LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL TRAINING CAMP DAY 14 QUOTE SHEET

LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL TRAINING CAMP DAY 14 QUOTE SHEET
August 21, 2024
Opening Statement: “Like I said yesterday, today’s kind of the last big practice before we start to get ready for Pittsburgh this weekend, so we’ll have a lot of ones versus ones work, offense versus defense, and then we’ll have the twos kind of working in between, just they’re in kind of a normal practice mode, they won’t get as many reps, but we’re going to kind of scrimmage out the first offense, first defense, and then have special teams in the middle, so it’ll be good.”
On how roster cutdowns happening in one day changes the dynamics of the decisions made: “I don’t think it really changes things all that much. I mean, you’ve got to get your – I guess if anything, I’d tell you, it does put more stress on those guys upstairs, just the personnel department making sure that everything is – that you can keep up with the number of guys that are possibly out there. But as far as everything else, it’s business as usual. As soon as this game is over, I mean, (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) and I are pretty much on it, so from that standpoint it won’t change really anything.”
On what he is looking to accomplish with the first team offense and defense heading into the last day of training camp: “Really yesterday was kind of the last missing piece really, I think from a schematic portion of the game, we wanted to hit some of that second-long into third down, getting backed up again, and that was a little bit of the last of it, so that felt good to tie that up. And now, it’s a little bit of new installs are beginning to blend in, we’ve been tinkering with stuff, but we’ll have some new wrinkles there on offense, same on defense, different fronts, different looks, pressures, and things that are, ‘Let’s see what it looks like.’ We don’t necessarily major in them, but they’re good wrinkles to see if we like them, to attack each other, offense and defense, kind of see if we can expose each other a little bit here, and so that’ll be good. But really, just this type of day is really, this is another step to prepare these players that are playing in this Rams game, to get them physically ready for what’s coming, because this will for the most part be their game.”
On if today’s goals are focused on getting ready for the Rams or for the whole season: “Yeah. We’re not into, ‘Hey, this is definitely what we’re running against the Rams.’ This is just things that could come up versus Green Bay, Minnesota, Chicago, could be the Rams, just things that we may like, and we want to see what they look like.”
On how Lions OL Giovanni Manu and Lions DL Brodric Martin have grown as players in the developmental system: “Yeah, both of those guys have grown. Brodric has been in the system for a year now, and Brodric, you look at the game, it was really like the Giants too, when it’s good it’s good, and then when it’s not, it can be glaring, and so it’s just that consistency of it. The good news is that he can get in there, use his length, strike blocks, he’s strong, he’s physical, and then it’s just a matter of doing it over and over and over. He’s got to be able to just do a yeoman’s job, play in, play out, look it’s a thankless job, it’s selfless, I mean you’re in for the long haul when you play that position, the nose tackle. But he has grown, he’s gotten better, and that’s ultimately what you’re looking for. Manu, same thing. We knew when we acquired him, this was going to be a bit of a ride here before he would be ready to go, and it’s the same thing, we just want this gradual improvement, everyday just focus on one thing and get better at that. ‘(Lions Offensive Line Coach) Hank (Fraley)’s telling me to do this,’ that’s what you focus on. I thought he was better in the game the other day, I thought he improved, and he’s figuring it out, he’s getting there. Now, I can’t give you a timetable, but he has improved, he’s beginning to look like he belongs.”
On how the difficulty of a player making the 53-man roster has changed since he started with the Lions in 2021: “It’s changed significantly. I mean shoot, ‘21 we were wide open, literally wide open. You had an idea that (Lions T Penei) Sewell was going to make it, we drafted him seven overall. You have an idea on some of these guys, but there was a whole roster full of, ‘We have no idea,’ we don’t know who is going to be the next receiver, we don’t know linebacker positions, the D-line – it was wide open. So, now, here we are, and you feel like you’ve tied down most of these spots and we’re going to have to let go of some good players, ultimately, I think that can play in this League at some point here in different positions, and that’s a hard thing to do. But it also shows where our roster is at to this point, it’s grown a ton. (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) has done a hell of a job.”
On if Lions QB Jake Fromm will play this weekend and if he is in the backup quarterback competition: “That’s tough, because we haven’t really gotten to see much of him. When we brought him in, it was dependent on when (Lions QB Hendon) Hooker can or can’t come back, ‘How much can we get him?’ And so, I don’t anticipate really getting to see him. I don’t want to say absolutely not, but I think the priority will be (Lions QB Hendon) Hooker and I think we need to get (Lions QB) Nate (Sudfeld) some reps and then we’ll see what’s there with Fromm.”
On how he evaluates himself getting incrementally better as a coach: “I think a lot of that comes in the situations. Situational football, that’s why I try to keep those as fresh as possible and you try to fabricate as many difficult decisions that you can put your team in and yourself, because that’s what’s happening, inevitably. I’ve said this before it’s one thing to set them up, think through it, here’s the possibilities. But then when you have one of these, where it’s 40 seconds left, minus-40, no timeouts, and you play it out, and now all of a sudden, you’re in it. You’re not quite to that point yet until you’re absolutely in it. This is like what happened yesterday, we got 13 seconds left, (Lions QB Hendon) Hooker’s got the ball, needed to get in field goal range, ‘Are we in (Lions K Jake) Bates’ range just to hit one, swing at one, can we get five more, can we clock it? Well, yeah but not if you throw it 20 yards downfield.’ You get in the middle of those, and the players need to live it. Hooker needs to live it, I need to live it, (Lions Offensive Coordinator) Ben (Johnson) needs to live it, and those make you better. So, as many of those as you can fabricate, I think it makes you a much sharper, much more prepared coach. So, I think it’s that and then just the nature of the way we practice, trying to keep it fresh, trying to challenge these guys, and challenge the coordinators, quite frankly.”
On what he has seen in Lions C Kingsley Eguakun throughout training camp: “Yeah, he’s a guy that has certainly caught our eye. He’s put the work in, he’s pretty polished for a young guy, he’s got good feet, he’s quick, he’s smart, he’s tough. So, we’re just getting him some reps in there and seeing what it looks like. He didn’t look out of place yesterday doing that. He’ll get some more today at that position. So, we like Kingsley, he works his tail off.”
On if he thinks there is still a spot available between Lions C Kingsley Eguakun, Lions OL Michael Niese, and Lions G Kayode Awosika: “Yeah, it could be. I mean, we, (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) and I have gone back and forth on that as well. ‘How many linemen are we keeping? What does that come down to? Is potentially one of those linemen more important than one of these safeties, depth safety, or does it come down to a fullback, tight end?’ So, we’re constantly playing that. I know you guys are playing the numbers game, we’re playing it all too. ‘What’s the best roster? Can one guy handle two spots, or is it worth keeping all three of them?’ So honestly, I don’t have that answer. We’re in the middle of it, and I think it’s going to sort itself out by the time we get through Pittsburgh.”
On how he evaluates whether a player can make it to the practice squad or be claimed by another team: “I’ll be honest with you, I lean on (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) for that. That is 100 percent, I just go to him, I say, ‘What do you think?’ And ‘Old wise one, you let me know, because I have no idea,’ and he has not missed yet. When he’s told me something, and going on four years, he hasn’t missed, so, I have a lot of trust in what Brad says. So that’s where, for me, that’s where I turn, and we’ll go from there.”
On if he thinks Lions RB Sione Vaki had the best performance in the rookie talent show: “Well, I don’t know if it’s the best performance, but as far as the best voice that I’ve heard, probably, it’s up there. Now, (Lions DL Isaac) Ukwu has got a damn good voice too, all right, and they may be singing a duet today after practice. So, those two have really, but Vaki’s voice, the performance was, ‘Eh,’ the voice, it was pretty phenomenal. It really is. So maybe he’ll sing for you guys sometime. You need to ask him.”
On how he has improved his game day process situationally to make himself better: “Well, I think so much of that is going through game day. It’s the fact that we’re going on year four of this, and I think, one of the people that I talked to upstairs is (Lions Director of Football Compliance/Lead Football Counsel) Jon Dykema, so he helps me on some of this stuff, ‘Hey, man, I think,’ because he gets the eye in the booth, before I do, and so I’ve got to rely on him on some things. But we worked together, really the first time was 2022, we had to get through some rough spots, and now we flow pretty well, and we’re, like I said, we’re going onto year three. He knows exactly, these things will come up, ‘If it looks like this, what do you want?’ I’d say, ‘Don’t even bring it to me,’ or, ‘But if it’s this then yes, absolutely, call down, let’s talk about it.’ So, he knows exactly what my thought process is. It’s not worth wasting a challenge, this would be, and so once you’ve done it long enough and been with these people long enough, you’ve been with the coordinators, then you flow pretty efficiently. So, I think it’s all encompassing. I think it’s time on task. We go through these reports after every game, he’ll write the whole thing up, every situation that happened, time on the clock, timeouts, this was a penalty that was called, on both sides of the ball, and then we analyze it, we go back over it after the game – ‘What could we have done better? What should we have done? That was a good decision.’ And so, I just think when you do those over a certain amount of time, you get better.”
On if he thinks Lions LB Mitchell Agude has plateaued or if he is still seeing growth from him: “No, I see growth. We like Mitch. Mitch, he’s another guy, just busts his rear, he gives you everything he’s got out there, and he’s got some rush ability. He’s strong, quick off the edge. And look, we moved him to SAM linebacker last week, so we kind of made that change. ‘Let’s put him at SAM and move (Lions LB James) Houston to more D-end.’ So, we flopped those two. And it’s not necessarily the perfect position for Mitch, but he’s made the most of it, and he’s trying to make it work, and that’s a credit to him. But he still has enough of that where he can play the D-end position and really excel at what he does best, so he’s doing a good job. We like Mitch.”