5 players who stood out to Dan Campbell in Lions’ preseason opener

The preseason is more about individual performances than it is team performances. The Detroit Lions sat 31 players on Thursday, most of whom are expected to be big contributors to the 2024 team. So, no, the score doesn’t matter. The team unit performances don’t really matter. It’s all about players and how they helped or hurt their case for the 53-man roster.

And who better to provide that evaluation of Detroit’s 14-3 loss to the New York Giants in the preseason opener than coach Dan Campbell?

Campbell was asked after the game to list some of his initial standouts from the game. Obviously, he’ll have a more thorough evaluation after watching the film, but here’s who stood out to him on game night, and what he had to say about them.

WR Isaiah Williams

Williams finished with a team-high four catches for 35 yards. He also led the team in kick return yards with 56 total on two attempts. He was the first player for Campbell to acknowledge as a standout performer.

“He made some plays out there, and that was clear,” Campbell said. “That was clear to see. He did some really good things that showed up.”

DL Mekhi Wingo

The Lions sixth-round rookie apparently stood out to Campbell. Wingo got a ton of playing time on Thursday night (31 snaps, or 53% of all defensive snaps), but was actually kept off the box score completely. That said, Campbell liked what he saw in Wingo’s first NFL action.

“I thought Wingo did some things,” Campbell said. “I thought you could feel him a little bit in there.”

LB Malik Jefferson

The Lions only added Jefferson a couple weeks ago, but the veteran linebacker and former third-round pick played a lot in the second half of the game (45% of snaps). He finished with a team-high four tackles, and he blew up a screen for a tackle for loss.

“I thought Malik made some plays at the linebacker position,” Campbell said.

CB Ennis Rakestraw

Of all the Lions defenders, only two (DaRon Gilbert, Isaac Ukwu) played more snaps than second-round pick Ennis Rakestraw. The corner got the start on Thursday, and he re-entered the game later, sliding in as a depth nickelback.

“I thought Ennis had a good showing, too, out there at corner early in the game,” Campbell said. “He got a lot of reps, but I thought they were valuable reps.”

Rakestraw finished with two tackles.

S C.J. Moore

Detroit’s special team ace of the past few years has slid down the depth chart and didn’t get most of his playing time until the second half of Thursday’s game, but Campbell made sure to acknowledge that Moore “made some plays.” He would finish with three tackles after playing 45% of the snaps.

Outside of those five players, Campbell was asked specifically about a handful of other guys. Here’s what Campbell briefly had to same about some of the better performers of the night.

• On QB Hendon Hooker: “He moved the ball. That’s really the best I can say to this point. He was moving the football, thought he made some solid decisions before that. A lot of those were the runs, so he made it happen with his legs.”
• On K Jake Bates: “It was good to see Jake hit that field goal—53 yarder with the rain right down the pipes. […] We told him after the scrimmage the other day, ‘We’re sticking with you. We’re going to give you a chance to grow here. Let’s see how you respond.’ He was told that, (Dave) Fipp told him, I told him, and so I thought it was encouraging.”
• On RB Sione Vaki: “Vaki had some good runs, absolutely.”
• On EDGE Isaac Ukwu: “Ukwu has kind of caught our eye, and I feel like it’s ever since late last week. You’re starting to feel like, ‘Man, he’s got a little rush ability.’ It seems like every day, he makes something happen on a couple of plays that are pretty big. Sacks, pressures.”
• On EDGE Nate Lynn: “Nate, obviously coming from William & Mary, that was kinda what he was known for—is a rusher. He’s kind of a crafty guy, understands how to use his hands. So we put him at the SAM linebacker, we put him at defensive end. So he did some things.”