Lions head coach Dan Campbell has been a major proponent of joint practice sessions with other teams during training camp. Campbell has stated hopefully that the Lions will have two sets of joint practices in the coming summer, and we now know that one of those joint practice opponents will be the Miami Dolphins.
The Dolphins have announced that they will be participating in joint practices with all three of their preseason opponents, which includes the Lions. Miami and Detroit are slated to play in Week 2 of the preseason in Detroit, so those joint practices figure to be at the Meijer Training Facility in Allen Park ahead of the August 16th exhibition game at Ford Field.
While nothing has been officially confirmed yet, sources from both teams have reported the joint practices. The Lions are also expected to hold joint practices with the Houston Texans ahead of the preseason finale one week later, but that has yet to be confirmed at this point.
Campbell’s Lions have been active in holding joint practice sessions with the week’s preseason opponent. The practice sessions are more like controlled scrimmages and situational football, and they typically involve starters against starters; Detroit never plays integral starters in exhibition games under Campbell, so the joint practices are the de facto season prep for the first-team offense and defense.
The NFL does limit each team to no more than four total joint practice sessions. The exact training camp schedule and joint practice dates will be released by the Lions later this summer.
