Lions camp observations: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Aidan Hutchinson shine

Amon-Ra St. Brown and Aidan Hutchinson are two of the best players in the NFL regardless of position, and yet I don’t feel like I’ve written a lot about either 10 days into the Detroit Lions’ training camp.

Some of that is I choose to spend most of the space I have for these observations writing about rookies and roster battles and depth chart moves you might not know much about, and some of that is their greatness is so expected it’s easy to overlook.

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But while watching both up close Friday, Aug. 7, during a situational intrasquad scrimmage, I figured it was time to give both a nod for their amazingly consistent and productive high-level of work.

St. Brown isn’t as flashy as some of his peers, but he’s more dialed into the details of his craft than anyone in the NFL.

On Friday, he caught a touchdown, a 2-point conversion, a near second touchdown – if officials hadn’t blown a play dead just before he crossed the goal line – and made two catches a drive apart that illustrate why he might be the toughest cover in the NFL.

St. Brown scored his touchdown on a fourth-and-goal play from the 3, working against Ennis Rakestraw Jr. in the left slot. He positioned his body perfectly to make the catch amid contact, and he celebrated by punting the ball high into the air.

On the ensuing 2-point play, St. Brown made the type of late-hands catch that leaves a defender grasping at air. He saw Jared Goff loft a short pass his direction out of the side of his eye and stuck his hands out at almost the exact moment the ball sailed over Thomas Harper’s head. With his back turned to Goff, Harper didn’t have enough time to react and reach out to break up the pass.

On the first play of the first-team offense’s next series, with Goff backed up at the 1-yard line in front of his own end zone, St. Brown made as textbook a 5-yard catch as you’ll ever see. He ran a quick out to the sideline, caught the ball with two hands an arm’s length away from his body and never brought the pass into his chest. Rock Ya-Sin had good coverage on the play, but no way to reach around St. Brown and swat the pass loose before St. Brown stepped out of bounds to give the offense breathing room.

“What they teach you in the league is, really anywhere is, catch and tuck,” St. Brown told me after practice. “You hear that all the time, catch and tuck. You want to tuck it so they don’t hit it out. But I tell – and it takes a certain receiver to understand it’s not always good to catch and tuck, because when you’re catching it, as a DB, they’re coming to punch it out. As soon as you catch it, they’re expecting you to tuck it and they’re coming to punch it out.

“So like in the scenario that I had, if I hold it [away from my chest], Rock, he’s behind me, there’s no way he can get to the ball. His arm’s not long enough to get to me. But if I bring it [into my chest], now the ball’s close to him, he can hit it out. So for me, especially if I’m on the sideline, I’m about to step out anyways, I’m going to hold it out, there’s no way you knock it out of my hands. So in certain situations, you’ll see me, I’ll keep the ball out because I don’t want the DB to get near the ball.”

Hutchinson is the defensive St. Brown, a pass-rusher who refuses to be outworked and one who makes plays in practice with such ease and technical efficiency they’re simple to overlook.

On Friday, he was credited with two sacks against the second-team offense (plays are blown dead so the quarterbacks don’t take any hits), another third-down pressure to force an incomplete pass, a play I’d give him another half-sack on when he pushed rookie right tackle Blake Miller basically into Jared Goff’s lap and a safety on Goff on the drive that was backed up near the goal line.

The Lions are loaded with top-line talent on both sides of the ball, and St. Brown and Hutchinson are two of the engines that make them go.

More observations from Friday’s practice:

Jacob Saylors gets work at RB

Friday’s practice was the Lions’ fourth straight in pads (with an off day splitting up the work), so it’s no surprise a number of players did not participate in the scrimmage.

Jacob Saylors took most of the first-team work at running back with Jahmyr Gibbs still working his way back from a contract hold-in and with Isiah Pacheco out for the second straight day. Backup guard Ben Bartch took part in individual drills but joined Juice Scruggs on the sideline for the scrimmage. Tight end Tyler Conklin, like Gibbs, worked on a side field most of the day in his second practice off the physically unable to perform list. And backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater remains out for undisclosed reasons.

On defense, Devin White replaced Malcolm Rodriguez (ankle) at weakside linebacker with the first-team defense, and Nick Whiteside joined Ya-Sin and Rakestraw in the starting rotation at cornerback with D.J Reed out with an injury. Mekhi Wingo (groin), Payton Turner (back) and De’Shawn Rucker (ankle) were among other non-participants.

Ben Bartch working with rookie Blake Miller

Bartch hasn’t done any team work so far this summer as he returns from ankle surgery, but the veteran guard spent a few minutes after one series coaching up Miller, the Lions’ first-round pick in April and presumptive Week 1 starting right tackle.

“I was just kind of picking his brain,” Miller told me. “Obviously, he’s played a lot of football, he’s been around a lot of really great talent and he’s a great talent himself. Just kind of picking his brain about his philosophy when it comes to breaking down sets, how you should use your hands and it’s not always a one-shot-and-done. Sometimes your hands are to disrupt their rush and get them to reset, so it was kind of just the base of what he was going over.

“He’s been there for me a lot just to be able to bounce things off of him, learn from him. Like I said, he’s been around a lot of football, he’s played a lot of football at a high level. I really appreciate him for the knowledge he’s given me.”

Miller has had his ups and downs this summer. He had a couple rough plays Friday, including one when Hutchinson knocked him into the backfield and Goff fell down when he tried to step up away from the pressure and appeared to step on Cade Mays’ foot, and another when he gave up pressure to his left on a play when Chris Smith got a sack.

But Miller has still been the Lions’ best right tackle, and he said he’s learning every day from going against Hutchinson.

“He’s a great rusher, he gives me a great look,” Miller said. “You really got to be on your 'A' game, you got to have your feet and hands in a great spot in order to go out there and be successful against him, and he’s going to let you know if you didn’t. Those reps against him are invaluable of speeding up that learning process.”

Offense struggles under both QBs

The Lions didn’t play particularly well on offense for most of Friday’s scrimmage. Luke Altmyer struggled to move the ball with a sloppy second-team offense that killed multiple drives with false start and procedure penalties, and Goff threw an interception on a third-and-5 play from the 10-yard on the opening series against the second-team defense.

Undrafted rookie linebacker Erick Hunter, whose college calling card was pass coverage, made a nice play on the pick on a pass intended for Sam LaPorta. The tight end got separation from Hunter at the line of scrimmage, but Hunter recognized LaPorta was running a corner route immediately and beelined for the back of the end zone. LaPorta appeared a tick late looking up for the ball, and Hunter was there to make a play.

The offense failed to reach the end zone on its first five possessions (including three by the second team) and didn’t score a touchdown until Goff hit Jameson Williams for an 18-yard score on a three-play drive that began at the defense’s 25.

St. Brown’s touchdown also came on a short-field drive that started at the 25, and though the scoreboard showed Williams catching a long touchdown pass on that first-team offense’s drive that was backed up near its own goal line, I asked Dan Campbell after practice and he said he blew the play dead for what was an obvious sack by Hutchinson.

I don’t know that I would chalk the offense’s struggles completely up to this, but the unit has clearly missed the juice Gibbs provides out of the backfield so far in camp.

Other big plays

A couple other plays that stood out from the scrimmage:

Both Saylors and Jabari Small had nice blitz pickups, with Small’s coming against Damone Clark on a third-and-5 conversion and Saylors’ coming against Jack Campbell. Small did drop a pass that was thrown slightly behind him on the first-team offense’s second series, but I think the battle for the No. 4 running back job goes down to the wire.

Tyler Lacy had a run stuff, Chuck Clark a pass breakup and Hutchinson a sack on the first-team defense’s first series against the No. 2 offense. Clark also had a near interception on a fourth-and-2 incompletion by Goff to Williams on the No.

2 defense’s second series, and White and Joe Bachie (with the second-team defense) had tackles-for-loss on run blitzes. Bachie’s might not technically have been a TFL, but he popped Kye Robichaux for no gain, at least, on a third-and-1 play. Raheem Blackshear converted with a short run up the middle on fourth-and-1.

I wrote about rookie defensive tackle Skyler Gill-Howard on Friday morning, and Gill-Howard got a few more snaps with the first-team defense in sub-rush packages in the scrimmage. He beat Mason Miller for a pressure on a third down incompletion late in practice.The second-team offense’s drive backed up at its own goal line started with back-to-back penalties – the first, a delay of game by Altmyer – and a near safety by new defensive tackle Ben Stille on a running play.

Eric O’Neill just missed a sack on third down, by which point Dan Campbell looked disgusted with the offense.Jake Bates had a heck of a day kicking, drilling shots from 54 and 58 yards, both from the right hash.And in situational work at the end of practice, the first-team defense forced a three-and-out to start against the second-team offense and Goff followed with an 11-play touchdown drive against the second-team defense.

The touchdown drive was aided by two defensive penalties on third down, including a holding call on Whiteside against Williams on a third-and-10 incompletion.

Back and at 'em for Jahmyr Gibbs

Lastly, there was a funny moment at the end of Gibbs’ news conference Friday to discuss his contract extension.

A reporter asked how Gibbs’ back was feeling.

“Yeah, it’s good,” Gibbs said with a hearty laugh before leading the podium.

Lions coach Dan Campbell said earlier this summer Gibbs reported to camp with a back injury – the guise for Gibbs to sit out during his hold-on waiting on a new deal.

Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.