Keith Abney II didn’t arrive in Detroit with much noise, but he’s starting to make plenty of it where it matters most: on the field.
The Lions’ fifth-round rookie out of Arizona State followed up an eye-catching preseason debut with a stronger push in training camp, and head coach Dan Campbell clearly noticed.
"I thought Abney played a good game. He feels like a football player," Campbell said.
"He's felt that way out here. And that showed up the other night.
He's got a knack. He's pretty instinctive, plays aggressive, not too big for him.
“He feels like a football player.”
Abney took that as a meaningful stamp of approval.
"That's a great compliment," Abney said of the line from Campbell. "Especially coming from coach. It just gives me motivation to keep working, staying poised and keep stacking those days and keep getting more compliments like that."
The rookie backed up the praise in Detroit’s 16-14 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Wednesday. He tied for the team lead with five tackles and added a fumble recovery, showing off the kind of traits that have helped him climb the depth chart fast.
That performance appears to have translated into more work with the first team at nickel cornerback in camp.
That opening has come at a time when veteran Roger McCreary has not made the same kind of push. McCreary, who signed a one-year deal with the Lions this offseason after time with the Los Angeles Rams, was viewed by several sources as the early favorite for the starting nickel job. Instead, he has reportedly been short on first-team reps and has given up some big plays in practice.
A hip injury from last season may be part of the reason his stock has dipped.
For Abney, the timing couldn’t be better. Detroit’s secondary needs help, and if that help comes from a day 3 rookie, the Lions will take it.
He’s also not coming out of nowhere. Abney has the kind of profile that plays in the slot: physical, aggressive, and comfortable making plays on the ball. In his final two college seasons, he put up a combined five interceptions and 21 pass deflections, and he already showed his instincts by jumping on a fumble in his preseason debut.
That combination of toughness, awareness and ball skills is exactly what teams want from a nickel corner.
Abney isn’t the only rookie with something to prove. First-round tackle Blake Miller played well against Cincinnati and is battling veteran Larry Borom for a starting job, though Detroit may decide to let him develop for the first few weeks of the regular season. Second-round edge rusher Derrick Moore is trying to carve out a role in the rotation, while fourth-rounder Jimmy Rolder, who had been turning heads in minicamp, is now out for “ a while ” with injury.
Still, Abney looks like one of the rookies with the clearest path to real playing time.
Maybe it says something about Detroit’s depth that a fifth-round pick is suddenly so central to the conversation. Or maybe it says the Lions found a steal.
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