Lions fans were treated to a great finish to practice Saturday at the Meijer Performance Center with rookie wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa ending practice with a catch down the left sideline where he battled a 50-50 ball away from cornerback Dicaprio Bootle for a touchdown.
TeSlaa, the Lions' third-round pick in this year's NFL Draft out of Arkansas, has been a playmaker this entire first week of camp but particularly has stood out the last two days with the pads coming on. His size (6-4, 214), speed (4.43) and physicality can be used to his advantage.
TeSlaa has also been battling through a knee injury that has been giving him some discomfort. The fact that he's battling through that and still able to make plays has been pretty impressive for a rookie.
"Yeah, you like to see it," Lions head coach Dan Campbell said of TeSlaa persevering through some discomfort. "Because here's the thing, if we didn't feel like he could handle it or he wasn't ready, he would not be out there. It's time for him to go.
"Some of this has got to be, 'yeah, you are going to have to push through this a little bit. You are going to have to get the conditioning, the number of reps on you. Because the more you do, the stronger you are going to get, because you are ready for it. It's just going to be a little uncomfortable.' So, yeah. It means a lot to have a young guy who's willing to press and push, because they don't all know that yet and they start figuring it. So, it's good."
The moment certainly hasn't seemed too big for TeSlaa, who is from Hudsonville, Mich., and started his college career at Hillsdale before transferring to Arkansas. He's got a unique skillset among Detroit's receiver corps and is looking to carve out an important role in this offense early on.
"I try my best to not let my knee deter me at all," TeSlaa said after practice Saturday. "It hurts a little bit. But I guarantee you everyone that is out on the field right now is dealing with something. Just how football is. Maybe mine is a little more noticeable but I'm just trying to grind through it and focus on the things I need to focus on."
TeSlaa's size and strength has been his biggest asset over his first week and he said it's going to be important moving forward in camp and the preseason.
"Obviously, DB's are normally a little bit smaller than receivers so that definitely gives me an advantage," he said. "Like you saw (Friday) going over the top ... it's been fun and it's been good."
ANOTHER ROOKIE PLAYMAKER
Speaking of rookie receivers having a good first week, seventh-round pick Dominic Lovett, like TeSlaa, has been having a very nice start to his first training camp.
He's shown up as a playmaker on both offense and special teams as a gunner and in the return game, and is turning some heads with his play. Lovett caught at least 50 passes in each of his last three seasons in college at Missouri and Georgia. He has terrific hands and has been consistently creating space for himself while also making tough catches in traffic look easy.
"Really it's just being confident," Lovett said after practice Saturday. "If the quarterback is throwing you the ball, he's trusting that you're going to make a play. Really just having the confidence that when the ball is coming your way looking the ball in and just catching it.
"Honestly, you can't do anything until you catch the ball no matter if it's behind you, low, high or right on you. Don't worry about getting hit or none of that. It's football, you're going to get hit might as well catch it."
The play of the rookies has caught the eye of veterans in the room like Amon-Ra St. Brown.
"They are doing good," St. Brown said. "Our offense isn't the easiest we have a lot of moving parts. But they are doing a great job of getting the whole offense and going out there and making plays.
"Isaac had a huge play today to end practice. Been making plays all camp. Dom (Lovett) has been making plays all camp. All of the young guys have been ballin, man. I'm excited to watch them go out there in the preseason and ball out."
LEADERSHIP ROLE
Over the course of the last four seasons we've watched All-Pro right tackle Penei Sewell grow from a 20-year old rookie to now one of the best tackles in the game, a family man with three kids and one of the unquestioned leaders of this football team.
That leadership role is something Sewell takes very seriously. He had some veterans take him under their wing when he first stepped into the league and he's now doing the same for Detroit's youngsters upfront like Tate Ratledge and Miles Frazier. The rookie Ratledge has been lining up next to Sewell at right guard the last two days in padded practices.
"I've been in the playbook and trying to help the young guys elevate their game," Sewell said Saturday. "That's really the most important thing for myself right now is making sure those young guys, the first group especially, is ready to go.
"You constantly tell them that you're a shoulder to lean on. Constantly tell them, 'I'm here if you have any questions.' Even if I see something I try not to wait for him to ask. I take it upon myself to step forward and voice my perspective on what I would do differently."
What an advantage for young players like Ratledge and others to have one of the best offensive linemen in the game willing to help them along and be a foundational leader for this football team. Sewell is a generational talent in more ways than one.
EXTRA POINT
Cornerback Stantley Thomas-Oliver left practice Saturday and is being evaluated for a hamstring injury.
