Versatile defender: One player who hasn’t been talked about a lot this offseason is defensive lineman Tyler Lacy. He has played a lot of the big end role throughout OTAs and in Tuesday’s minicamp practice. Lacy played in 10 games (four starts) with Detroit last season with 21 tackles and a sack. Head coach Dan Campbell has talked about his versatility to play both inside and on the edge and he’s been getting a lot of run in both spots in these offseason practices. It’s something to keep an eye on.
Manu moving around: Heading into his third season, Giovanni Manu is trying to find the best spot where he can compete for a starting job and playing time. It’s going to be a big training camp for Manu. He’s played both tackle spots in OTA practices, and we’ve also seen him some at left guard. That’s expected to be a good competition at left guard between Christian Mahogany, Ben Bartch, Miles Frazier and now Manu.
Williams’ route running: I thought wide receiver Jameson Williams had a good practice Thursday, making a couple nice catches in a 7-on-7 period in the middle of practice. We get so caught up in Williams’ speed and deep play ability that we don’t talk enough about the significant gains he’s made over the last year in his route running. He made a nice move at the top of an out route to gain separation for a nice catch and gain. A couple plays later he made a nice move again to gain a little room on a curl route for a key catch over the middle. Williams is really becoming a complete receiver for this Lions’ offense heading into Year 5.
