The third phase of the offseason training program begins this week for the Detroit Lions. It's an opportunity for coaches and players to ramp up football activities.
During this phase of the training program teams may conduct a total of 10 days of organized team practice activity, or 'OTAs'. No live contact is permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills are permitted. One in every three OTA practices is open to the media in its entirety, which this week falls on Friday.
Here are five things to look out for during OTAs:
Offensive coordinator John Morton has already said he doesn't plan on changing much offensively as he takes over the organization and play calling of Detroit's offense from Ben Johnson, who was hired by the Bears this offseason to be their head coach.
"I'm not changing much," Morton said. "I mean, why?"
Morton inherits one of the most complete and explosive offenses in the NFL. It's an offense he's very familiar with too. Morton was on staff in 2022 when the offense was put together building it around quarterback [Jared Goff](https://www.detroitlions.com/team/players-roster/jared-goff/), and a lot of the concepts adopted then were principles Morton lives by and helped install. There are some things he'll look to add based off his experience, but he said they will be minor adds and the casual fan will probably not be able to notice a difference in the offense at all.
Defensively, Kelvin Sheppard takes over as coordinator after Aaron Glenn was hired by the Jets to be their new head coach. Glenn and head coach Dan Campbell have been preparing Sheppard for this role for a couple years now, and it's not expected the defensive scheme will look a whole lot different either.
It will be our first look at the entire team together with the new coordinators, and we'll start to see their leadership styles and any subtle nuances they have planned for both sides of the ball.