ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Nevin Lawson stopped for a second in the middle of practice Monday on the first day of Detroit Lions training camp. It was during team drills, something he had not participated in for almost a full year.
So he couldn’t help himself. He looked around, talked to himself for a second and expressed thanks that he was out there again.
“It’s exciting, man. It’s very exciting,” Lawson said. “I worked my butt off this whole summer just to be ready for this training camp so I won’t have to sit out, so I can be out on this field and get ready.
“The only way you get better as a football player is by playing football and practicing. You don’t get better by standing on the sideline.”
Lawson spent almost all of last season watching after a nasty foot injury in Week 2 ended his rookie season soon after it began. He had taken over the slot corner role from the injured Bill Bentley during Week 1.
By the end of Week 2, he was done for the year too. So Monday began a reboot for Lawson, who jumped in late to a slot corner position battle with rookie Quandre Diggs and veteran Josh Wilson. On Monday, he said he wasn’t concerned about getting a later start than his competitors -- they participated fully during the spring while Lawson only did individual work.
By Friday, he proved he was right, working with the first unit during team periods.
“I feel I jumped right back into it,” Lawson said Monday. “I feel real good. Feel like I improved on my breaks, coming out of my breaks a lot faster.”
Lawson wouldn’t say whether the injured foot still bothers him, but he hasn’t played like it during the first week of training camp and the coaches have noticed. Lawson’s return is part of the reason they feel better about their nickel situation this season.
“With Josh having experience, Don Carey did a good job for us last year and then, the young guy [Diggs] has played it his whole career at Texas and Nevin played it,” Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. “So we have good competition, guys that know the position, play the position.
“So we feel that we are a little bit further ahead than where we were last year.”
And for that, Lawson can be thankful again -- because he’s right in the middle of it.