Breaking down the Detroit Lions’ first rookie minicamp of 2025 and how each draft pick performed.
The Detroit Lions rookie class took the field on Friday morning for the first of three rookie minicamp practices. This was the only of the three that will be opened to the media, so I took as detailed notes as I possibly could.
Here are my biggest takeaways from practice, particularly with Detroit’s seven 2025 draft picks.
DT Tyleik Williams
As pointed out in an earlier article, Williams was quite limited in his time on the field due to a plan laid out by the Lions. He only participated in a handful of sped-up walkthrough reps before working with a trainer on the hill at the back of the practice field.
In what limited action we saw, Williams did stand out because of his size. Listed at 334 pounds on the Lions’ roster, no one else on the field looked even close to matching his size. He did line up at both nose and three tech from what I saw.
G Tate Ratledge
Most notably, Ratledge was the primary center when the team began practices with full-team walkthroughs. It was hard to tell definitively, but I would say he came close to splitting those reps with undrafted rookie Leif Fautanu. During the other half of his time, Ratledge played right guard.
Here are the two offensive line lineups I noticed during the opening walkthrough—the only time the offensive line did full-team work:
Team 1:
LT: Bryce Benhart
LG: Leif Fautanu
C: Tate Ratledge
RG: Miles Frazier
RT: Mason Miller
Team 2:
LT: Bryce Benhart
LG: Kingsley Eguakun
C: Leif Fautanu
RG: Tate Ratledge
RT: Miles Frazier
WR Isaac TeSlaa
While TeSlaa did get some work in the slot, the high majority of his playing time was spent on the outside during Friday’s practice. During walkthroughs, the Lions did not throw the ball, but he was heavily featured when Detroit went to 7-on-7 drills.
In fact, all three of the first passes of practice went to him, with the rookie catching two. The first catch was a nice adjustment from TeSlaa, coming back on a ball that was thrown back shoulder on the sidelines. On the other, he cleanly beat the cornerback on an out route, where he took a stab inside that slowed the corner down. The one incomplete pass was broken up by the defender, although there was a pretty clear jersey tug during TeSlaa’s break.
What was most interesting was how the Lions challenged him defensively. For most of practice, they lined up six-year NFL veteran Duke Shelley opposite him, and it’s clear the Lions coaching staff wanted him to play press-man coverage on TeSlaa—something he didn’t deal with much at college.
It was a strong start to practice for TeSlaa, but it was overall an up-and-down day for him. He had another pass his way broken up after not creating separation, and he fell down on a couple of routes as well. That said, there were a couple of instances where he was able to beat his press coverage and flash his speed, even though the ball didn’t necessarily come his way.
G Miles Frazier
As pointed out above, Frazier played both right guard and right tackle. That’s nothing new for Frazier, who backed up both tackle spots at LSU while starting (mostly) at right guard. Based on limited reps on Friday, he was more successful inside. Frazier admitted there are some things he’s already learning at tackle.
“At tackle, you have to have a lot more patience and just more read and react than start the fight. Here, now I’m learning to switch up my sets instead of going at a vertical angle. Jump set, flash set, just have different sets at tackle, so I feel like that’s definitely going to help me play tackle here, as well,” Frazier said.
EDGE Ahmed Hassanein
While Hassanein looked noticeably small for what the Lions typically like in an EDGE (he’s 6-foot-2 compared to Marcus Davenport’s 6-foot-4), it was also easy to see the motor that endeared him to Detroit. Several times, he made his way into the backfield during walkthroughs, and he even displayed a pretty impressive long-arm against an interior lineman—despite relatively short arms.
Perhaps the most Hassnein-like moment happened during individual drills, where players were working on an edge bending drill that finishes with a tackling of a dummy. The horn sounded to rotate to the next drill, but Hassanein pleaded to coaches to give him one more shot. They obliged, and Hassanein finished the drill.
S Dan Jackson
It was hard to give any insightful analysis of Jackson when so much of practice was focused on run fits. Jackson did blitz once and get to the quarterback, but the play I noticed him most was when he was near the box, lined up in man coverage against tight end Zach Horton.
Horton ran a difficult route to match, cutting all the way across the field on a shallow crosser. Jackson immediately recognized the route and worked through all of the traffic to stay on him. Had the pass been thrown (this was walkthroughs), Jackson would’ve been all over it. That matches some of the intelligence and instincts that are on his college tape.
Lovett is the one draft pick I didn’t have any notes on.
Undrafted rookie WR Jackson Meeks made the offensive play of the day, catching a deep ball—with tryout cornerback Tavian Montgomery draped all over him—for an impressive contested catch. He high-pointed the ball perfectly. In an early battle between the two, Meeks also came away with the contested catch in tight coverage.
Another UDFA who stood out was Vanderbilt cornerback Tyson Russell, who logged back-to-back pass breakups in the final sessions of 7-on-7s. On one, he showed strong closing speed, aggressively attacking the hands of a receiver on a comeback route.
Friday was our first opportunity to see several new Lions coaches in action, and none stood out more than running backs coach Tashard Choice. He was the loudest and most energetic coach on the field, and was equally intense and playful.
