ALLEN PARK, Mich. — There were plenty of players on the field Tuesday who exist on the fringe, as far as making it onto the Giants’ roster.
The same held true for the Lions as the two teams engaged in a spirited and clean joint practice.
It could happen that a player who does not make it with the Giants could hook on with the Lions, and vice versa.
“You get to go against a different club and they bring something different to the table and you get to show what you’re capable of to those guys, to us and to their organization,’’ Lions head coach Dan Campbell said. “They got to remember, there’s some guys on this roster, you’re being evaluated by [the Giants] right now, you got all eyes on you.’’
It can happen.
Last summer, the Giants and Jets practiced together and two players then with the Jets, safety Jason Pinnock and tight end Lawrence Cager, ended up signing with the Giants.
“Yeah, absolutely,’’ head coach Brian Daboll said. “You get a look at a whole other roster. So, I know our scouting department will be here and be evaluating the players, not just our players how they do, but also Detroit’s players. I think it works well for us.’’
There was nothing close to an altercation as the teams worked together in fairly mild (low 80s) temperature.
In a one-on-one drill, Sterling Shepard was roughed up and knocked to the grass, but got to his feet and slapped the hand of the defender, as if to say “All good.’’
It looked as if Giants WR Jaydon Mickens and Lions CB C.J. Gardner-Johnson exchanged angry words, but cooler heads prevailed.
Daboll said he and Campbell discussed the tempo and the amount of physical play both sides wanted to see from their teams.
“When you’re doing this you want to trust the partner you’re doing this with, otherwise you never know what can happen,” Campbell said.
“Well, you have a bunch of competitive people that are hitting each other every day, but we are going to try and take care of one another, keep people off the ground, stay away from the quarterback,’’ Daboll said.
“Just practice the right way like you are practicing against your team, but again the competitive juices flow. But do a good job of respecting them and look forward to that in return.’’
Campbell started his NFL career, as a 1999 third-round pick of the Giants out of Texas A&M, as a big-blocking, intense but fairly quiet tight end.
He spent four years with the Giants before moving on to the Cowboys and finishing up his 10-year career with the Lions.
“I have a lot of respect for John Mara, Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll,’’ Campbell said. “I know Mr. Mara for a lot of years. I was drafted by the Giants and got a lot of respect for him and the organization, they treated me well. Joe Schoen and I go back to Miami, he’s a stud, he’s unbelievable, he’s done a great job and Dabes and I go way back, I’ve got a lot of respect for what he’s done. He did a helluva job last year.’’