Receiving trio: It was noticeable how much more comfortable second-year wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa looked within the offense on Friday vs. this time last year. That's natural for most players to take a big leap going into their second season.

TeSlaa was smooth in his route running Friday and Detroit has a chance to field a really nice starting trio at receiver with All-Pro Amon-Ra St. Brown, back-to-back 1,000-yard receiver Jameson Williams and TeSlaa, who had six touchdowns as a rookie in 2025. That's three players with three very unique skillsets.

O-line changes: Head coach Dan Campbell first floated the idea of Penei Sewell moving to left tackle at the Annual League Meetings in March and he confirmed Friday Sewell has been working at LT.

The first-team O-line Friday was Sewell at left tackle, Christian Mahogany at left guard, Cade Mays at center, Tate Ratledge at right guard and Larry Borom at right tackle with rookie first-round pick Blake Miller also getting some reps at right tackle. That's going to be a good competition to watch between Borom and Miller for the right tackle spot.

Competition: "This will be the most competition we've had, in my opinion, I think top tier competition," Campbell said before practice. "I mean, this will be good. This is going to be good across the board."

There's going to be good competition at a lot of spots but one spot in particular that could be interesting to watch develop is who replaces Amik Robertson at nickel cornerback. We could see Detroit play more nickel this season in passing downs given their current personnel. Veterans Roger McCreary, Avonte Maddox and rookie Keith Abney II were working there Friday with McCreary getting most of the first reps.

Opportunity: Cornerback Terrion Arnold wasn't at practice Friday and that gave fellow third-year cornerback Ennis Rakestraw Jr. a chance to get some meaningful reps on the outside opposite D.J. Reed along with Rock Ya-Sin.

This is a big year for Rakestraw, a former second-round draft pick in 2024, to show he can stay healthy and earn a role. He's played in just eight games in his first two seasons because of injury. I was around when people thought Matthew Stafford was injury-prone because he played in just 13 games his first two years because of injury. He didn't miss another game for eight years. I'd like to see if a healthy Rakestraw can push for playing time on the outside in training camp.

Tight end depth: Veteran Tyler Conklin caught my eye Friday. He was a favorite target among the quarterbacks. Conklin had a four-year stretch from 2021-24 where he caught at least 50 passes. He's a smooth route runner with good hands. I wouldn't be surprised if he pushes Brock Wright for the No. 2 role behind LaPorta.

Good idea: Rookie linebacker Jimmy Rolder was playing a lot of MIKE linebacker Friday. That's obviously All-Pro Jack Campbell’s spot, but it's a smart move by Campbell and defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard to acclimate the rookie at the MIKE so he can be in the middle of everything and see how it all pieces together and make the calls.

Staying with the linebacker position - The first three up in base defense Friday were Jack Campbell (MIKE), Derrick Barnes (SAM) and Malcolm Rodriguez (WILL). The competition to replace Alex Anzalone at the WILL should be another fun competition to watch develop.

Punt returner: For the first time in five seasons the Lions will have a different punt returner after Kalif Raymond left in free agency. One name to watch is veteran Greg Dortch.

"I mean he came in as a guy who I think had an eight-yard average and zero punt returns for touchdowns and he left here as really probably the best punt returner in the game," Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp said of Raymond.

"Dortch, obviously excited to have him. He's a similar type of player. I think he's coming in with zero touchdowns on his career. I think his average a little bit less than what Kalif was when he came here. And so, an opportunity for him to grow and compete."

Dortch was the first player back there returning punts in a late-practice punt period.

Catch of the day: Running back Jacob Saylors made a terrific diving, one-handed catch in the flat from quarterback Teddy Bridgewater in a 7-on-7 period. Saylors will be competing with Sione Vaki, Jabari Small and Kye Robichaux for the No. 3 running back role behind Jahmyr Gibbs and Isiah Pacheco.

Sidelined: There are a few players continuing to rehab injuries that didn't take part in Friday's practice including tight end Sam LaPorta (back) and safeties Brian Branch (Achilles) and Kerby Joseph (knee).

LaPorta has taken some walkthrough reps over the first couple days of OTAs, per Campbell, but didn't take part in Friday's open practice. LaPorta said after the season he expects to be full go by training camp. Campbell said all three players are improving.

Safety focus: With Joseph and Branch sidelined, I kept an eye on the safety rotation Friday. Veterans Christian Izien and Chuck Clark got the first run with the starters. Clark has played in 123 games with 80 starts and Izien 45 games and 15 starts. That's a ton of experience for two backup roles that could be pressed into duty this season.