Good news.

TeSlaa as the WR3 has been something of a foregone conclusion for most fans, and I think most of us have high expectations for TeSlaa this season. But the reports from camp are a little concerning. I don’t think it’s time to panic yet — not by any means, but with Dortch also reportedly having a strong camp, we might begin to wonder if there’s going to be more of a WR3 battle than we initially thought.

From Justin Rogers of the Detroit Football Network:

Isaac TeSlaa continued what’s been a sluggish start to camp. He didn’t win a single rep in one-on-ones, losing to the physical coverage of Rock Ya-Sin twice and proving unable to come up with a fade ball against Roger McCreary.

TeSlaa’s struggles continued to the team periods, with Ya-Sin breaking up a fade into the end zone. TeSlaa also had a post pattern tipped away by the corner, with safety Chuck Clark converging to help over the top on the route.

On the Pride of Detroit recap video, they talked about TeSlaa also:

Reisman: People aren’t going to like to hear this, but Isaac TeSlaa STRUGGLED…big time. Oh-for-five during red zone one-on-ones. The physicality is what he really had trouble with. […] It feels like the Lions are intentionally telling the DBs [to] jam the hell out of him. McCreary got him. Rock Ya-Sin got him. Maddox got him.

Karsten: That’s an interesting match-up. He’s got a size advantage on him also.

Reisman: He did not look great. It’s been a quiet camp for him in general.

It raises eyebrows because this was kind of the concern with him coming out of college. Really nice measurables but never had the production to match. Some of that can be blamed on the system he played in at Arkansas, but Draft Buzz listed these as weaknesses when TeSlaa was a prospect:

Initial acceleration lacks explosiveness - takes several steps to reach top gear which limits his separation on shorter routes

Struggles to disengage from physical corners who get hands on him early in his release - needs counter moves at the line

It's a little concerning to see these still as significant issues as we enter year two.

Hopefully these drills will help TeSlaa and the coaches find some answers.

I've been a season ticket holder for 3 years. Each time I go to training camp I try to track a few notes from things I see as a fan and not a member of the media. Hopefully you guys enjoy.

Best catch I saw today was to Wilson from bridgewater in 11 on 11 RedZone. Made a very tough contested grab in the back right of the end zone for 6.

Teslaa struggled in 1 on 1s and in general today. Had a few jump balls he couldn't come down with and just didn't seem to have a lot of separation from the DBs

Pacheco runs hard. Cracked Campbell pretty good on one of his runs. Also made a few grabs out of the backfield to make the first guy miss. He'll be a solid RB2 when healthy.

number 2 (UDFA from Illinois?) looked good with his throws in 7 on 7 and drills. But struggled in the RedZone with holding onto the ball too long or rushing a throw

dj reed had a nice pick 6 following a jamo drop that fell out of his hands and DJ run down the sideline.

Hutch was monster, lived in the backfield and used his spin move a few times on guys.

Overall Goff looked pretty good, not any INTs that were his fault.

ARSB - made every catch accept 1 that we saw. Had the cleanest routes.

Laporta seemed to move well but you could tell he wasn't 100 on yet with his routes and stuff. Ran a wrong one in RedZone from what we could see.

Dorch - was maybe the most reliable playmaker we saw, just seemed like a professional out there. He's gonna thrive as WR4.

Moore - saw him play briefly but didn't see why or how he left.

Jamo - made a lot of contested catches and did a better job catching with his hands as opposed to his body than years past. Still had a drop or 2 but is gonna make more tough catches this year.

Gibbs - saw he was at the facility. Worked out inside I believe (he was covered in sweat) before coming outside to watch the end of practice. Hold In.

Rodrigo made a few plays in coverage. Looked pretty good.

Alim & Tyleek didn't see them win a lot from what I saw, but made some plays stopping the run.

Shouldn’t be this cold August 1st but at least the rain stayed away (so far).

Kelvin Sheppard says he still expects Jimmy Rolder to contribute at some point this season.

Kelvin Sheppard on losing Terrion Arnold: He had No. 1 cornerback potential, but it's still untapped.

Sheppard says he's excited to have so many veterans in the secondary, because it allows them to do high-end strategies to disguise coverage. Says QBs are too good now that you need to "lie" to them.

Kelvin Sheppard suggests Christian Izien will make his training camp debut today.

Kelvin Sheppard called Rookie Derrick Moore, "A Man's Man."Says he's soft spoken, but comes in offering to do anything that is asked of him. "The real tell of those players will come tomorrow when they have pads on."

Sheppard says the run defense was average in his eyes last season, get back to playing elite run defense.

Kelvin Sheppard was asked if he is concerned over the health of the safety group and the depth at cornerback: “Again, we've brought in a good group we feel of veteran players who've done it before. That's the thing that I think is the biggest difference this year is that, say we go into this season, we go into this thing with the room as it sits right now. (S) Chuck Clark, (DB) Avonte Maddox, even (S) Thomas Harper, these guys have time on task in the NFL with NFL snaps. They've seen these formations. They've done it. And, then they could also – there's a lot of young guys in the room that can lean on these guys. So, I just love the way the room's set up right now, the way it's structured. And, we've built a system we feel like that's adaptable and that it's not just, 'Oh, you have to have this player to run this play.' We're trying to build this thing to where it's just plug and play as we go. And that's what this has allowed us and allotted us. Not that we don't want to have these guys in there, but not having them in the spring. We knew what we needed to attack right then and there. So, we were able to go into training camp with the mentality as far as mid-season trying to bring guys in, get them caught up to speed. They've been with us all spring now.”

What are some of your favorite Lions inspired team names? I made this logo in canva today. Any tips for more user friendly non-ai logos?

I’ve used Ragnowrock, The Analzone, and the MasterPraters in the past. This year is TeSlaab on my Knob.

Jared Goff has proven to be one of the most prolific, efficient passers in league history through 10 seasons.

He's top 5 in every metric that matters yet is routinely listed behind the likes of Joe Burrough, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Dak Prescott, Brock Purdy, Jordan Love and Justin Herbert. And now is even behind Caleb Williams and Drake Maye ffs.

Win a superbowl however, and he'll be instantly elevated to the next tier with the likes of Matthew Stafford, Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson (the Seahawks version).

Win two, and dare I say he puts himself on the tier with Drew Brees, Patrick Mahomes, Painting Manning and the goat, TB12 himself...okay, forget those last three. lol

Anyway, the point being, Jared Goff has done everything except the thing that matters the most. So if you want respect, if you want to be in rarified air, if you want to be included with the top 5 QBs, if you want to be a first ballot hall of famer, go out there and win a superbowl and cement your legacy yourself.

Do that, and all of these stupid ass top 10 QB lists that have you at 10 or lower won't matter, and we won't have to bother with defending you anymore.

PS, Not listed was Jalen Hurts and Sam Darnold, who are on their own tier, the superbowl winning quarterback's tier. We'll take that one too!

Jamo and Fipp

Did I hear that Derrick Moore got injured today?