Why Dan Campbell is happy he had Detroit Lions skip joint practices

Dan Campbell is happy with his decision to skip out on joint practices this summer, but that doesn't mean the Detroit Lions won't bring them back next training camp.

"I want to be careful," Campbell said on the Lions' final day of camp Thursday, Aug. 27, in Allen Park. "This is not a, 'OK, well I'm done with those.' This is right for this year. This felt right and I'm glad we did it and it was just what the doctor ordered. It doesn't mean that we won't go back to joints next year."

The Lions held at least one set of joint practices in four of Campbell's first five seasons as coach in 2022-25.

But Campbell said this offseason joint practices had become "counterproductive", and coming off last year's disappointing 9-8 season, he wanted to spend more time focused on his own team.

With no joint workouts, the Lions have played some of their starters more in preseason games – Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Penei Sewell, Aidan Hutchinson, Alim McNeill and Jack Campbell are the only healthy starters who have not played – and had more starters-on-starters work against themselves in practice.

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Campbell said the derivatives from that work should show up this season.

"We talk about Sewell and Hutch all the time, or Hutch when he goes over to Blake Miller," Campbell said. "I mean that’s, you can't get better competition than that. And you're getting that every day of the week.”

Under Campbell, the Lions held joint practices against the Indianapolis Colts in 2022, the New York Giants and Jacksonville Jaguars in 2023, the Giants again in 2024 and the Miami Dolphins and Houston Texans last year.

They did not have joint practices in Campbell's first season in 2021.

"We could" have them again next year, Campbell said. "If I find the right partner and it just makes sense, I'm open to that. I just know right now this is what we needed. This was good.”

Lions roster moves

The Lions placed defensive end Payton Turner on injured reserve Thursday and signed cornerback Eric Scott. Turner has been out since the first week of camp with a back injury.

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.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Why Dan Campbell is happy he had Detroit Lions skip joint practices