The various fights during Monday’s joint practice between the Lions and Giants included New York quarterback Daniel Jones getting involved in the kerfuffle.
After practice, he discussed the situation.
“I mean, situations happens like that, you try to stand up for your guys but I thought it was a good competitive practice all day today,” Jones said, via NFL.com. “We made some plays and did some good things, there’s some things we need to [shore] up for sure. But good intensity and competitive spirit there.”
It’s the kind of spirit that, when it comes from the quarterback, can get the attention of the rest of the rest.
“Daniel got jiggy with it?” Giants edge rusher Brian Burns said. “Daniel was out there with it? Yeah! I’m [going to] need him to back up. I’m [going to] need him to back up, let his O-line handle that. But . . . Daniel, he’s a competitor man, he’s a fighter. I don’t expect nothing less from him, but I don’t need him in that, I don’t need him to get hit, keep him healthy.”
Burns is right. As long as Jones avoided injury, however, it’s the kind of thing that can build natural, organic, authentic camaraderie.
When teams get together to practice during training camp, fights happen. The league, for whatever reason, doesn’t exercise jurisdiction over such matters, despite the obvious injury risks that arise when, for example, one player swings another player’s helmet at other players.
On Monday, the Lions and Giants got together. And multiple fights happened.
And here’s one with G.M. Joe Schoen trying to break things up.
And here’s one with Giants quarterback Daniel Jones getting involved.
The two teams are due to do it again tomorrow. And as we’ve learned in past years, the second day can be even more raucous.
That’s usually because players hear about how they were beaten by players from the other team. In this case, the fights from day one lay the foundation for the fights in day two.
And it will continue for as long as the league allows it. With the league office not sweating it, there’s no reason not to take a few swings.
Until someone gets injured, of course.
It’s joint practice season for NFL teams in training camp, where players finally get to hit someone other than teammates.
On Monday, Giants left tackle Andrew Thomas got the most out of that, slamming into Lions rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold in a combined practice. Thomas was running toward Arnold to throw a block from a running play.
Here’s the video, from Ralph Vacchiano of Fox Sports.
Arnold stay up after the hit. As Vacchiano notes, however, he later headed for the locker room.
Speaking of heads, Arnold was wearing a Guardian Cap at the time. That’s permitted for offensive linemen, if they wear a helmet specific to their position.
In past years, a player like Arnold could have faced that onslaught from Thomas by going low at him. That’s now prohibited, by rule.
Arnold still might have been wise to hit the deck when he saw Thomas coming for him on Monday.
Dwight Freeney was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his second year of eligibility. It likely was a year longer than he likely thought he should wait.
No matter, Freeney saw his bust unveiled Saturday after seven Pro Bowls, three All-Pros, an All-Decade Team, 16 seasons, 47 forced fumbles and 125.5 sacks. His patented spin move still is talked about and copied today.
Colts owner Jim Irsay called Freeney “a twirling dervish” in his presentation of Freeney.
Freeney was the first of seven inductees honored Saturday in a ceremony delayed an hour and 45 minutes by inclement weather, and his speech will be hard to follow.
“I want to thank this great game of football for giving me the opportunity to express myself and my creativity to the world,” Freeney said. “I always felt like I was an artist, and the football field was my canvas, and I am forever grateful for that feeling. One of the things that motivated me was never being completely satisfied with myself and my performance. It’s what drove me to continue to improve my skillset and my mission to perfect my craft and try to dominate every Sunday.
“I realized that in order for me to win battles on the field I had to win the internal battles with myself. I had to keep pushing myself not to be complacent or lazy, to not look for excuses for why something didn’t happen but to make it happen.”
Freeney made an impact as a rookie when he set a team rookie record with 13 sacks and led the NFL with nine forced fumbles and 20 tackles for loss. It was one of seven double-digit sack seasons he had.
He did it at 6 foot 1, 268 pounds.
Freeney played 11 seasons with the Colts and went on to spend time with the Chargers, Cardinals, Falcons, Lions and Seahawks, retiring after the 2017 season.
“From time to time, I think about coming out of retirement for just for one more year,” Freeney said. “Until I realize I can’t even catch my 3-year-old running down the hallway with the TV remote in her hand. It’s crazy. I went from chasing quarterbacks in the league to pulling my hamstring in the hallway chasing my kids.”
Freeney credited his mom for teaching him that “life isn’t a straight road; it’s full of peaks and valleys, and navigating through them is the key.”
“If you’re a young, aspiring, future NFL player, let me say this: Football’s not an easy game, and it can seem like it’s an impossible journey,” Freeney said in ending his speech. “But alwa remember that your hard work and sacrifice are the keys to opening the door to your dreams. People will call you too slow, too short, not tough enough, not strong enough. Use those words as fuel to ignite the internal fire that will motivate you and push to places you never thought were possible.
“All those bumps and bruises that make you want to quit. Fighting through that will make you into a better player and a better person. So I hope that you guys can look at my journey, and what I went through, and know that it’s possible to become who you want to be.”
Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown has a deal for teammate Jahmyr Gibbs.
If Gibbs generates 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards in 2024, St. Brown will buy him whatever he wants.
Gibbs plans to cash in, if he can pull it off. “I’m gonna break his bank,” Gibbs told Eric Woodyard of ESPN.com. Gibbs added that he “might get a house.”
It’s a low-risk proposition for St. Brown. Only three players have ever done it. 49ers running back Roger Craig, Rams running back Marshall Faulk, and Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey.
Some are calling it a “bet.” It’s not; it’s a one-way promise. And while such private incentives can still make the league office a little queasy (there’s a slippery slope toward bounties), it’s not a gambling policy issue because it’s not as if Gibbs loses anything if he fails.
And don’t feel bad for St. Brown is he has to pay up. He’s making more than $30 million per year under his new deal. Gibbs, in the second year of his slotted rookie contract, will make roughly $1.5 million.
One of the themes of the Lions offseason has been hype about what wide receiver Jameson Williams will be able to do in his third NFL season and offensive coordinator Ben Johnson threw some more fuel on that fire this week.
Williams was coming off a knee injury as a rookie and he served a gambling suspension to open the 2023 season, but he has no obstacles in his way this offseason. That’s led to rave reviews about how he’s looked in practice and Johnson contributed to that file by saying that the Lions “haven’t seen anything that he can’t do” on the field.
“We started feeling it towards the end of last year and he’s taken that to another level in the springtime and so far here in training camp,” Johnson said, via the team’s website. “He prides himself on bringing some juice to the offense and we certainly feel it out there both in the passing game, making explosive plays, but he also wants to be a dynamic blocker as well, which we really value.”
Johnson guided the Lions offense to the fifth-most points in the league with limited contributions from Williams last year. If he breaks out, the ceiling in Detroit will be sky high.
The Lions have made some changes to the roster after seeing a couple of players get hurt in practice earlier this week.
The team announced on Thursday that they have signed defensive lineman Pat O’Connor and offensive lineman Jake Burton. Offensive lineman Netane Muti was placed on injured reserve.
Muti hurt his shoulder on Tuesday and head coach Dan Campbell said on Wednesday that he is set to have surgery to repair the injury. Burton last played in the UFL and will be in the mix for the depth spot that opened with Muti’s injury.
O’Connor spent the last six seasons with the Buccaneers and had 24 tackles and 1.5 sacks in 68 regular season appearances. His signing comes after John Cominsky tore his MCL in practice and he’ll also be vying for a reserve role in Detroit.
The Lions are in unfamiliar territory as they head into the 2024 season.
Last season’s playoff win and trip to the NFC Championship Game was their first in more than 30 years and they have all of the main players from their roster in place for another run this year. That’s led to the highest expectations in a generation, but General Manager Brad Holmes does not want his team to embrace the change of circumstances.
Holmes said that he doesn’t want to think in terms of team being in a Super Bowl “window” because he wants their approach to remain the same as it was in leaner times.
“We always have to have the mentality of being the hunter,” Holmes said, via the team’s website. “Always have to stay hungry and when you start changing that philosophy and approach of, ‘Man, everyone is looking at us. Everybody is gunning at us.’ Ok. Fine. It doesn’t matter. The approach and the mindset doesn’t matter. When you change that, man, I think you get yourself in trouble.”
Falling short against the 49ers in the conference title matchup should help with maintaining that hungry mentality, but the team will still need to produce the same kind of on-field results in order to position themselves for another shot at the first Super Bowl in franchise history.
Lions defensive end John Cominsky was carted off the field at practice today, and the prognosis isn’t good.
Cominsky has a torn MCL and is out indefinitely, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. The report says Cominsky could be “possibly back for the playoffs,” which would suggest he’s expected to miss the entire regular season.
That’s a big loss. Cominsky started 11 regular-season games and all three playoff games for the Lions last season. He played 569 snaps in the Lions’ defensive line rotation; only Aidan Hutchinson played more.
Cominsky is in the final year of his contract and has a salary cap hit of $4.2 million this season. He will be a free agent in March of 2025.
The Lions may be without a veteran piece of their defensive line for a while.
Defensive end John Cominsky had to be carted off the field after being injured in Tuesday’s training camp practice. The team says that Cominsky is being evaluated for a right knee injury.
Cominsky appeared in 19 games and made 14 starts, including all three playoff games, for the Lions last season. He had 43 tackles and two sacks after turning in four sacks in 14 appearances for the Lions during the 2022 season.
The Lions also saw a member of their offensive line go down on Tuesday. Guard Netane Muti had to leave the workout with a shoulder injury.