- NFL.com has a minute-long video showing some highlights of Matthew Stafford from yesterday's OTA.
- Stafford's performance yesterday was nothing surprising. He made some bad throws but threw the ball like a No. 1 pick at times as well. He took reps with the No. 2 group, so he didn't get to throw the ball to Calvin Johnson. Daunte Culpepper, who was "the sharpest," according to Dave Birkett, had that luxury. Drew Stanton was the QB splitting reps with Stafford in the No. 2 group, and he "had a pretty good day throwing the ball." In the end, though, Birkett came to this conclusion:
But Stafford remains the most talented. Even with the veterans, his passes seem to get on the receiver as soon as they turn around.
My guess is that once Stafford learns the ins and outs of the offense, he will get more and more of the No. 2 reps. Obviously the Lions don't want to just forget about Stanton, but I imagine by training camp Stafford will start to pick up more reps, hopefully to the point where he gets to work out with the No. 1 team every once in a while.
- Rookies should expect to hear it from veterans for being a rookie; that's just part of getting acclimated to the NFL. If the rookie is the top overall pick of the draft, though, he should expect to hear about how much money he has, as was the case with Stafford on Thursday.
"A guy couldn't catch me coming out of a bootleg, and he said, 'Sorry, I was just picking up all the money falling out of your pockets,'" Stafford said, laughing. "Just funny stuff like that. But they've all been great, welcoming me."
Eric Hicks later admitted he made the comment after Jared DeVries ratted him out. -
Don't expect to find Stafford in any GQ photo shoots like the one Mark Sanchez did.
"No, I haven't had any offers, but my abs aren't as cut as those of Mark Sanchez," Stafford joked after Thursday's OTA workout. "But, yeah, I saw that. I'm gonna have to give him a call about that."
That would have been the quote of the day if Hicks hadn't used the "money falling out of your pockets" line during practice.
Asked if he thought Sanchez's photos were airbrushed, Stafford laughed and shook his head, "I don't know. We're not THAT good of friends." - Newly signed offensive tackle Ephraim Salaam only participated in individual drills during the OTA on Thursday.
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Jim Schwartz thinks free agent Roderick Hood "was still in the exploratory range" when he visited the Lions, so don't get your hopes up that he will end up in Detroit.
- Defensive end Dewayne White missed Thursday's OTA, which was voluntary, for personal reasons. Fellow defensive lineman Grady Jackson hasn't practiced yet this offseason due to the problems with his brother, but he is now back with the team.
- Safeties Stuart Schweigert and Daniel Bullocks and defensive end Jason Hunter also sat out practice on Thursday.
- Louis Delmas is serving as the punt team's personal protector, which lines up basically as a fullback and barks out different things relating to blocking and blitzing.
- I was pleasantly surprised to find no new FanPosts about Michael Vick considering he was released from prison earlier this week. I've reiterated before that the Lions have no interest in him, but hopefully by letting Jim Schwartz do basically the same thing, there will be little to no mention of Vick on this site in the future.
- The Free Press and MLive have photo galleries from Thursday.
- The 49ers signed Dre' Bly to a one-year deal, and another former Lions cornerback, Brian Kelly, was brought in for a physical.
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