Mandatory Mini-Camp Kicks-Off in Allen Park

by Sean Yuille on May 15, 2007 11:52 PM EDT in News Comment 0 comments

Rookies and veterans took the field together for the first time since the draft to begin a mandatory three-day mini-camp earlier today. Every member of the Lions was in attendance minus Cory Redding, who is still unsigned after having the franchise tag placed on him. It was nice to see everyone out there, but one specific defensive tackle really stood out. Shaun Rogers, who is not known to be the friendliest face to the media, was joking with those around him and seemed to be enjoying himself. Although he isn't practicing yet since his injuries are still healing, this is great progress compared to where the situation was at last month when Rogers didn't show up to a voluntary workout.

"I'm happy to be here," said Rogers, sitting on a blue bench on the sideline, with a white workout towel on his right shoulder. "It's always good to have a job in this economy. I'm just happy to be working."

"Sometimes things happen that you can't control, and sometimes you're humbled," Rogers said. "It's always a good thing to be humble and level-headed. So I take it in stride and come back and prepare like I prepared last year, and the year before and the year before that."

Rogers isn't the only player stuck on the sidelines due to injuries. Many others are still unable to practice, but some are getting healthier. According to Tom Kowalski, Kevin Jones is raising a few eyebrows as he is showing great signs of getting better from his foot injury.

Kevin Jones didn't take part in any team activities, but he was running along the sideline. Jones, who has already had the final two screws removed from his foot, wasn't running at full speed, but he was running. I'm not a doctor -- I don't even play on on TV -- but considering this is the middle of May, I've got to believe that's a very good sign.

The Lions don't want to say much about it because there's always the possibility of a setback, but they're very excited about the possibility of Jones being 100 percent ready for the start of the regular season.

Overall, it sounds like the coaches and players are having a good time after just one day of practice. The coaches like what they see due to the fact that the players are improving greatly and are showing off many great skills. Then the players are having a good time as well due to the same reasons. If everyone is playing better together as a single unit, then the team in general will be better.

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