ALLEN PARK, Mich. – It began in May, when the opportunity for Quandre Diggs opened up because of injuries to veteran players ahead of him on the Detroit Lions' depth chart.

And the chances for the rookie cornerback from Texas never really stopped coming throughout organized team activities and then mandatory minicamp in the middle of June. Almost every day the Detroit Lions opened their practice to the media, Diggs was working with the first team at nickelback and became one of the more surprising players for Detroit through the spring workouts.

He also leads a group of Lions who helped themselves the most in the past two months.

1. CB Quandre Diggs: Rookies typically don’t work with the first unit during organized team activities, yet from the beginning, the sixth-round pick lined up in nickel situations right alongside Rashean Mathis, Darius Slay, James Ihedigbo and Glover Quin in Detroit’s defensive backfield. He had more good days than bad days from the ones the media saw in the past month and he impressed defensive coordinator Teryl Austin early in organized workouts. He might not win the starting nickel job at the beginning of the season – veteran Josh Wilson might hold the edge – but he’s going to be in the middle of that competition throughout training camp. Detroit has clear faith in Diggs, evidenced by the team cutting Bill Bentley on Thursday.

2. WR Lance Moore: The veteran needed to show he could still play with explosion and quickness after a rough season in Pittsburgh that ended with a healthy scratch in the playoffs. He still has some more to do to make the final 53-man roster, but Moore showed enough flashes throughout the past month that he easily could be the team’s No. 3 receiver this fall. He still has to beat out a bunch of players younger than him, particularly Jeremy Ross, Ryan Broyles and TJ Jones, but he looked sharp when I watched him during the past month.

3. DT Caraun Reid: Detroit won’t know Reid’s true improvement until pads go on in training camp, but the second-year pro showed up in really good shape and consistently ran with the first-unit defensive ends throughout the spring. Considering he had more experience with the Lions than any other tackle at the start of camp, his placement there in May was not surprising. For him to hold on to that throughout the spring could be a good sign for his future. At the very least, he’ll be one to watch when camp begins to see if what Detroit saw in the spring carries over to pads.

4. QB Matthew Stafford: His last day of minicamp aside, Detroit’s starting quarterback looked sharp throughout the past month. It’s hard to gauge the true progress there because so many guys are not in pads and the Lions were missing a lot of back-seven difference-makers during team periods, notably Stephen Tulloch and DeAndre Levy. But Stafford spent most of the spring appearing more in command of what was going on and making smarter reads almost every day open to the media. Stafford is pivotal to Detroit’s 2015 success, so the Lions need to see him continue this into training camp.

5. OG Manny Ramirez: The Lions traded for Ramirez during the draft to give them a veteran interior line option they were familiar with. Ramirez had been with the Lions before and has experience at guard and center. But he seemed destined to be the utility backup after Detroit drafted Laken Tomlinson in the first round. While Tomlinson might still overtake Ramirez, the veteran took almost all the first-team reps at left guard in May and June. This was expected earlier this offseason, but really thought Tomlinson would overtake him by the end of minicamp. He didn’t, and at least at the start of camp, this will be a position battle to potentially watch.