Tuesday was the Detroit Lions’ final day of training camp against each other. On Thursday, they will have a single joint practice with the Houston Texans, before Saturday’s preseason finale puts a cap on the offseason. That means players are running out of chances to make their case for the roster. But two undrafted rookies stood out on Day 16 of training camp, which was, essentially a full scrimmage for the team.
Kennelly has slowly worked his way up the depth chart to the point where he’s comfortably with the second team. On Tuesday, he got a little bit of work with the first team, with Kerby Joseph still out and Brian Branch requiring a break for a series or two. He got his nose dirty for a pair of run stops, logged a pass breakup at the line of scrimmage on a blitz, and before the Lions opened up team drills, he ran right around Jahmyr Gibbs during a 1-on-1 pass rushing drill for the simulated sack.
Kennelly continues to rep ahead of Loren Strickland, and if he continues to make plays like this, it will be hard to keep him off the 53-man roster.
The Lions were regularly rotating their defensive line on Tuesday, with Pat O’Connor and Cooper all getting some time with the starters. And the undrafted rookie did not look out of place one bit. In a short period of time, I had him making a nice run stop on David Montgomery after just a 2-yard gain, and then jumping in with the twos and notching a tackle for loss against Sione Vaki just a couple plays later.
Cooper always seems to make at least one play per practice, and while there certainly needs to be more consistency between those plays, his overall versatility and order on the depth chart show that he’s clearly made an impression with the coaching staff. [Mekhi Wingo’s return from the Physically Unable to Perform list](/detroit-lions-injury-report/139525/detroit-lions-activate-mekhi-wingo-from-pup) complicates things for Cooper’s roster chances, but he’s still making a strong case for himself.
While the practice wasn’t a complete scrimmage, they spent a full hour doing drives of varying distances. Here’s a full recap of each drive, with the most notable plays mentioned in each.
**Drive 1: 1s vs. 1s - Result: 3-and-out**
Pressure from Aidan Hutchinson forced a quick dump-off to David Montgomery, and on third down, tight coverage from Amik Robertson shut down any chance at completion to Jameson Williams.
**Drive 2: 2s vs. 2s (Kyle Allen at QB) — Result: 3-and-out**
Run stops by Kennelly, and a combination of Roy Lopez and Myles Adams forced a third-and-long. While Allen got the ball out nicely ahead of a blitz on third down, Tom Kennedy’s out route was a good 3 yards short of the first down.
**Drive 3: 1s vs. 1s — at own 1-yard line — Result: 3-and-out**
This was the start of a three consecutive series in which the Lions’ offense was pinned at their own goal line with pumped-in crowd noise limiting communication. It’s a tough spot for the offense, and they mostly struggled.
D.J. Reed nearly had an interception after jumping Amon-Ra St. Brown. He actually collided with fellow defensive back Amik Robertson, which forced the ball loose. A third-down crosser to Williams came up short, and Rock Ya-Sin would’ve likely blown him up had it been a live tackling series.
**Drive 4: 2s vs. 2s (Hendon Hooker at QB) — at own 1-yard line — Result: offensive win(?)**
Sione Vaki kicked off the drive with runs of 7 and about 40 yards. On the big run, he nicely found an opening on the outside and beat most of the defenders to the sideline. It could have gone for longer, but coaches ruled him down around midfield.
The drive ended after Hooker navigated pressure nicely, stepping up and finding Isaac TeSlaa, who made a contested catch with Tyson Russell in coverage for about 15 yards.
**Drive 5: 1s vs. 1s — at own 1-yard line — Result: Offense to midfield**
On third-and-1, Jared Goff kept the drive alive with a nice feathering of a pass over the middle, finding Williams between Terrion Arnold and Ya-Sin for a 20-yard gain. But the drive died around midfield after Goff failed to connect with Amon-Ra St. Brown on back-to-back throws. The first was just an overthrow from Goff. The second, Goff laid a great ball in the turkey hole with Hutchinson bearing down on him, but St. Brown couldn’t complete the diving catch attempt.
**Drive 6: 1s vs. 1s — own 40-yard line — Result: TD**
Arguably, this drive could have ended with two borderline sacks from Brian Branch, but the coaching staff let those plays continue. After a drop from Williams, Goff found St. Brown for 23 yards with Arnold beat in coverage. After connecting again with St. Brown on a curl for 12 yards, Shane Zylstra leaked out on a convincing play-action pass, and he walked in for a 17-yard touchdown.
**Drive 7: 3s vs. 3s (Allen at QB) — own 40-yard line — Result: TD**
Tim Patrick helped the offense move into scoring position with a 17-yard crosser. The veteran did a great job utilizing his size to box out Allan George for the big gain. Then Dominic Lovett high-pointed a post route perfectly for a 20-yard gain. A run and screen pass to Jacob Saylors gained a collective 18 yards into the red zone, and Vaki closed out the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run. On the play, Kingsley Eguakun (as the third-string left guard) did a great job pulling to the right and sealing off Zach Cunningham to give Vaki the easy lane.
**Drive 8: 1s vs. 1s — opponent’s 20-yard line — Result: TD**
It took the offense just four plays to score from the red zone. St. Brown leaked out on a play-action for an 11-yard gain. Two players later, Goff found St. Brown against for a curl route touchdown with Arnold just a second too late.
**Drive 9: 2s vs. 2s (Allen at QB) — opponent’s 20-yard line — Result: FG**
The aforementioned tackle for loss by Cooper set the offense behind the sticks. On third down, Derrick Barnes’ pressure forced an incompletion and a three-and-out.
**Drive 10: 2nd offense (Hooker at QB) vs. 1st defense — opponents 20-yard line — Result: TD**
This was the start of two consecutive series in which the second stringers got a shot to go up against the starters. And for Hooker and company, it only took two plays to beat them in this red zone drive.
After getting a nice chunk from a Craig Reynolds run up the gut, Hooker found Jakobie Keeney-James on an inside slant, who had beaten Amik Robertson for the score.
**Drive 11: 1st offense vs. 2nd defense — opponents’ 20-yard line — Result: FG**
The second stringers notched a win against the starting offense, as well. While David Montgomery _barely_ converted a fourth-and-3, a delay of game, and an inaccurate pass from Goff set them behind the sticks. Eventually, they worked their way into a third-and-goal from the 3-yard line, but Gibbs was stuffed by Cunningham, forcing a short field goal make.
**Drive 12: 1s vs. 1s — Offense down 3, 54 seconds left, 1 timeout, starting at opponents’ 49-yard line — Result: Turnover on downs**
The Lions offense went four-and-out here, and Goff was nearly intercepted twice. Of note, Erick Hallett was in at safety, and he nearly had an interception on his first rep with the one, jumping a St. Brown route perfectly. On the next play, Reed slipped and nearly picked off a pass from his knees. Ultimately, Goff misfired on fourth-and-7 on a pass to an open St. Brown.
**Drive 13: 2s vs. 2s (Allen at QB) — Offense down 7, 1:06 left, 2 timeouts, starting at own 42-yard line — Result: TD**
The second-team offense was gifted a fourth-and-1 conversion when Adams jumped offside. Then they converted a fourth-and-10 with an out route to Tom Kennedy with Nick Whiteside in coverage. After another out-route to Kennedy for another 10 yards, that gave Allen two shots at the end zone from 4 yards out with six seconds left. It only took one, as Allen found Patrick in the back of the end zone for the score.
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