Lions Quotes: Jim Schwartz Comments On Day 4 Of Training Camp

Below are Jim Schwartz's comments following Monday's Detroit Lions practice. (Quotes provided by the Lions.)

On some of the rookies such as T Riley Reiff playing in pads for the first time tomorrow: "You know, for a lot of those guys our practice yesterday was every bit as difficult for them. The reason why we'll have full pads on tomorrow is we'll have a couple periods where we might go live. We might take running backs to the ground and stuff like that so we want to have pads on them. But our practices can be just as physical just with shoulder pads, particularly for a lineman. We got a lot of evaluation out of him today like we did yesterday, but it's always good to get that day under your before you get to the next one. We scaled back today from a pads standpoint, but not from a tempo standpoint. No matter, linemen sort of technique-wise is all the same. But you need to see them in shoulder pads, not necessarily in full pads."

On what was so demanding about yesterday's practice: "Well it was the first day since January that most of these guys had a pair of shoulder pads on, you know. We thudded the running backs in a couple periods. We don't go live contact with just about anything, but it's the first time in a long time we all had shoulder pads on - quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, offensive line, defensive line. There are a lot of drills we can't really do in practice and there's some tempo we can't really accomplish without those shoulder pads. So, you know, there'll be a lot of opportunities for us in camp to take advantage of our shoulder pads."

On RB Stefan Logan having an instinct for the running back position: "Yeah, I mean, if you can return a kick, you've got to be able to have great vision and see the field. I think we see those things from him and it translates to him lining up in the running back position. It translates to him going after a catch when he's lining up as a wide receiver."

On Logan's size as a running back: "Yeah sometimes it's tough to see him. There's been some shorter running backs in the history of the National Football League. You know, Joe Morris, little bit different shape than him, but even Barry Sanders wasn't the tallest guy. There are a lot of them through the League and they can get lost in there. Logan's one of those guys. When he was on scout team for us last year, players would lose him behind a lot of those guys."

On the competition level this year compared to previous training camps: "I don't know if we have any more competition. Obviously, we have better talent on the team, but that doesn't necessarily mean we have better competition. We really don't have anybody pushing Calvin. So there's not a lot of competition there but we're in a really good spot there. Like I said, our goal is not to have competition. Our goal is to have good players. The more good players you have, then you're in a good position. You then have good players and you have competition. But, you know, having a bunch of crappy players compete, you're not in a good position."

On S Louis Delmas sitting out today's practice: "Yeah, you'll see him taking some days off here and there. We're trying to use some preventative medicine on him and we'll do that with some other players. He's really not actively working anything but we'll try to just keep it that way with him."

On comparing Logan to Saints RB Darren Sproles: "If that's the case, then just being short and quick would qualify you. Sproles has obviously played at a really high level for a long time. But Stefan has characteristics that we like. We've got a long way to go before we even play a real game. He's been productive in certain roles for us on offense over the last two years. He's made some plays for us and I think he can continue to do that."

On the play of OT Corey Hilliard so far: "He's been progressing nicely. He's a guy who was on the practice squad a couple years ago. He was a sixth or seventh round pick and bounced around a couple practice squads like you see a lot of young offensive linemen. We got him late in the season and he's developed into a good NFL player.

"You can see his comfort with the scheme and his technique is improving. It has improved every single year. He can play left, he can play right tackle and he's even played some guard in there for us. So I think he had a good offseason and had a good camp last year."

On if last year's injuries to the secondary have prepared the team for a similar situation: "Well, that's the objective during training camp and during preseason, is to make sure that you are prepared for all those different situations. That's why having a veteran player like Delmas and putting him down, you miss him out there, but you can see the benefit of getting some other players some reps and when they do play they can step in. Guys like John Wendling have been here for his third year now, he knows our scheme very, very well and it just gives new guys like Sean Jones that just came in, it gives them an opportunity to get some more reps. Young players like (Ricardo) Silva, Don Carey, it hurts not having your best players out there but there's a reason behind it. There's a plan behind it. That's really not part of the plan but it's sort of a byproduct of what happens."

On impressions of T Jason Fox: "He's been able to practice."

On Fox being in shape: "Well, he's been able to practice and that's really been his issue for the previous couple years. His availability has been limited. Last year we saw Jeff Backus go down early in camp because he was coming back from that pectoral injury, so it gave a guy like Fox a great opportunity to get reps and he was doing well and he got hurt. He ended up missing the season for us. How well he's doing is really a reflection of how available he is because when he's been available he's always done a good job in there going back to his rookie year when he got thrown in at the end of the year against Minnesota. He had a rough first series against some really good defensive ends. He came back the rest of the game and played really well. It's just a matter of him being healthy and if he can do that then he can help us."

On if WR Titus Young is continuing his positive momentum from OTAs and minicamp: "He's made a lot of plays out here. He's done all the right things since he's been back with our team and I'm really proud of what he's shown since he's been back. He's done an excellent job and he's had some very good days. But that doesn't matter - we want to practice well but we need that to translate into the games and over the course of a long season and things like that and he's still a young player that still has learning to do and things like that. The good news is he's got some great players like Calvin Johnson, Nate Burleson, a good wide receivers coach that can keep him on the right track.

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