The Detroit Lions will be staying home for training camp this summer. And unlike in past years, they will not be joining anyone for practice, either.
Lions coach Dan Campbell said on the final day of rookie minicamp Sunday he inquired with multiple teams about holding joint practices this summer but was not able to arrange any prior to the NFL’s schedule release Wednesday.
“I’ll be honest with you, I got in on it a little bit late,” Campbell said. “So a number of the coaches that I called had already had things set up, so we struck out on that so I think we’ll probably be – it’ll just be us. We’ll be competing against each other for those four weeks of camp.”
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Joint practices have become common in the NFL in recent years as teams look to get a few extra days of competitive work in outside of their exhibition schedule.
The Lions had held at least one set of joint practices every summer in 2016-19, until the NFL halted the practice last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This year, in anticipation of COVID rules being relaxed for vaccinated players, the league is planning to resume playing preseason games and teams are preparing for more normal training camps.
The Lions open the preseason Aug. 13 against the Buffalo Bills at Ford Field and have exhibition games scheduled with the Pittsburgh Steelers (Aug. 21) and Indianapolis Colts.
Though he spent the past five years with the New Orleans Saints, who held training camp at The Greenbrier in West Virginia prior to last season, Campbell said he prefers to hold training camp at the Lions’ Allen Park practice facility for at least his first season as head coach.
“My thoughts right now are that I would rather stay here,” he said. “This is our home base and this is where we get our work done. Not that that won’t change over the years, but right now that’s what we’ll do.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.