Detroit Lions to join Colts for joint training camp practices in Indianapolis

After not being able to hold joint practices during the 2020 or 2021 offseason, mainly due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Detroit Lions will be joining the Colts for training camp practices in Indianapolis this fall.

The Lions will face the Colts in Week 2 of the preseason and will join them at their training facility the week prior to the game.

“We’ll be with the Colts,” coach Dan Campbell said at his rookie minicamp press conference. “We’re going out to them for that week.”

This will be the second time in recent history that the Lions and Colts share a practice field, but the teams are in very different spots than they were previously. While the Colts continue to ride the carousel at quarterback— this offseason they traded away Carson Wentz and traded for Matt Ryan—the rest of their roster foundation is very solid, including featuring one of the best offensive lines in the NFL.

Campbell noted the benefits of the joint practices on Friday.

“I just think you get two really good (practices),” Campbell said. “First of all, it’s a change in intensity, because you’re going against another opponent. Sometimes even as intense as you try to make your own practice, just to be able to go against another opponent just levels the stakes. It levels the intensity, which you need that. Their bodies need that. They’re competition. Just to raise the stakes a little bit goes a long ways for your guys. So to be able to get two really good days against them—and then certainly the preseason game—I think it changes up training camp, but there again, it raises the intensity and competition. And different competition is always good.”

Should be another interesting chapter in “Hard Knocks” this summer.