Johnson Takes It Easy At Practice, Says He's Fine
ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) - Calvin Johnson stood off to the side during drills, then insisted there's no reason to be alarmed.
Detroit's standout receiver gave every indication he will be ready to play Friday night in the Lions' preseason opener against Cincinnati. Detroit has plenty of other injury concerns already, but Johnson said he's looking forward to a live game after the long offseason.
"I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine," Johnson said with a smile. "I'm definitely looking forward to a little competition and getting out on the field."
Johnson caught 77 passes for 1,120 yards and 12 touchdowns last season - and that was with three different quarterbacks. Johnson had tape removed from his left leg toward the end of practice Wednesday and didn't do much after that. Coach Jim Schwartz said he wasn't hurt and repeated that explanation after Johnson did little but stand around and relax Thursday.
"We've had a lot of guys take days off," Schwartz said.
Although Johnson appears to be OK, several other Lions have been banged up during the preseason. The team's top three draft picks will all miss the first exhibition game: Defensive lineman Nick Fairley had surgery on an injured left foot, wide receiver Titus Young is battling a hamstring problem and running back Mikel Leshoure tore his left Achilles tendon this week, ending his season.
Tight end Brandon Pettigrew is also out with an ankle injury.
"Once we get to the game, the only thing we can talk about are guys going full speed and making plays and not worrying about anything else," Schwartz said.
Detroit will have a chance to show off some of its new free agent acquisitions. The Lions signed linebackers Justin Durant and Stephen Tulloch, along with cornerback Eric Wright. They hope those additions will bolster a defense anchored by Ndamukong Suh and the defensive line.
Like the other veteran free agents, Wright couldn't practice until last Thursday.
"I feel pretty comfortable at this point," Wright said. "Everybody's dealing with the same issues. All the free agents started late, and we're all trying to pick up on the defense or the offense as fast as we can."
Schwartz hasn't gone into detail about how long his top players will play Friday, and he says he isn't spending too much time devising any particular game plan for Cincinnati.
"Preseason, you want to see players win. You don't want to see a scheme win," Schwartz said. "We're not going to scheme up a whole bunch. We're going to run basically the same things we were running for almost two weeks in training camp.
"Put players in position, let them make plays, let them play a little bit together."
One tricky task for Schwartz will be rotating his two punters and two kickers. Longtime kicker Jason Hanson hurt his right knee last season and was replaced by Dave Rayner. They're both on the team now.
"It's really not final yet, but we're going to have a rotation within the game," Schwartz said. "We'll see what makes sense. There's a lot of different ways. You can say, `OK, one guy's got the first half, one guy's got the second.' Well, if we don't have any attempts in the first ... We want to see both kickers, both punters in the preseason. It really depends on how the games go."
The Lions announced Thursday that they have signed free agent guard Kirk Chambers and waive-injured guard Jeff Maddux.
Detroit brought in fullback Collin Mooney for a workout Thursday but didn't sign him. Mooney, who rushed for 1,339 yards at Army in 2008, is the son-in-law of former Lions general manager Matt Millen.
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