GRITTY CAMP
Detroit has conducted eight training camp practices so far. We’ve seen some veterans, like wide receiver Jameson Williams, take the next step in their development. We’ve seen youngsters, like cornerback Nick Whiteside, show off playmaking ability and earn more opportunities.
With 90 players on the roster, training camp is all about standing out and making the most of opportunities. As the team wrapped up the second week of camp Friday ahead of a player’s day off on Saturday, assistant head coach and wide receivers coach Scottie Montgomery had an interesting perspective of why this point in camp is make or break for so many players.
“The second week of camp is when we start to see the separation, not just between skill, but it’s also the mental separation that starts to happen,” he said.
Who has picked up the scheme allowing them to play just that little bit faster? Who learns from their mistakes and doesn’t make them again? Which players avoid the missed assignments? That’s just as important as making the catch or the tackle for some of the players on the back of the roster hoping to make the team.
“This has been, for us, coming off of what we came off of last year, accepting it, acknowledging it. It feels really, really gritty out there right now,” Montgomery said. “There’s a lot of competition between groups, inside of the groups, offensive side of the ball, defensive side of the ball.”