Detroit Lions

Quarterback Joshua Dobbs will get an opportunity to go ahead in Detroit’s backup competition this weekend.

Head coach Dan Campbell told reporters in his Thursday press conference that Dobbs will start for the Lions when they host the Commanders on Saturday, as starter Jared Goff will not play.

Last week, rookie Luke Altmyer started and played 67 percent of the offensive snaps. Dobbs then came in and played the remaining 33 percent.

Campbell said the competition is still open between the two QBs.

“They’re both going to play equal amounts, is kind of the plan here, between [Dobbs] and Altmyer,” Campbell said.

Altmyer was 13-of-22 for 130 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions in his preseason debut. Dobbs was 4-of-8 for 32 yards against Cincinnati last week.

Campbell noted that the rep distribution in practice and in games has been partially determined by Dobbs’ status as a veteran and Altmyer’s as a rookie.

“Look, Dobbs is a bright guy. He’s played in this league,” Campbell said. “But also, just making sure we’ve got him up to speed, being true to that. And also, Luke’s a young player. But he’s promising. Getting him, trying to soak him with reps. So, it’s just kind of a little bit of that. But we’ll get a look at Dobbs here and let him go.”

The Lions brought in Dobbs on Aug. 9 after Teddy Bridgewater elected to retire.

Additionally, while Goff won’t play on Saturday, Campbell hasn’t made that determination about all starters.

“I’m not quite there yet. I just know I don’t see Goff playing,” Campbell said.

The Lions have an injury concern with one of their key offensive players that the club is hopeful will not linger.

Head coach Dan Campbell told reporters in his Thursday press conference that tight end Sam LaPorta took a recent hit to the hip and the club is going to give him some time to heal.

“It flared up a little bit, it’s a little aggravated,” Campbell said. “But we feel good long-term about him. We’ll just rest him for a little bit here, let it calm down.”

Campbell added that he feels like LaPorta should be OK for Week 1, but at this point the Lions aren’t sure.

While it’s not related to this injury, LaPorta is returning from undergoing back surgery in late November last year, which ended his season.

In his nine games last year, LaPorta caught 40 passes for 489 yards with three touchdowns.

Additionally, Campbell noted that guard Ben Bartch is in concussion protocol.

After the Lions blew a 17-point halftime lead over the 49ers in the 2023 NFC Championship, Detroit coach Dan Campbell made a comment that has proven, to date, to be prophetic.

“This may have been our only shot.”

After a 2025 season that most Lions fans would dub pathetic, given the standard that Campbell has created, the sixth-year head coach insists that the Lions will have another shot.

“Our window is not closed,” Campbell said, via Eric Woodyard of ESPN. “It’s not closed. That was the whole reason why we did this. We fell short last year. But needed to get in [the playoffs], and now it’s about the matchups, where you’re playing and who you’re playing. We want to be able to do that every year, and sometimes, I’m just saying is what happens is, you want to go all-in for one player, well how do you know that one player doesn’t get hurt?

“Or how do you know the three players behind him don’t get hurt and now you’ve got no depth. Whereas, let’s just get a unit together that we feel like can compete every year and then it’s about in that moment, we’re making those plays and finding a way to win that game.”

The Lions have the talent to compete every year. Last year, they failed to deliver in the moments on which a playoff berth was riding — culminating in a disappointing Christmas Day loss to the Vikings and quarterback Max Brosmer, which had nothing to do with Brosmer and everything to do with Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores.

The Lions landed at fourth place in the NFC North. Which carries a benefit into 2026. In a scheduling formula that is fixed as to 14 games, the other three games have the first-place Bears playing the Texans, Eagles, and Seahawks — and the second-place Packers playing the Jaguars, Cowboys, and Rams. The Lions, thanks to bringing up the rear, face the Titans, Giants, and Cardinals.

In a division that saw only two games separate the Bears and Lions, those three games can make a huge difference.

Still, the Lions will need to do much more than they did last year. The turnover in the coaching staff, one of the basic costs of sustained success, hurt the offense and the defense. John Morton was unable to replace Ben Johnson, which eventually prompted Campbell to replace Morton as the playcaller.

“I don’t think anybody necessarily tells you, ‘Hey, be ready to lose [eight] coaches in one year,’” Campbell said. “Of course, that’s the plan. You’re going to lose some guys, you do it right and then the next guy, you can promote or you can go find guys. But when you’re talking about [eight coaches], that’s a tall task. But you owe it to the players, you owe it to the organization to find the best guy.”

They think they have the right guy to run the offense in Drew Petzing. But they thought they had the right guy last year in Morton. And nothing about Petzing’s history (three years as the Cardinals’ offensive coordinator, three years before that as an assistant with the Browns) suggests that the Lions are squatting on the next Bill Walsh.

Still, coaches are only as good as their players. And the Lions have plenty of great players. Which makes last year’s failure to make the playoffs even more jarring.

We’ll find out soon enough if the Lions can get back to being what they were in 2023 and 2024. The first five games (Saints, at Bills, Jets, at Panthers, at Cardinals) give them a chance to be 4-1 or better going into the Week 6 bye.

Of course, the Lions started 4-1 last year. And then they went 5-7. It will take a fast start and a strong finish to reclaim the NFC North and to set the stage for another chance to not blow a big lead on the road in January and/or to not be blown out at home in the divisional round, at a time when the table was otherwise set for their first ever Super Bowl appearance.

There’s no reason to think it won’t go well. Beyond the fact that, last year, it didn’t.

Another failure to make the playoffs could make things interesting when Campbell’s seventh season rolls around in 2027. Which would put him only two years short of matching Wayne Fontes for the longest head-coaching tenure in franchise history.

Commanders head coach Dan Quinn shared some plans for Saturday’s game against the Lions during a Thursday morning press conference, but the status of quarterback Jayden Daniels remains up in the air.

Quinn said, via multiple reporters, that the plan is to play a “good amount” of the team’s starters in Detroit before adding that he’s unsure if Daniels will be among them. Quinn said that determination will be made based on who else will be in the lineup.

Marcus Mariota is recovering from a knee injury, so Sam Hartman and Athan Kaliakmanis would be the quarterbacks if Daniels does not play.

One key piece that will be missing is center Nick Allegretti. Quinn said Allegretti aggravated a calf injury that had kept him out of several practices and will not play, but the team hopes that he will be able to ramp back up in time for the start of the regular season.

Running back Rachaad White will also miss Saturday’s game after hurting his hamstring last week.

The Lions got wide receiver Jameson Williams back on the practice field today, but they didn’t have their whole first-string offense.

Lions tight end Sam LaPorta did not practice for reasons that currently aren’t known, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.

LaPorta is coming off back surgery and the best-case scenario for the Lions would be that they just decided to give him the day off to make sure he’s healthy and fresh for the start of the regular season.

Williams had missed the last two days of practice with a shoulder injury, but now he’s good to go.

Most of the Lions’ starters missed last week’s preseason opener. Lions head coach Dan Campbell has said many starters will play in Sunday’s second preseason game against the Commanders, but there’s no word on whether Williams and LaPorta will go.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell is famous for his coffee consumption, but even Campbell has his limits.

Campbell revealed in an interview with Brad Galli that he has cut down on his caffeine intake — which has been estimated at over 1,000 mg a day, equivalent to a full 12-cup pot of coffee — after Brett Fischer, the Lions’ director of player health and performance, urged him to get a medical checkup.

“Our guy Fish told me, take this blood test, they’ll check all your levels,” Campbell said. “A couple things came out of it, I changed a couple things, and yes, I did back down on caffeine. It’s not a gallon, it’s a half a gallon now a day. We’re good.”

Campbell is still drinking more coffee than most people, but not as much as he had been previously.

“Most of the time it goes well into the evening, and I’m one of those weird people, I can chug a cup of coffee right before I go to bed,” Campbell said.

Campbell has no plans to change his highly caffeinated style of coaching, but if he suddenly gets conservative on fourth downs, we know why.

It’s still unclear why the Lions cut cornerback Terrion Arnold after he was arrested on eight felony charges. It is clear based on the latest installment of this season’s Hard Knocks that the Seahawks would have cut Arnold, too.

The third episode of this year’s show includes a sideline conversation between G.M. John Schneider and special-teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh at practice, regarding the free-agent with whom the Seahawks have struck an agreement but have not yet officially added to the team.

“If you’re [the Lions], why would you release him?” Harbaugh said to Schneider.

“Well, it was because it was very shocking,” Schneider replied. “Like, if you read The Athletic article, it’s not good, you know?”

“And you would imagine if it was flipped, it’d probably be the same thing here?” Harbaugh said.

“I think we probably would have had to let him go,” Schneider admitted.

“Because it’s just the nature of like — when you’re the team, it’s different than the second-chance team,” Harbaugh said. “It’s totally different.”

“Yeah. I get that,” Schneider said.

The rest of the episode includes some of the due diligence the Seahawks performed, with Schneider making it clear that he spoke to former Alabama coach Nick Saban about Arnold. There’s also a scene in which Schneider and Arnold’s agent, Nicole Lynn, tentatively agree that Arnold will accept an offer from the Seahawks.

There’s nothing in the episode regarding whether incoming ownership was consulted regarding the move. It would be fair for Vinod Khosla and/or his wife Neeru (who will be the controlling owner, if the deal is approved next week) to push back on the notion that it would be acceptable to the Seahawks to be Arnold’s “second-chance” team if the facts reported were sufficiently “shocking” to prompt the Seahawks to cut him, if Arnold had already been on the roster.

That’s not to say Arnold doesn’t deserve a second chance. But it seems premature to declare him ready for one. The criminal case against him is pending. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.

Mike Vick, for example, got his second chance after he pleaded guilty to dogfighting charges and paid his debt to society by serving a prison term. At this point, the charges against Arnold are unresolved. The facts that Schneider found “shocking” could be entirely true — Saban’s vouching for Arnold notwithstanding.

The whole thing is just odd. And, as a source with another team put it last week regarding the Seahawks’ willingness to move forward with Arnold, “They won, and they don’t care.”

New ownership might feel differently. Especially after watching the latest episode of Hard Knocks.

The second episode of Hard Knocks ended with video from free-agent cornerback Terrion Arnold’s workout with the Seahawks. The third episode, debuting tonight, could be interesting.

Depending on what the team allows into the final cut.

The Seahawks believed Arnold would be able to play in the preseason. They miscalculated. Arnold, to no surprise, will land on the Commissioner Exempt list when he’s signed, due to the eight pending felony charges that carry a potential sentence of life in prison.

So what will they do? Pay him to not be available to practice and play? Or will they look for a way to slow play the situation, ultimately not following through on the agreement to sign him?

Unless the Lions have tried to void his guaranteed pay for 2026 and 2027 — and if Arnold loses the inevitable grievance — Arnold will be paid by Detroit. He’s not losing anything if the Seahawks don’t sign him.

What’s the upside? They gain nothing from having Arnold under contract until the criminal charges are resolved in his favor.

The Seahawks apparently would have been willing to pay Arnold the minimum salary for the ability to have him practice and play in the preseason. With no ability to get him on the practice field or use him during games, there’s no benefit to signing him.

Which means they could be looking for a graceful exit. Which won’t be easy to do, given that they announced that they had an agreement in place to sign him.

Hovering over the entire situation is the arrival of new owners of the team. Super Bowl victory notwithstanding, the Khosla family will regard this entire misadventure as odd, to say the least.

That’s hardly the kind of first impression current management will want to make on new ownership.

Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams did not practice on Sunday. Coach Dan Campbell explained why before Monday night’s practice.

“He’s got a little shoulder [injury],” Campbell said, via Jeremy Reisman of prideofdetroit.com. “He’s good to go, though.”

Williams did not practice Monday night, and Campbell did not provide a timeline for Williams’ return.

Tom Kennedy and Tay Martin received snaps with the first-team offense in Williams’ absence.

Cornerback Nick Whiteside is out with a minor hamstring injury.

“Whiteside’s got a soft-tissue [injury], a hammy,” Campbell said. “He’ll be all right, though, I think. I don’t think anything. . . . These aren’t serious.”

Marcus Davenport is headed elsewhere in the NFC North.

Per Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports, Davenport is expected to sign with the Bears.

Davenport previously had a visit reported with the club on Sunday.

Davenport, 29, spent the last two seasons with Detroit after playing with Minnesota in 2023. In 2025, he registered one sack and three QB hits in eight games with seven starts. He missed much of last season with a chest injury after suffering a year-ending triceps injury in 2024.

The No. 14 overall pick of the 2018 draft, Davenport spent his first five seasons with New Orleans. He has registered 25.0 career sacks with 28 tackles for loss and 71 QB hits.