Ask Dan Campbell about his players, and you'll usually get the truth. And the truth is, until recently, massive offensive lineman Giovanni Manu has not had a great camp.
The Lions knew Manu was a project when they drafted him in the fourth round last year out of the University of British Columbia. That's what they signed up for. But they'd like to see him pick up the pace a bit in year two.
Campbell was encouraged by Manu's performance in the Lions' preseason opener last week, because it represented an improvement from his first several practices of training camp.
"It was better. That’s the best way to say it," Campbell said Sunday. "The beginning of camp has been probably more downs than ups, and then the game was more encouraging. And actually, I will say this, I thought his last practice before this game was better. I do feel an uptick here, and now you just have to build off of that. Always going to be things to work on, but it was better."
If the game was a step forward, Sunday's practice might have been another step back. Manu was beaten cleanly a couple times in one-on-one pass-rush drills, and he didn't look great in a few reps at left tackle with the first-team offense. Most of those reps went to veteran Jamarco Jones, who's currently ahead of Manu on the depth chart.
But Manu should get a few more chances this week. Starting left tackle Taylor Decker is still working his way back into team drills after missing the start of camp with a shoulder injury, and top reserve Dan Skipper will be down for a bit after injuring his ankle last Thursday against the Chargers.
Manu might be his own harshest critic. He said after Sunday's practice, via MLive, that he's re-watched the Hall of Fame Game "multiple times over, and the parts that I was in, I’m not happy with my performance." While Manu appeared to hold up well in pass protection, allowing just one QB pressure, per PFF, he wasn't nearly as effective as a run-blocker.
"I thought there were things I could have done way better," he said. "There is always room for improvement. I’m just excited for the next one. Just fixing my mistakes from that past game and carrying it in to the next game and making sure I don’t repeat those."
The Lions raved about Manu's progress this spring, with GM Brad Holmes going so far as to say that "if you’ve watched the film of Gio in OTA's and you watched the film of Gio in practice (last year), it literally is night and day."
So far, the difference hasn't been as clear in camp. But Manu has plenty of time to make the year-two strides the Lions are looking for.