he says it, he’s been right. We’ve got to be careful, or he’ll make it. But I’m good. It’s really no different than the night of the Draft. Somebody we like, we’re sitting there and we’ve got 10 spots to go and he says he’ll make it, he makes it. And if not, then we make a move. So, he’s always been right. He’s got a hunch and a knack for that stuff, so I just listen to him.”
On the value of keeping three quarterbacks on the roster versus having more depth somewhere else: “Well that’s exactly what it is. If you do that, you lose depth, what, D-line or O-line? Or receiver, or defense back, or linebacker or – you get the point. So, how important is that relative to the other positions? What’s hard is – look, call it what you want, when you have a year like we did last year, you get affected a little bit by it. It has an effect on the way you think. Depth, depth, depth. We’ve got to make sure that we have the depth.”
On if he has noticed tougher decisions will have to be made this year than in the recent past: “For sure there will be tough decisions. I mean, I can think of three right now just off the top of my head, and there are a couple more than that. That’ll be tough. It’s going to be really, really tough, but that’s part of the game. That’s part of this whole process. There again, the good news is there’s another practice today and there’s a game to where now you can separate. I think we’ll get separation between these two in the next two days, in the next practice and game.”
On if he believes it is more important to be able to run the ball versus being successful at the passing game: “Well, I – look, I’m always going to believe in that, that that’s how you establish – I think that’s how you establish yourself. If you’ve got a strong ground game, then it opens up your offense. It allows you to be explosive. Without it, you can’t be explosive. And defensively, if you can’t stop the run, then good luck. It’s demoralizing is what it is. So there’s a schematic issue if you can’t stop the run, but there’s an emotional and psychological issue that gets demoralizing. So that’s why it’s so important. Now, I’ve said this before, we’re going to games and it’ll be – we’ll put it on (Lions QB Jared) Goff, we’re going to throw it 40 times because we feel like we can be efficient in the pass game. Get it out of his hands, catch, run. We’ve got guys that can make plays with the ball in their hands, and maybe we start that way. And then that allows us to run it. So, we’re not just going to bang our head against the wall to bang our head against the wall. But yeah, philosophy-wise I believe it starts with the O-line and D-line, that’s just me.”
On the trajectory he sees for the Texans’ team: “Oh, listen, it’s one of the reasons why I’m fired up to practice against them because I think these guys are on the way up. They’ve been on the way up. Just the nature of the way they go about their business, the way they practice. I talk about (Texans Head) Coach (DeMeco) Ryans over there, I just have a lot of respect for him. When you do things the way they do them, the way that they – Sundays, they go out, they run, they hit, they finish. You’re going to be in every game. You’re going to have a chance in every game. They’re a young, talented roster. They’re guys that love ball. Those guys over there, (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) and I liked a lot of those guys too, now. And it’s like oh OK, I can see that. So, we’re excited to see them today. Man, it’s a promising young roster that does it right. Good coaching. Quarterback’s a good player, and he’s only going to get better and better. They’ve got weapons. So, I think they’re going to be a juggernaut for years to come is what I think.”
On Texans WR Nico Collins: “Well he’s really established himself as a premier receiver. Clearly when you lose a player like that, it hurts, that’s for sure. I mean, the guy’s a crafty route runner, he’s got radar which means he can track the deep ball, make big boy catches. He plays strong, plays physical, there’s really not much he can’t do. He’s certainly somebody that elevates that offense, and I know the quarterback’s got a ton of trust in him, you can see that on tape. When you’ve got that kind of rapport with your guy, it makes it difficult on defenses.”