Lions begin offseason training program this week

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes have both talked about how they are further along this offseason compared to where they were a year ago after both took on their new roles with the team. The Lions begin the first phase of the three-part offseason training program conducted at Detroit’s training facility in Allen Park this week. It will last the next eight weeks and include the team’s mandatory minicamp in June. “It’s going to be good,” Campbell said of the start of the offseason training program. “Just to be out of the COVID restrictions and everything else, open the building up and not have to do virtual meetings, it’s going to go a long way. So I do feel like we’re going to be able to do a little bit more than we did last year, which is good.”Phase One consists of the first two weeks of the program with activities limited to meetings, strength & conditioning, and physical rehabilitation only. Phase Two is the next three weeks of the program, and it includes on-field workouts with individual or group instruction and drills and plays with offensive players lining up across from offensive players and defensive players lining up across from defensive players, conducted at a walkthrough pace. Phase Three consists of the last four weeks of the program. In Phase Three, teams may conduct a total of 10 days of organized team practice activity (OTAs) and a minicamp. No live contact is permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills are allowed. “We’re going to have a good turnout of our guys,” Campbell said. “I would anticipate just about all of our guys here, if not all of them. At least, if not by April 19, within a week or two of that, for sure when we start in-classroom stuff.”The Lions were supposed to have an extra minicamp last year because Campbell was a new hire, but COVID-19 restrictions prevented that from happening. Now in year two, Campbell said the team is in a much better spot with the offseason training program kicking off and the NFL Draft just a little more than a week away. “This year we’re already going to be ahead,” Campbell said. “Certainly anytime you at least kind of have your system in a little bit and now you can go back and watch your own cut-ups. Last year AG (defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn) is pulling them from New Orleans and some things. Now we can watch ourselves and our own schemes and just continue to grow and learn and move on and go to level 201 now, if not more.”