On-field work during OTAs and minicamp are important for a solid chunk of players. For others, notably those who are recovering from an injury, it's more about their mere presence at practice.
Thursday was the last day of Lions' mandatory minicamp. It's also the last time the entire team will be together until training camp, with the last voluntary OTA sessions coming next week before about a six-week break.
A headline out of Wednesday's practice was cornerback Khalil Dorsey suffering a lower leg injury and having to be carted off. On Thursday morning, via Justin Rogers of the Detroit News, head coach Dan Campbell had good news on Dorsey.
"Yeah, he should be good," Campbell said. "We've got good news on that. It looks like a little ankle (sprain), so he's good."
Over the course of OTAs, players like DJ Reader, Kerby Joseph, Brian Branch, Marcus Davenport and Emmanuel Moseley have sat out as they recover from surgeries. Running back Jahmyr Gibbs popped up with what Campbell called a "soft-tissue injury", but it doesn't appear to be a big concern. Other veterans have had their practice reps managed over the course of offseason work, if only to give others who are less-established an opportunity to work.
Dan Campbell makes one exception to positive injury report looking toward training camp
Campbell does not foresee most players who have been dealing with an injury or recovering from an injury not being ready for the start of training camp. There is one potential exception he was sure to note: Reader.
"Yeah, I would say Reader will be the one where there will be a decision on at what point is he ready to start practicing," Campbell said. "But that's not something we're caught off guard by. We knew this would take a minute. I would anticipate everybody else to be pretty close to ready. If not, it's going to be tight. It'll be enough to where they're going to get a really good amount of training camp work."
Reader suffered a torn right quad tendon late last season with the Cincinnati Bengals, which is what kept him available through the first few days of free agency before a visit with the Lions. As Campbell noted, obviously, they knew about Reader's situation when they signed him. Once he's medically cleared, which should happen sometime during training camp if he's not ready for Day 1, he is slated to be the starting nose tackle.
