The Lions Are Skipping Joint Practices and It’s Either Brilliant or a Mistake We Won’t See Until September
Detroit is doing something weird this summer. The Lions are not holding a single joint practice before the season starts. Not one. They are one of only four teams choosing to sit this out entirely, joining Denver, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh. Meanwhile 28 other teams are getting after it with outside competition, and New Orleans and Tennessee are going full psycho with three separate joint sessions each.
For a franchise whose head coach used to preach the gospel of joint practices like they were the best thing since sliced bread, this is a hell of a U-turn.
Dan Campbell Used to Love This Stuff
If you have been paying attention the last few years, you know Campbell was all in on joint practices. He talked about them constantly. Players competing against different helmets, different offensive linemen, different pass rushers. He argued those snaps were more valuable than preseason game reps because you could control the environment while still getting legitimate outside competition.
Back in 2023, Campbell told 97.1 The Ticket that the work was so valuable he did not see the need to play starters in the next preseason game. He said the team banked over 40 reps and got two great days of work. The benefits were obvious to him then.
So what the hell changed?
Campbell Flipped the Script and He’s Not Apologizing for It
Back in March at the Annual League Meeting, Campbell announced Detroit would not hold any joint practices in 2026. His reasoning was straightforward. He felt they had become counterproductive. He doubled down during mandatory minicamp in June, making it clear this was not a scheduling conflict or some kind of logistical accident. This was deliberate.
Instead, the Lions will hold internal practices between late July and late August, sandwiched around two road preseason games and one at home. And they are not dialing down the intensity in those practices either. If anything, they are going harder because they know that is the only live work their starters are getting.
The Upside Is Pretty Obvious
The first thing that jumps out is health. The Lions have dealt with significant injury problems over the past few seasons, and training camp intensity has taken the blame more than once. If your core is already established, and Detroit’s absolutely is, why add unnecessary risk? Jared Goff is not competing for a job. Amon-Ra St. Brown, Penei Sewell, Jack Campbell, Brian Branch, Aidan Hutchinson. These guys have their roles locked down.
When you already know who your starters are, maybe you do not need to put them into another physical situation just to confirm what you already know. Maybe you can create the competition you need internally.
That is a luxury. Not every team gets to operate that way. You can understand why a team like Tennessee or New Orleans might schedule three joint practices when they have 48 guys on the roster who still need to prove they belong.
But There’s a Downside Nobody Wants to Talk About
Here is the thing though. There is a group that loses in this decision, and it is the guys at the bottom of the roster.
If you are player No. 49, 50, 51, 52, or 53, if you are an undrafted rookie trying to steal a roster spot, joint practices mean something. You get reps against starters from other teams. You get a chance to show something in a different environment. If you can win against somebody else’s starters, you have a real shot at earning a role.
Sure, those players will still get preseason reps. But the Lions are not putting their starters out there in preseason games, and frankly most teams are not either. So some of those bottom-of-the-roster guys are losing evaluation opportunities they previously had.
That matters. Not in a way that will show up in headlines, but in a way that could cost Detroit a player they needed in Week 12 when somebody goes down and the next man up is not ready because he never got the reps that mattered.
This Is About Confidence, Not Fear
This decision is not driven by injury fear. There is no public data proving joint practices are inherently more dangerous than internal sessions, or that skipping them leads to better health outcomes. A former player now working in physical therapy discussed how building a physical callus early in camp actually matters. Going out and hitting prepares the body for the regular season. He alluded to the idea that teams taking it too easy might be the ones dealing with early-season injuries because their players’ bodies are not conditioned for full-speed contact.
This is about confidence. The Lions believe they know who they are. They believe their starters do not need outside validation. They believe they can get the work they need without bringing in another team.
That kind of confidence is earned. Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell have earned it. But the trade-off is real.
We’ll Find Out in September Whether This Was Smart or Stupid
Losing those evaluation reps for the final roster spots could cost them. We will find out in late August whether Detroit feels like it had enough information. If the Lions miss on a few roster decisions, people will absolutely point back to this choice. If they do not, it will just become another example of a contender operating differently because contenders can afford to.
That is really what this story is about. Not whether joint practices are good or bad, but what it says about where the Detroit Lions believe they are as a football team heading into 2026.
They believe they are good enough to skip the rest of the league’s favorite training camp tradition and still be fine. That is either confidence born from years of smart decisions, or it is hubris that will bite them when depth becomes an issue in December. We will know which one it is soon enough.
Is skipping joint practices a power move or are we about to find out the hard way that the 53rd roster spot actually matters? Drop your take below.
