Head coach Dan Campbell told reporters ahead of the second day of mandatory minicamp that the defense's performance from day one was "really good," and that their ability to generate turnovers has been what's most impressive out of the unit throughout their camp sessions so far.
"Chuck [Clark] made a couple of plays, AB [Aamaris Brown] made a play in there, [Jimmy] Rolder's getting some knock downs, Jack [Campbell]'s getting some punch outs, I think that's what I liked: we're getting our hands on some footballs on defense, which was one of the things we emphasized coming into this year. It's the takeaways. Every team says, but you've gotta make it happen."
Detroit was one of the more middling teams in football at generating turnovers, posting just 13 interceptions in 2025 in addition to just six fumbles. They did a good job of protecting the ball on offense, to be fair, but that doesn't matter much when you can't make the other team pay for testing your defense.
Lions are emphasizing takeaways in minicamp, training camp
Detroit's run defense had seen better days in 2025, but it remains one of their bigger strengths headed into this season. Their defensive front is far healthier than in 2025, and they added D.J. Wonnum in free agency to help with both pocket pressure and as an additional line of defense against the run.
However, their secondary remains a weak point. At cornerback, D.J. Reed might be the only veteran with a guaranteed starting job in the room. Terrion Arnold, due to a shortened 2025 and a lack of really any dominant season so far while with the Lions, is being put into the competition for the other open outside corner spot. Slot corner is another beast of a competition.
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If Detroit can begin generating turnovers with this defensive unit and under a second season with defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard, their defense becomes and completely different monster to try and reign in. Giving up 217.4 passing yards per game and 3,695 total yards in the air will not help the Lions to try and get over the Super Bowl hump.
Hearing that players like Rolder and Campbell are seeing success with generating these turnovers is a great sign for Detroit's defense, but you hope to see the same said for their secondary sooner rather than later.
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