Three Preseason Games, Zero Joint Practices, and Maybe Some Starters
The Lions dropped their preseason schedule on Thursday alongside the regular season slate, and Dan Campbell is already making things interesting. No joint practices this year. None.
That means these three preseason games might actually matter for once. Campbell has suggested he could play starters more than in previous years because of the lack of joint practice reps. Which is either smart preparation or a recipe for August injuries, depending on how pessimistic your Lions fandom has made you.
The Schedule Breakdown
Detroit starts the preseason slate with a trip to Cincinnati to face the Bengals. Then they come home to Ford Field for their lone preseason home game against the Washington Commanders. The preseason wraps up with a visit to Indianapolis to take on the Colts.
So to recap: at Bengals, vs. Commanders, at Colts. Two road games bookending one home contest. Standard preseason geography, keeping travel costs down with nearby opponents.
Campbell’s No Joint Practice Stance
Campbell made it clear during the annual league meetings that Detroit won’t be doing any joint practices this year. That’s a departure from recent trends around the league, but it means these preseason games become the primary opportunity for evaluation against outside competition.
Maybe we play some of these guys in the preseason more than we have, that’s where they get some of it,” Campbell said about getting starters meaningful reps.
All three games will air on the Detroit Lions TV Network. Specific dates and times are coming later, probably within the next week based on how they handled it last year.
Is Campbell’s no joint practice approach brilliant roster management or are we setting ourselves up for another Lions-specific disaster? Let me know what you think in the comments.
I love this move honestly. No joint practices means our guys get real game reps against actual competition instead of just going through the motions. Campbell knows what he’s doing with player evaluation and I trust him to manage starter minutes smart. This feels like the kind of thing a confident coaching staff does.
I get the logic but man, putting starters on the field more in August just makes me nervous. Yeah we’ve got a good coaching staff now and I believe in Campbell, but injuries in preseason would be brutal. Hope he really does know what he’s doing with this gamble.
Been watching this team for decades and I gotta say, the way Campbell and Holmes are approaching things feels completely different from what we’ve seen before. No joint practices, prioritizing preseason evaluation, that’s real preparation. They’re building something solid here.
Bengals, Commanders, Colts is a pretty clean schedule for getting reps. Having starters actually get meaningful time instead of running through practice drills makes total sense to me. Campbell’s not being reckless, he’s being smart about evals.