The Detroit Lions have been one of the NFL’s most compelling stories over the past few seasons-but not always for the reasons they’d like. While Dan Campbell’s squad has steadily climbed the NFC ranks with grit, heart, and a throwback brand of football, there’s one stat that continues to haunt them: injuries.
In 2024, the Lions led the league in adjusted games lost on defense-an advanced metric that measures how much injury-related absence impacts a team’s performance. And if you followed their season closely, that tracks.
Key contributors like Sam LaPorta, Brian Branch, Kerby Joseph, Christian Mahogany, Levi Onwuzurike, DJ Reed, Terrion Arnold, Alim McNeill, and Marcus Davenport all missed significant time. That’s not just a few unlucky breaks-that’s a trend, and it’s one the team has yet to fully shake.
This week, the topic took center stage on the St. Brown Brothers podcast, where Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St.
Brown welcomed 49ers All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner. The two chopped it up about injuries, practice habits, and what it really means to build a tough football team.
And in the process, they offered a rare peek behind the curtain at how two of the NFL’s most physical teams prepare for battle.
St. Brown, never one to hold back, brought up Detroit’s ongoing injury woes: “The Lions have hella injuries every year, too.
I’m like, ‘(expletive)!’” Warner didn’t miss a beat, joking, “Y’all go hard.
Ole’ Dan Campbell be over there tellin’ y’all to bite kneecaps.”
Then things got interesting.
St. Brown asked Warner if the 49ers go full tackle during training camp.
Warner’s response was immediate: “No, no, we would never do that.” That’s when St.
Brown dropped the bomb-Detroit does go live in camp. Full contact.
Full tackling. No thud tempo.
No pulling up.
Warner, clearly surprised, responded with thoughtful pushback: “At some point, old Dan is going to come to his senses, man, and be like, ‘Listen, this ain’t making nobody better, brother. We can still get our work in without bringing guys to the ground.’”
He wasn’t just throwing shade. Warner, an eight-year vet and the heartbeat of one of the league’s most consistent defenses, was speaking from experience. He acknowledged the mindset Campbell is trying to instill-physicality, toughness, mastering the fundamentals-but questioned whether full-contact practices are the best way to get there.
“Tackling is about getting all the way there, wrapping the guy-thudding the guy, wrapping him-and then you just don’t got to do the extra bring him to the ground,” Warner explained. “Half the time, guys are just in desperation trying to get somebody on the ground where you’re putting yourself and the person who you’re tackling at risk.”
St. Brown agreed, noting that new players often walk into Detroit’s locker room shocked by how hard the team practices.
“They be in the locker room like, ‘Y’all practice like that all the time?’ I just be like, ‘Yeah, this is all I know.’”
This isn’t a new conversation in Detroit, and it’s certainly not one Campbell has shied away from. Back in 2022, during the Lions’ Hard Knocks run, Campbell delivered an impassioned speech defending his decision to go live in practice.
He acknowledged the risks, the questions from players, even the perception that he might be over the top. But his message was clear: “If we don’t work on tackling... what are we doing?”
Campbell’s philosophy boils down to this: the only way to become a great tackling team is to practice tackling. Not just in theory.
Not just in drills. But in full-speed, full-contact reps.
“Pursuit and tackle,” he emphasized. “Man, if you don’t work on tackling, if we don’t work on run after the catch, making a move, man, what are we doing?”
That’s the old-school mentality Campbell has brought to Detroit-and it’s part of what’s made the Lions one of the most physical, no-nonsense teams in the NFL. But it’s also a double-edged sword.
Physical practices might build toughness, but they also increase the risk of injury. And when your roster is consistently among the most banged-up in the league, the tradeoff becomes harder to ignore.
Still, Campbell doesn’t appear to be backing down. At his end-of-season press conference, he hinted at doubling down on the team’s core identity heading into training camp.
“I want to get back to some of the things we were doing a couple of years ago,” he said. “Just getting back to a little bit of what we did at the ground level… the way we train, the way we go about things.”
Translation? Expect more of the same.
Pads popping. Full-speed reps.
Live tackling. The kind of training camp that leaves players sore, tired, and-if all goes according to plan-battle-ready.
It’s a bold approach in today’s NFL, where most teams are trending toward lighter workloads and injury prevention. But for Campbell, it’s about identity. It’s about forging a team that doesn’t just talk toughness but lives it every day on the practice field.
Whether that approach ultimately pays off-or continues to cost the Lions key players-remains one of the most fascinating storylines to watch heading into next season.