Detroit Lions OTA Snark: Observations of Observations
By Kent Platte
Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
Let’s Read into some Nonsense!
Barefoot Quarterbacks
After drills, Joe Lombardi had the quarterbacks running around barefoot. Is it to improve their footwork? To help them “feel the field” better? To improve their mobility? I don’t know. It’s Joe Lombardi. The 2nd year offensive coordinator wasn’t very good in his first season and I can’t think of any good reason that any sane coach would have an actual reason for doing something like that.
Flag Football
The returners (by definition anyway) were wearing flags on their belts during return drills, which is new
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this season. Is this some new drill? Some new method meant to improve on last season’s awful return game? Of course not. It’s flag football. It’s common for coaches to use flags in training camp during special teams drills since contact is not allowed and ST drills have a lot of contact. New special teams coordinator Joe Marciano brings in a long, long list of
to the team so it shouldn’t surprise anybody that he’s going high school up in this piece.
Boone Throwing Passes!
Newly acquired undrafted free agent quarterback Anthony Boone threw at OTAs. That’s only notable because James Franklin didn’t really do much in camp last season and despite Boone’s lack of anything resembling athletic ability (He is the only QB since 2005 to rate lower than Kellen Moore athletically), he’s chucking footballs around. Good for him. It will help him land a spot on a practice squad somewhere after he’s inevitably cut from the Detroit Lions.
The Starting Line
Riley Reiff started at left tackle alongside Manny Ramirez at LG, Travis Swanson at C, Tayler Boggs at RG, and Cornelius Lucas at RT. That doesn’t exactly engender confidence. If the New York Giants weren’t fielding Marshall Newhouse at right tackle today, this line could probably contend with most pitiful in the NFL. Thankfully, the starting line in OTAs doesn’t mean anything. I fully expect Laken Tomlinson to be the starting LG in week 1 with Swanson keeping his starting position and Larry Warford returning. Lucas will probably hold onto that RT spot, but it’s possible he cedes it to Michael Williams or Corey Robinson. It’s probably going to be a turnstile again for a while, but the offensive line shouldn’t be the weakness it was in 2014 if they can stay healthy.
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