The Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Chargers will kick off the 2025 NFL preseason on Thursday night when the two teams square off in the Hall of Fame Game.
Unfortunately, if you were hoping to see the Lions’ stars take part in their first live-game action of the preseason, think again. Detroit will not be playing their starters, something that shouldn’t be a surprise considering the Lions take that approach in preseason games.
We will be seeing Lions rookies take the field, but not all of them. Head coach Dan Campbell revealed this week that neither Tyleik Williams nor Tate Ratledge, the Lions’ top two draft picks this year, are playing in the exhibition contest.
“We talked about it as a staff and it’s like, ‘Why don’t we just wait? Maybe play him in Atlanta?'” Campbell said of the two rookies not playing. “So I think we’ll hold tight, make sure they get plenty of reps out here (in practice).”
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Ratledge has been in a center battle with Graham Glasgow this offseason, but the Lions have already basically stated that Glasgow will get the job. Ratledge should now slot in as the right guard, with Christian Mahogany the favorite to become the starter at left guard.
“We just finished two days with Graham back at center with pads and it’s looked pretty good,” head coach Dan Campbell said of Glasgow at center. “Its looked pretty dang good. I think every day that it looks pretty dang good, it gets a little clearer, so it’s good to have him in there.”
We will see the respective debuts of the Lions’ two new coordinators, defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard and offensive coordinator John Morton. The pair replaced Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson after both landed head-coaching gigs.
One of the most notable Lions players we’ll likely see is Jake Bates, who is the only kicker on the Lions’ roster. Detroit is looking to get Bates some in-game practice following the kickoff rule change this offseason.
“Yeah, Fipp and I are looking forward to this,” Campbell said. “This will be pretty fun to see what it is going to look like and kind of watch our guys out there block it up but also cover down on it. And then what they do, what the Chargers do too. So yeah, this is good. It’s kind of your first exposure to it, so we’re excited.”
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We should also get our first in-game look at the battle for the backup quarterback job behind Jared Goff that includes Hendon Hooker and Kyle Allen.
Both quarterbacks have been impressive in training camp thus far and it isn’t clear who is currently in the lead. Hooker beat out Nate Sudfeld last year before he was replaced as Detroit’s backup by veteran Teddy Bridgewater.
“Make the right decisions. Don’t try to do anything flashy, don’t try to make plays, you just do what you’re asked to do and wherever the defense dictates that the ball should go, that’s where it should go and then let those guys make a play,” Campbell said what he wants to see from the signal-callers.
The 2025 Hall of Fame game will take place at Tom Benson Stadium in Canton, Ohio on Thursday night, with kickoff slated for 8 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on NBC and NFL+.
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