Dan Campbell Press Conference | July 21, 2025

Dan Campbell Press Conference | July 21, 2025

maybe getting an update on on NS practice. Yeah, uh it should be okay. You know, uh everything came back negative. Certainly, he’s sore. You know, he’ll be out a few days here just to let him recover, but but structurally everything uh looks pretty good. Um with your offensive line, um you know, we’ve kind of seen you send settle into a group, maybe a starting rotation of what it might look like. How long do you want to maybe take a look at that rotate flip pieces? Like how are you going about the process of determining which guys fit where? Yeah. Well, I think um I think these first call it 10 days is going to tell us a lot. You know, by the time we get to the Hall of Fame game uh at least in one area of that um you know and then we got to make a decision um there. Okay. And then and then the competition is still open at that point like man working these guards and and then you know who is playing center but but I think it’s kind of a two-part deal. We’ve got an open competition guys competing. You know certainly Tate at center uh you know we’re working him in there. See how fast he can get it. U he’s I know it’s only day one looked much better than even spring you know so getting his feet under him. But as I’ve said before, we know Graham can slide right in right now and and we don’t miss a beat. So, um you know, we’re just gonna keep keep playing with it. You know, it’s kind of exciting really just to to see these guys grow and watch them develop and compete and uh it’s it’s pretty good. It’s a good group. Hank’s going to do a great job. Always does. Just to stick with Grant for a second, he changed positions last year. Obviously, he was dealing with some some health things. Um, how much do you appreciate what he did last year? A, and then B, you know, how big can he be for those two young interior linemen? Yeah, he he is big. Um, you know, the thing about Graham, he’s dependable. You know, he’s a he’s a savvy vet. He’s played a lot of football. He understands uh angles. He’s smart. He knows the game. Uh, and uh, and then he’ll help those guys. I think the hardest thing for Graham right now is not to do too much as far as you know like we’re trying to make sure that hey let let Tate do it you know like right now um let him go and and um and so it’s been you know that’s good um but he like I said before you know Graham gives you makes you gives you some comfort because we know what he can do and he can play multiple roles and uh Kingsley the day after Ragnar retired what what have you seen from him over this last year that kind of gives you confidence he challenge for that role as well. Well, there again, a lot of scout team reps, man. Him on Sunday, just watching him getting better and better and better. The way he competes, man, he’s tough, he’s physical, he is smart, really good athlete, man. He can move. Um, you know, and and and he knows this so much about him is going to be the anchor, man. We put pads on, you know, the size and those things, just being able to sit some guys down, anchor, things of that nature. But, but I like Kingsley. He’s improved, you know. uh he’s improved a lot. Yeah, yesterday David Montgomery said call this a season or a year of reckoning. Um do you agree with that? Um he said, you know, we’re tired of getting close and you know, not getting there, but uh do you agree with that? And does that kind of speak to an overall sense of I don’t know if you’d call it frustration from players of you know, you guys are having great seasons but just aren’t getting there? Well, I look, this is one of the things I talked about in the meeting the other day, you know, and it’s just um I think if we keep that type of mindset, man, we’re, you know, we’re after it’s another year um and we’re out to finish what we started, uh we’re going to close out some of these debts. That’s got to be the attitude. That’s the mindset across the board every day in practice. No matter who we play, no matter what people think, man, we’re going. Um and I just think it’s it’s a mindset, that’s all. And just another thing about David is just um yesterday he said he kind of he was motivated. He felt like he was kind of the forgotten man um last year, you know, being injured. Um I know you’ve talked a lot about your appreciation for his running style. Um maybe that’s an outside thing, but I’m sure he’s not a forgotten man with you guys and and how important is he to what you guys want to do? Yeah. Yeah. Believe me, he is not forgotten. He’s we know exactly who he is, where he is, um and what he’s capable of. And the one-two punch with he and Gibbs is is uh it’s special and it’s rare in this league in my opinion, especially nowadays. So, um there is a place for David. He’s going to help us. Um and and we’re going to use him and we’ll use he and Gibbs together, you know, we’ll do some of those things. So, um we we know he’s one of our best offensive players. That’s not changing right now. I think some people were confused about a little bit of the timeline with Levi. Was this a thing in OTAAS or was it lingering from the season? Yeah, I would say I would say this is something that uh crept up, you know, once once the se season’s done, you know, it’s kind of the normal uh aches and pains, things that go on uh after a season. you know, Levi’s been through a lot and uh but then, you know, probably call it a month after he’s signed, month and a half somewhere in there, you know, uh knees bothering him, we keep working through it, you know, and it’s not getting any better. And so, just needed to get this done, you know. Look, I we hate it for Levi, man. I mean, this is, you know, it’s not his fault and it’s just another one of those things, but I can tell you what, his mindset is right. I mean, he’s he’s all about getting it right, improving himself, and uh you know, it’s it’s not easy when you got to rehab year after year after year, but come back. No. How have you how have you adapted to I mean, obviously injuries are part of the game, but just looking at from year to year how you run training camps, have you run things a little differently based off injuries or what have you learned just from the process of running camps? Like especially this year with just dealing with so many so many injuries? Yeah, I man I you know I’m with you. Um but you got to be careful, you know, and I and I I go back I know what that is. Um I’ve got a little thing on my board, man. Don’t um you know, it’s you know, you can’t let anything sway, you know, your identity or what you want to become, man. You can’t let the fear of injury change the way you prepare. and doesn’t mean you’re not being smart. You’re not reading the data. Is there something we need to um and so I so no, I’m not changing much. We’re we’re going to do things very much like we’ve done for the last four years. Uh because it’s it’s led to success for us and and we play a certain style of football and we got to keep that. It’s not easy to do, but you you have to do that. Dan, I want to ask you I want to ask you a couple things about Henden Hooker. First, I’m just wondering, have you Hender? Yeah. Yeah. I’m just wondering if you’ve recently kept in contact at all with Teddy Bridgewwater. And then the other part is what what are you looking to see from Pendon over the course of the next 10 days to keep him maybe um in line in favor with the coaching staff? Um Teddy and I we talk all the time. I mean, not all the time. We but we communicate back and forth. I mean, I’ve known Teddy a long time. So, um so yeah, that’s on a personal level. I mean, he he’s somebody I got a lot of respect for and and so just as a human being, I’m going to talk to Teddy. Um, if that’s okay with you. All right. Um, uh, as far as Hooker, look, Hooker knows the deal, man. This is no different. You’re out here to compete, you know, and, um, we gave him we gave him some things to do while he was home, talking about working on a little bit of the urgency, the footwork, you know, certainly continued training. And look, it’s only one day, but man, I I liked what I saw out there yesterday, man. There’s an urgency. I thought his footwork was on. I thought he was spitting the plays out. But there again, that’s day one. And uh but he knows what it is, you know. He knows it’s time to take the next step. And so it’s his move, you know, and I think he’s wired right and u it means something to him and so here we go, man. It’s open camp. Dan, your sixth round pick. I know you haven’t seen a lot of him, but what do you think about what you have seen, maybe some assets he has? Well, he’s a guy that uh it means something to, you know, he he’s got a lot of intensity to him. Uh he wants to learn. He’s he’s a you know, he’s an open book right now, man. He he uh he wants to know it all. Um he’s like a sponge. He he’s taking it all in. Uh tries to do exactly what you tell him to do. And he’s high motor, man. He goes all out. It doesn’t matter what the drill is. And so, I think the trick there is in walkthroughs backing him down just a tick. But, um I like him. You know, we like him. I mean, he’s wired right. It’s one of the reasons we draft him. So, there’s there’s something to work with here. We’ll see how fast he can develop. Veterans you last three adjusting rider, there are these veterans you add to the roster in kind of in between stage of late season and start training camp last year. Guys like Cal Peekco or Benjamin this this year, Zack Cunningham. We see him out there, you know, filling Alex’s spot yesterday making some some plays. um you know what what can Zach bring to this roster? What does he need to to do to you know maybe take it beyond camp? He knows he’s got a great opportunity. I mean this is you know whatever you can do here, man. It it’s up to you whether you can help us on defense or even special teams. You know, he’s out there working with us on punt team and he he’ll be on all these units, too. So, um played football. He’s played, you know, he’s played in this league. He’s a very good athlete. He’s pretty instinctive, smart guy. Um, so he’s fluid, man. Sometimes it’s effortless. You know, he he’s a fluid mover. Um, you know, we do so much stuff in the pass game because it’s really all you can do uh in the spring, but just some of his cover skills, coverability, you know, watching him match a couple of routes he had on Laorta uh that did a pretty good job in the spring. So, there’s an element that he brings, you know, an athletic element um that we like, you know, so it it we’re we’re intrigued, you know, we’re intrigued and he knows this is a great opportunity for him. So, um we’ll see. You guys ran a lot of tempo, I guess, in practice yesterday. How much does your four down or offense play into that? I mean, the idea that sustaining possession is kind of essential to be able to run tempo and balance obviously the the effect on your own defense in that sense. I mean, well, when you say tempo, what do you mean? Are you, you know, running kind of fast-paced plays, I guess, and trying to keep the, you know, the defense off balance. Yeah. Well, I think uh I think you you always want to have a little tempo in there. We don’t have a ton right now. That’s why when I was asking you, I think we we try to push the tempo in and out of the huddle and then get into the next play, things like that. But I think any offense, any good offense wants to change up, you know, um the way they do things, change their tempo. Uh I think the nature of the way that we go about what we call, how we call it, when we call it, and the tempo, yeah, four downs can play into that, but that’s u that’s not always the case. You’re just trying to put stress on on each other. So much about camp is trying to test each other. You know, you’re trying to find the holes in your defense and they’re trying to exploit you offensively. Vice versa, special teams would do the same thing because that’s the more we can do that every day, the better we get the next day. You got to solve problems. You got to solve them fast. Um, and so it’s actually a good thing. You know, it it looks awful out there when it happens to one of the units, but it’s like one of the best things that can happen because now you got to fix it. Um so that by the time you get to the season you you know you fix 20 of these things um on both sides of the ball. So you walking out onto the practice field with DJ Reer yesterday we were talking about Graham being a veteran presence on the O line but whenever you have a defensive line that you’re looking for answers there how valuable is it to have a veteran presence like him especially in a camp this year? Yes. He’s a site for sore eyes. You know he’s a big man. Um you know I had a good year coming off of that quad. Um, and he looks good. He’s in shape. And he does, man. He just brings you. There is comfort to to what what he is and what he’s able to do for us. He is he’s a steady force. Um, and you know, he can play the nose, he can play the three. He gives you flexibility and, you know, there was a couple of reps just yesterday. Uh, watching him take on a couple of these double teams and hold the line, hold the point, make a play, you know, free up the back. It’s just, you know, he does some a lot of that dirty work that that can go unseen. And yes, thank God we got him. How fast is Alex practicing today? And do you have a timet? I don’t see him practicing today. Uh I don’t, you know, it’s a hamstring. So, we’ll we’ll see where it goes. I don’t see Muhammad. We may try to get him moving today. We’ll see how he feels. I think Pit will be back. So, and then Rake we already talked about. Appreciate it. Okay. Thanks. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. N. Baby, hey. Heat. Heat. N.

Hear from Head Coach Dan Campbell as he speaks to the media on July 21, 2025.

Subscribe to the Lions YT Channel: https://bit.ly/2OABzdx
More Lions NFL Action: https://bit.ly/3epKf5l

#DetroitLions #Lions #NFL

Keep up-to-date on all things Lions:
Visit https://www.detroitlions.com/
Follow: https://twitter.com/Lions
Follow: https://www.instagram.com/detroitlionsnfl/
Like: https://www.facebook.com/DetroitLions