The Lions overhauled the secondary this offseason, drafting Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw, trading for veteran Carlton Davis, signing Amik Robertson, and bringing back Emmanuel Moseley, who is coming off a second ACL tear.
“We’ve injected a lot more personalities and ability into that room. It’s really been a total transformation, if you will,” Campbell said over the weekend, per the Associated Press. “There’s certainly another level of confidence in that room that I feel those guys are feeding off each other. You can feel it defensively, too. I think it’s all-encompassing. I feel our defense, their confidence is up, we know what we can become.”
Early in training camp, Arnold at Davis mostly manned the starting outside spots.
The Lions are moving Brian Branch to a larger safety role early in camp — he’s only participated in walkthroughs, but is reportedly spending most of his time deep — opened up the slot where Moseley and Robertson are battling for the starting gig. Moseley, moving to the slot where he played some in his first two seasons in San Francisco, can slide back outside if injuries strike.
It’s clear after a week of camp that the versatility and depth of the unit have been upgraded.
“That’s what every team would hope for. You want that at every position, you know the ability to have guys that do multiple jobs, that do have versatility,” Campbell said.
The battle will rage on as the pads come on and preseason action approaches.
“If you don’t have a DB room with a lot of players who can compete it’s probably not going to be a really good DB room,” Moseley said. “But I think we have that this year, and everyone is out there competing, not only are we competing we’re celebrating with each other, we’re happy for each other’s success and that plays a big part.”
Detroit’s secondary talent is certainly upgraded from last year, particularly in the depth department. On paper, it’s a crew that should sustain through the attrition of a grueling campaign. However, they’re counting a lot on two rookies and a veteran (Moseley) coming off a major injury.
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