Tim Twentyman
Detroit Lions veteran edge rusherMarcus Davenportstole the show during Monday's training camp practice at the Meijer Performance Center.
It was just the second day of camp and there were no pads, but Davenport lived in the offensive backfield disrupting a number of plays and getting after quarterbackJared Goffmost of the morning.
It's been a rough couple years for Davenport as injuries have forced him to miss 28 games the last two seasons combined. Lions head coach Dan Campbell talked in the spring about formulating a good plan to keep Davenport healthy, and so far, so good.
Going into last season the Lions expected big things from their edge duo ofAidan Hutchinsonand Davenport, but Davenport and Hutchinson played in just two games together Week 1 and Week 3 in wins over the Rams and Cardinals.
Both players recorded four quarterback hits and a sack in the Week 1 win over the Rams, but Davenport missed the next week with a groin injury and then suffered a season-ending arm injury the following week in Arizona. The Lions lost Hutchinson for the season a few weeks later in Dallas.
Now healthy and back playing across from one another, the duo has looked good along the edge of Detroit's defensive front early in camp.
"It's fun," Davenport said of these first two days of camp lining up opposite Hutchinson. "I really try to poke at him. He's way too cool and calm and so I try to poke at him."
Davenport said Hutchinson can sometimes be a calming voice for him.
"Shoot, sometimes I over-complicate things, and he just simplifies it like, 'Hey man, it's just this,'" Davenport said. "Sometimes mid-play I'm trying to talk to him and we're giving signals and I'm like, 'OK, you're right.'"
Davenport said he enters 2025 with a bit of a chip on his shoulder after missing so much time due to injury the last two seasons. He said he used some of the criticism he's faced over the last two years because of the injures as fuel to keep a little bit of an edge.
Earlier this offseason he said the tough thing about missing so much time the last two seasons was just missing the consistency of work habits. Now he has been able to work on his body and his game all offseason and is off to a terrific start at camp.
The Lions are hoping he can regain his form from 2021 when he had 9.0 sacks in 11 games for the New Orleans Saints. He's going to get plenty of opportunities to make plays opposite Hutchinson and so far the two have been a handful on the edge for Detroit's offense.
The pads come on in practice later this week and then the competition and the battles upfront really begin. The Lions are confident that a healthy Davenport and Hutchinson will win their fair share of those clashes and be a driving force for a much improved pass rush in 2025.
