If Dan Campbell's being honest, he's not all that worried about T.J. Hockenson. The Lions' star tight end hasn't played a snap this preseason after injuring his AC joint two weeks ago, but Campbell feels Hockenson still got plenty of work in training camp.
"So he has a good base under him," Campbell said Tuesday. "I think he can get to where we need him to get to relatively quickly."
It's the players who have missed preseason games and significant practice reps "that concern me," Campbell said. Like Detroit's starting running back.
"Swift concerns me a little bit, just with getting his wind back and being able to take a load, how much can he, where he’s at," said Campbell. "He’ll be more involved (in practice Tuesday) than he’s been, but those are the ones, to be honest with you."
D'Andre Swift has hardly practiced since suffering a groin injury early in training camp. Most notably, he's been absent from almost all 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 team drills since the pads came on. Not ideal for a player the Lions are counting on to make a big impact this season. Campbell's concern is understood.
“Look, I’ll state the obvious here," Campbell said. "He’s got ability and there are things that we feel we can do with him offensively that would really benefit us, but we don’t know if he’s going to be there (in Week 1). We don’t know, even if he is, how much we’re going to be able to get out of him. And until we can get him out to practice and on a consistent basis, we won’t know that. That’s just really the truth of it. That’s where we’re at."
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Detroit's season-opener against the 49ers is less than three weeks away. If Swift doesn't ramp things up in practice soon, it's no sure thing he'll be on the field Sept. 12 in Detroit. Jamaal Williams and rookie Jermar Jefferson would likely be the Lions' top two running backs.
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Campbell also had a discouraging update Tuesday on DL Da'Shawn Hand, who hasn't practice since suffering a groin injury of his own two weeks ago.
"Obviously it ended up being a little more than we thought it would be," Campbell said. "He’s going to be out for a little bit. Maybe we get him back before the season starts, but we will see where it goes.”