In what is sure to be the most hotly contested matchup of practice football, the Detroit Lions kick off their preseason tonight against the New York Giants in East Rutherford.
After a couple of incredibly physical practices spurred more fights than anyone in person or on Twitter could keep track of, the Lions and Giants will finally meet for a conclusion to their summer trilogy.
Detroit has sustained a few injuries so far through camp: some serious like in the case of John Cominsky, Netane Muti, and Emmanuel Moseley, and some not-so-serious like Sam LaPorta and Kevin Zeitler. While the latter were unlikely to see much playing time in this game regardless of their injury status, the former would have all been going through serious auditions.
With the development and rehabilitation of Levi Onwuzurike, and the Lions still needing to figure out what kind of NFL player Josh Paschal is in Year 3, Cominsky wasn’t necessarily at risk of not making the 53, but he would have been looking to carve out his share of snaps in this defense by making the plays he was making more of in 2022. In 2023, Cominsky finished t-100th in pressures (29) among 117 qualifying defensive linemen with at least 300 pass rush snaps (Cominsky had 375). He ranked t-47th in pressures (44) among the 117 similarly qualifying linemen in 2022, but Cominsky was far more efficient as well, doing that on just 356 snaps.
Netane Muti’s season-ending injury closed the door on what would have been a prime opportunity for the road-grading guard to find a spot as a reserve and keep the plan to move Colby Sorsdal back to tackle. Sorsdal’s cross-training isn’t something that will entirely go away just because of some misfortunate injuries—or illnesses in the case of rookie Christian Mahogany—but the team’s going to want their best and most trusted offensive linemen on the field should they need to call on their depth. For as much of his rookie season was a mixed bag, he’s likely the next best player beyond the starting five. A year ago, that was Graham Glasgow, this year it’s Sorsdal.
The torn pectoral for Emmanuel Moseley is one of the ugliest reminders in this sport that it’s rarely fair and oftentimes cruel. A player who had worked his way back from an ACL tear to only play two snaps before tearing his other ACL a day before the one-year anniversary. Not even ten months later, and after having a surprising recovery to play first-team snaps at nickel corner during the early stages of training camp, Moseley’s season—and career—is once again derailed by injury.
There’s hope that both Cominsky and Moseley could return before the end of the season, and the Lions might benefit from a rule they proposed during the offseason: use their two permitted designations of both Cominsky and Moseley to injured reserve before the 53-man cutdown—and still retain their ability to re-activate them during the regular season:
By Competition Committee; amends Article XVII, Section 17.16(C), to permit each club to place a maximum of two players who are placed on an applicable Reserve List on the business day of the final roster reduction to be designated for return. Such players will immediately count as two of the club’s total designations.
Those two designations, as noted, immediately count towards the Lions’ total injured reserve designations (8) eligible to return during the season.
So with all that in mind, here’s today’s Question of the Day…
Which Lions player has the biggest opportunity in the preseason opener vs. Giants?
There’s the case to be made for Onwuzurike to have quite the opportunity ahead of him, and it sounds like he might have already done enough to not have to play too much tonight.
Heading into training camp, he was considered one of those “first in” selections—not quite a sure thing, but it would take some pretty surprising developments to keep him off the roster. As it stands on the eve of the Lions’ first preseason game, Onwuzurike has a shot to become a player who could easily clear his season high in snaps (396) next season thanks to his versatility to line up anywhere between a 3-technique to a 5-technique—and even some work at 7.
Instead, Thursday night’s primetime viewing might be Ennis Rakestraw and Amik Robertson’s respective opportunities to stamp a spot on this defense at the nickel cornerback position.
Robertson has experience playing outside cornerback more than anything else in his football career, but he has played in the slot from time to time (423 snaps in the slot compared to 965 snaps at outside corner—nearly 70% of his NFL snaps). Since the beginning of training camp, both Robertson and Moseley have been sharing first-team reps per our reports from training camp. With Moseley sidelined with the aforementioned pectoral injury, it’s Robertson’s time to show he’s the feisty defender Dan Campbell identified him as back in early June.
“The first thing was his competitiveness,” Campbell said on June 4 about Robertson’s fit for Detroit’s defense. “You just said it, I don’t care if he’s inside or outside, the guy competes. He is a feisty, competitive, challenging corner who has versatility to play in and out. That’s always going to appeal to us.
“The more flexibility you have in and out is always going to—because you can do more jobs right? It’s easier to get you into the game. But the first thing that pops off the tape is how much he challenges and competes. There was no denying that, so we knew he would fit right in here with us.”
Robertson sounds to have the inside track, but Campbell has also shared praise about the compete level of the Lions’ most recent second-round pick in Rakestraw.
“Yeah, he continues to grow. He’s a pretty instinctive guy, he’s got length, I thought his coverage has continued to get better and he’s showing up on special teams,” Campbell said Tuesday about Rakestraw’s development. “I mean, some of those things we did yesterday, the gunner drill, it showed up at our place and it showed up here. The gunner, jammer work. He’s competitive, he’s highly competitive, and has the ability, so we like his trajectory right now.”
Who knows which players plan on suiting up for the New York Giants exactly—our conversation with Edward Valentine, the Team Community Producer and beat writer for SB Nation’s Big Blue View told us he doesn’t think Malik Nabers will see much of the field on tonight in a Pride of Detroit Direct exclusive—but there will undoubtedly be some good wide receivers to measure the corners against in Wan’Dale Robinson, Jalin Hyatt, and a veteran in Allen Robinson II.
Which players do you think have the biggest opportunity heading in tonight’s game and why? Tell us in the comments down below.
