Key Detroit Lions Week One 2026 OTA Takeaways
Key takeaways, storylines after first week of 2026 Detroit Lions organized team activities.
Video Transcript
Week one of Detroit Lions OTA is in the books.
Let's recap and explore main takeaways.
I'm John Maccaro, Detroit Lions on SI.
Being out there for the first time to get a glimpse of the new look Detroit Lions, you realize, OK, probably the strength of this football team is gonna be the offense.
When you see the likes of Amira Saint Brown, Jamison Williams, Isaac Tesla, things are looking hopeful for new offensive coordinator, Drew Petzing.
Now, Dan Campbell made Obviously, a little bit of news with his subdued attitude, his, uh, you know, stance on Uh, rookie minicamp indicating that he really didn't feel like young players were ready for rookie minicamp, wanting them to acclimate a little bit later in the offseason, not wanting to hype up players, and also too, that he kind of downplayed the importance of OTA at this point in time, but still, there are a lot of things to talk about.
Most notably, our first look at the offensive line, the opportunity to see Penne Sewell, Christian Mahogany, Cade Mays, Tate Ratledge, and Blake Miller.
Alongside each other.
Now they were in rotation, Blake Miller with Larry Boreham, but it was good to see also the likes of Juice Scruggs and others to, to kind of evaluate who is going to be in the rotation moving forward, especially a player, a young player like offensive lineman Miles Frazier.
On the defense, you realize, OK, where are players gonna be slotted potentially?
You realize the new additions Christian Izzian.
And Clark from uh formerly of the Steelers, where they fit in at the safety spot, seeing Ennis Rakestraw, Roger McCreary battling it out on the outside and in the slot.
You realize the defense is gonna be quite important when you realize, OK, uh, Calvin Shepherd entering week two, so more there.
The young players, the rookies that were out there, including Derrick Moore, Jimmy Roller, um, Blake Miller, like we talked about, already getting acclimated and talking about uh not wanting to focus on any distractions.
So it's good to see Penasu for the first time out there maneuvering at left tackle.
So for the Detroit Lions, it's a first look at the football team.
Now, we'll have another opportunity for the next couple of weeks to observe and continue to evaluate different storylines on defense, what type of, of, of elevation and growth do some of the second-year players have, and Dan Campbell did provide injury updates regarding.
Uh, Terry Arnold, Sam LaPorta, Brian Branch, and Kirby Joseph, who were not out there on the field practicing.
So we'll have more opportunity to evaluate in week two as well.
So make sure you stay tuned to Lions NSI for your, your video coverage, NFL insider coverage of the Lions podcast and daily content featuring your Detroit Lions.
