It’s a strange time to be watching HBO’s Hard Knocks. While the docuseries presents the behind-the-scenes drama of Detroit Lions players fighting to make the back end of the roster, the audience already knows what happened on cutdown day. In Episode 4, we saw a player-led practice, running Craig Reynolds’ determination, and, of course, a lot of Dan Campbell.
Hard Knocks Episode 4 recap: Lions start to make roster decisions
Although we’re privy to the Lions’ initial 53-man roster, it was still interesting to watch Campbell, general manager Brad Holmes, and the rest of Detroit’s staff make decisions on who stays and who goes. Much of the discussion was clearly edited to be purposefully vague. We hardly saw coaches praising or criticizing any specific players, and the names on the depth chart in Campbell’s office were blurred out.
But Hard Knocks did show us the Lions’ evaluation process. Each position coach gave their opinion and ranking of their group before the respective coordinators summed up the state of their unit. Then, Campbell and Holmes are left to make the tough decisions — after Campbell assessed a player in a way that only he can.
“I had f—— three ‘What the f—s’ and two ‘bull—-s’ on the first drive alone,” Campbell said about an unidentified player’s performance. “Like, I don’t know what he is doing. It’s b——- man.”
Later in the episode, as the Lions are preparing for their final preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Campbell stressed to his players the difficulty of assembling a final roster.
“It’s almost kinda two groups jockeying for the last few spots, I would say,” Campbell said. “There’s a group of guys that it crushes you. They do everything right. And I think you probably know who you are. You do everything right. You go non-stop. You’re highly competitive. You’re f—— dependable. But it’s that, man, do they quite have the talent?
“And then there’s some of these guys that’s like, man, they got some ability, now. They got it. But can we trust them?”
Both David Blough and Tim Boyle lose backup quarterback job
Neither David Blough nor Tim Boyle had separated themselves in Detroit’s backup quarterback competition, so the Lions planned to let Boyle play the entire first half of the club’s preseason finale. That plan didn’t last long.
On the first series, Boyle threw an interception directly to Steelers defensive back Cameron Sutton, leading Campbell to exclaim, “What the f—?!” Instead of holding off on inserting Blough, the Lions put him in on the very next series.
That was the beginning of the end for Boyle, who ultimately completed just five of 15 attempts for 64 yards and an interception against Pittsburgh. Blough, meanwhile, stayed in the game for 32 attempts, completing 17 of them and passing for a touchdown. Nevertheless, Boyle and Bough were released, with the newly-signed Nate Sudfield set to back up starter Jared Goff.
Dueling levels of intensity at practice
The Lions staged a player-led practice during Episode 4 of Hard Knocks, and it was certainly a unique experience to watch. Campbell explained that he’d be the only coach on the field, and he’d only be there to direct traffic if needed.
“You guys are running practice,” Campbell said. “The coaches, they’re working on Pittsburgh. They’re not going be out there. So, I’ll be the only one, and I’m not coaching. I’m just gonna have the whistle. I’ll blow it just to keep everything regulated, but I’m not saying a word. I’m not saying a f—— word.”
Campbell clearly wanted to figure out which of his players were capable of leading the team through a practice session. On offense, linemen Frank Ragnow and Taylor Decker took charge, while linebacker Alex Anzalone showed his leadership ability on defense.
Later in the episode, the Lions’ coordinators — OC Ben Johnson and DC Aaron Glenn — impressed upon their players that an upcoming practice session would be fully padded and intense.
“Here’s what I want us to understand about practice yesterday: We cannot let our offense go out there and complete 16 of 18 passes,” Glenn said. “That is f—— b——-. That is f—— b——- for that to happen. I don’t give a damn what nobody else thinks.
“We’re not f—— practicing like that. And if you’re not with that, you get the f— out. I’m just telling you because we’re not practicing like that. We played give-up football yesterday. And right now, our f—— offense is laughing because they think they’re so far ahead of us that we can’t catch up. And that burns me up.”
Quick hits from Hard Knocks Episode 4
- Reynolds, an undrafted free agent out of Kutztown who’s bounced around the NFL, earned a lot of praise from his coaches. When the decision-makers were bandying about the idea of cutting Reynolds, both offensive line coach Hank Fraley and assistant head coach Duce Staley indicated that would be a mistake.
- Goff on the player-led practice: “Who needs f—— coaches, you know? They’re sitting up there in the air conditioning, you know?”
- Rookie UDFA Kalil Pimpleton showed off his juggling skills and said the hand/eye coordination training helps him as a receiver.
- Linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez’s younger brother on the prospect of him facing Steelers RB Najee Harris: “You get stiff-armed, and you’re gonna get embarrassed.”