Winners and Losers from Detroit Lions Training Camp Scrimmage

The Detroit Lions turned Monday night’s training camp practice into something much closer to a football game, and by the time the mock scrimmage was finished, one thing was impossible to miss.

Detroit’s defense came ready to play.

The Lions divided the roster into two sides, pairing the first-team offense with reserve defenders while the starting defense teamed with the backup offense. Although the side featuring Jared Goff’s offense eventually came away with a 24-7 victory, the scoreboard hardly told the whole story.

Detroit’s two defensive units combined for seven sacks, three interceptions and a defensive touchdown, according to the Lions’ official Day 14 observations. The offense eventually found some rhythm, but the opening portion of the scrimmage belonged almost entirely to the defense.

Several players helped themselves in important roster and depth-chart battles. A few others left the field with some things to clean up.

Here are our biggest winners and losers from Detroit’s Monday night scrimmage.

Winner: Eric O’Neill

Nobody improved his standing more than Eric O’Neill.

The undrafted rookie edge rusher delivered the biggest defensive play of the night when Luke Altmyer attempted to throw a screen near his own goal line. O’Neill got his hand on the pass, tipped it into the air, secured the ball himself and walked into the end zone for a pick-six.

That would have been enough to make this list, but O’Neill also recorded a sack after producing a tackle for loss and quarterback hit against Cincinnati in Detroit’s preseason opener.

Suddenly, this is becoming a trend.

That matters because O’Neill entered camp facing a difficult path to the roster. In our most recent Detroit Lions 53-man projection, O’Neill was on the outside looking in behind Aidan Hutchinson, DJ Wonnum, Tyler Lacy, Derrick Moore and Ahmed Hassanein.

He is making that decision significantly more uncomfortable now.

Hassanein has already emerged as one of Detroit’s biggest rookie standouts, and O’Neill is beginning to make some noise of his own. There may not be enough room for everybody, but an undrafted rookie who can rush the passer, contribute on special teams and create splash plays is exactly the type of player who can force Brad Holmes to reconsider the bottom of his roster.

Winner: Ennis Rakestraw Jr.

Ennis Rakestraw needed this one.

His preseason opener against Cincinnati was rough, his training camp has been inconsistent and Nick Whiteside’s emergence had pushed the former second-round pick down the depth chart. One post-preseason roster projection went as far as describing Rakestraw as firmly on the hot seat.

Monday represented exactly the type of response Detroit needed to see.

Rakestraw made an immediate impact against the run, attacking from his outside corner position to stop Jacob Saylors before following that with a tackle for loss. He later blitzed from the edge, disrupted another Altmyer pass and eventually came away with an interception after Christian Izien helped knock the ball into the air.

Rakestraw finished the scrimmage with an interception, a pass breakup and a tackle for loss. He did allow Tom Kennedy’s short touchdown reception, but Amon-Ra St. Brown created separation for Kennedy with a well-timed rub that effectively removed Rakestraw from the play.

One strong practice does not erase everything that happened earlier in camp, but this was the best possible answer Rakestraw could have provided.

He needed to remind the Lions why they invested the No. 61 overall pick in him.

For one night, he did exactly that.

Winner: Keith Abney II

Keith Abney II isn’t just having a nice rookie camp anymore.

He is competing for a starting job.

Detroit’s fifth-round pick has been receiving first-team snaps at nickel over the past several practices, putting himself squarely into a competition with Roger McCreary and Christian Izien. Monday provided another reason for the coaching staff to continue giving him those opportunities.

Abney made a particularly impressive play early in the scrimmage when he matched up with St. Brown on third-and-5 and forced an incompletion, ending the possession.

Covering St. Brown in practice is not exactly the beginner level of NFL cornerback development.

Abney has now followed a good preseason debut with encouraging practices against Detroit’s starting offense, and the Lions clearly believe he can handle more responsibility. When training camp began, he looked like an intriguing rookie who could contribute on special teams and develop into a defensive role.

Two weeks later, he looks like someone who could legitimately open the season playing meaningful defensive snaps.

That’s a major jump.

Winner: Sione Vaki

The Lions have always known what Sione Vaki can provide on special teams.

Monday was another reminder that there might be considerably more available on offense.

Vaki showed patience and vision with a sharp jump cut early in practice, ran effectively between the tackles and later bounced a run outside for 19 yards. On another extended drive, he found the edge and powered through contact near the goal line, with coaches eventually ruling him out at the 9-yard line.

The interesting part is how natural Vaki is beginning to look at running back.

It is easy to forget that he spent much of his college career playing safety before being pressed into offensive duty at Utah. He entered the NFL without the lifetime of backfield reps most running backs have accumulated by the time they reach this level.

Detroit has primarily used him on special teams during his first two seasons, but the Lions entered camp hoping to expand his offensive responsibilities. An early broken nose temporarily slowed that process, prompting Detroit to add additional running back depth.

Now Vaki is healthy again, and his push for the No. 3 running back role is picking up steam.

Winner: Isaac TeSlaa

Isaac TeSlaa did not dominate the stat sheet Monday, but he made the type of plays Detroit wants to see from him in Year 2.

During the first-team offense’s best sustained drive, Goff faced third-and-17 and found TeSlaa on a deep post for roughly 20 yards. Later, with Detroit facing another third down, TeSlaa moved the chains again with a 13-yard reception.

He also contributed to one of the biggest offensive plays of the evening without touching the football. On Sam LaPorta’s 25-yard touchdown off play action, TeSlaa delivered a key block downfield that helped clear LaPorta’s path to the end zone.

That’s important development for a receiver trying to become more than a spectacular-catch specialist.

TeSlaa said over the weekend that the rookie excuse is gone and he now expects himself to make plays every day. Monday was a good example of what that looks like. He converted important downs, contributed without the ball and helped keep the offense moving when it finally found some momentum.

For a player expected to take a significant Year 2 step, that’s a productive night.

Winner: Detroit’s Defensive Front Seven

It would be impossible to discuss Monday’s scrimmage without giving some love to the front seven as a whole.

Alim McNeill was a problem throughout the evening, generating interior pressure and helping eliminate running lanes. Tyleik Williams repeatedly clogged the middle, while Trevor Nowaske recorded two sacks and Devin White added another sack along with multiple tackles.

Chris Smith, Ben Stille and O’Neill also got home for sacks, while Detroit repeatedly used linebacker and defensive-back pressure to make life difficult for both quarterbacks.

Seven sacks in a practice setting need some context because quarterbacks cannot be tackled, and observers will occasionally disagree about whether a play would have resulted in an actual sack.

Still, seven is seven.

Detroit spent much of the offseason trying to create a deeper and more disruptive defense around Hutchinson. Monday’s scrimmage provided encouraging evidence that the pressure may not have to come from No. 97 every time.

Loser: Luke Altmyer

This was probably the easiest call on the other side.

Altmyer has done plenty of encouraging things during his first NFL training camp, and his preseason debut against Cincinnati gave Detroit reasons to be optimistic about his developmental upside.

Monday was a reminder that he is still a rookie.

Altmyer was responsible for all three of Detroit’s interceptions during the scrimmage. Rakestraw got the first, Chuck Clark took advantage of an overthrow for another, and O’Neill turned the third into six points.

The reserve quarterback was also under constant pressure, so the entire evening cannot be placed at his feet. Altmyer did recover enough to produce a scoring drive, finding Lucky Jackson for a 19-yard touchdown, and he made several other quality throws.

But when you are competing with veteran Josh Dobbs for the backup quarterback job, three interceptions in one scrimmage are difficult to ignore.

Altmyer has shown enough that one poor practice should not dramatically alter Detroit’s evaluation. He simply has to make sure it remains one poor practice.’

Loser: Detroit’s Backup Pass Protection

Altmyer deserves responsibility for his interceptions, but Detroit’s reserve offense did not exactly give him a comfortable pocket.

Nowaske, O’Neill, Smith and Stille all generated sacks or significant pressure against the backup unit, and Roger McCreary came on a late blitz for another sack during the final drive.

The backup offense struggled to establish anything early, failing to produce a first down until several possessions into the scrimmage. When it finally began moving the ball, negative plays repeatedly put the unit behind schedule.

That is worth monitoring because injuries have already forced Detroit to experiment with its offensive-line combinations.

Training camp is designed to expose weaknesses before they matter, and Monday gave offensive line coach Hank Fraley plenty of film to work through.

Loser: First-Team Offensive Rhythm

Calling the entire first-team offense a loser would be misleading.

Goff eventually engineered productive possessions, LaPorta scored a touchdown, Gibbs ripped off a 21-yard run and TeSlaa made multiple clutch catches. The side featuring Detroit’s starting offense ultimately won the scrimmage comfortably.

But the beginning was ugly.

Detroit opened with a botched center exchange, struggled to handle interior pressure and repeatedly found itself leaving the field without moving the chains. The offense eventually put together a 14-play march deep into scoring territory, but even that possession stalled inside the 10-yard line and ended with a short field goal.

There were positive stretches, particularly later in practice, but the consistency was not where Campbell will want it.

That is especially notable with the Lions approaching Saturday’s preseason game against Washington, when Campbell has indicated more established players could potentially see action.

If the starters do play, cleaning up the early execution will be one of the priorities.

Bottom Line

Monday’s scrimmage belonged to Detroit’s defense, even if the final scoreboard technically went the other way.

Eric O’Neill produced the biggest play and continued his push from undrafted long shot toward legitimate roster consideration. Ennis Rakestraw responded to a rough stretch with his best performance of camp, while Keith Abney II continued looking increasingly comfortable with the starters.

On offense, Sione Vaki and Isaac TeSlaa both showed encouraging signs of expanded roles.

There were concerns, too. Luke Altmyer’s three interceptions were the obvious blemish, the backup protection struggled and Detroit’s starting offense took far too long to find its rhythm.

That’s what a training camp scrimmage is supposed to reveal.

There are still roster spots to win, jobs to lose and plenty of football left before Detroit’s 53-man roster is finalized.

On Monday night, a handful of Lions made their cases considerably stronger.