Pressers and scrums: The unappreciated joy of a distraction-free training camp

East Rutherford, N.J. — Like many football fans, I’ve been keeping tabs on the drama surrounding San Francisco 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk. For me, the reporting of the story has been the most fascinating part, with budding Twitter/X legend “Pretty Rickey” going toe-to-toe with national insiders for the scoop on a potential Aiyuk trade.

If you’re not familiar with Rickey, let me tell you, he’s a character. He posts anonymously while using a photo of the old Bud Light mascot, Spuds MacKenzie, as an avatar. He calls himself “The People’s Insider,” and even though his hit rate isn’t 100%, he’s come out of nowhere to break a lot of big NFL stories the past year.

For the past week, Rickey has reported Aiyuk is getting dealt. And when challenged on the information, specifically stated the star receiver is getting shipped to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The traditional media has seemingly been playing catch up, but it’s looking more and more likely Rickey will end up right. Even if he doesn’t, I’m invested in the drama. Who is this guy? How is he getting these scoops? I have some guesses, but no evidence to justify saying them out loud.

If none of that introduction interests you, I’m sorry. I felt compelled to share, and I was going somewhere with it. The Aiyuk situation — a key player being unhappy with their contract situation — isn’t uncommon. We similarly saw it with Jordan Love’s brief holdout in Green Bay that ended with the quarterback securing a record deal.

The Lions have managed to avoid all that. They got megadeals done early with their trio of star players — Jared Goff, Penei Sewell and Amon-Ra St. Brown — as well as veteran left tackle Taylor Decker in the early stages of camp. Additionally, based on comments made by general manager Brad Holmes in recent weeks, it’s easy to believe something is coming sooner than later for Alim McNeill.

The point is the Lions are earning high marks on the happiness index with the roster, and it’s allowing them avoid distractions as the franchise prepares to make a Super Bowl run. But even if the Lions run into one of these contract situations, which coach Dan Campbell believes is inevitable, he feels the organization is in a good position to handle it.

“Yeah that always helps,” Campbell said when I asked about the blessing of being free of distractions. “You’d always love for that to be the case, but that doesn’t necessarily mean — look, we may have one at some point.

“Every team does go through this, and it doesn’t mean that one side is being ridiculous, or the other side, it’s just part of the way it goes,” Campbell said. “So yeah, it feels good. It helps. It does eliminate those distractions, but also, if it does happen, and it happens down the road …we’ll get it worked out. We’re pretty transparent on our end, and as long as the agent is (too), we’ll figure out a way to get it done.”

● Giants coach Brian Daboll seems like a nice enough guy, and his relationship with local reporters could be much different than what the public sees during his press conferences, but having participated in his media sessions ahead of joint practices the past two years, it’s a reminder of how easy we’ve got it in Detroit covering Campbell.

Daboll keeps his answers short and lacking meaningful detail. Worse, he delivers responses with a flat inflection reminiscent of Bill Belichick, who Daboll worked under for several years in New England. His press conferences, which can help set a tone for a daily story idea, offered borderline unusable quotes, almost certainly by design.

Campbell is the opposite, which makes his media sessions worthwhile. He regularly offers thoughtful responses and honest insight, frequently wrapped in an entertaining or humorous anecdote.

A good journalist shouldn’t need to rely on a coach’s press conference, but having someone who doesn’t act annoyed by the profession obligation isn’t just a service to the media, but to the fans.

● One thing Daboll did talk about on Tuesday was his frustration with Levi Onwuzurike. The coach was irked by the defensive lineman swatting at quarterback Daniel Jones’ hand during the previous day’s practice.

"The big thing is we want to keep the quarterbacks clean,” Daboll said. “It's hard enough to play in this league, and you want to practice the right way. That's why we choose to practice. We got a lot of respect for one another, and at times it got a little heated yesterday, but we still respect each other. The guys respect each other. We just want to stay away from the quarterbacks.”

It’s a fair point. While it might seem over the top to criticize a defender for doing his job, imagine if that swipe during Jones’ throwing motion caused a jammed wrist or broken/dislocated finger? What if the scenario was flipped and it was Kayvon Thibodeaux and Jared Goff? A injury to a QB can derail a season faster than one at any other position, so you can appreciate a coach being extra cautious, protective and defensive about their guy.

● Campbell provided a positive update on a shoulder injury suffered by right guard Kevin Zeitler Monday, indicating there are no long-term concerns. That said, the veteran didn’t practice on Tuesday, opening the door for an extended opportunity with the first-team offense for Michael Niese.

Neise wasn’t a guy many were talking about coming into camp, but with Christian Mahogany sidelined by an illness, and Colby Sorsdal moving back to offensive tackle, a path has opened to winning a roster spot.

All-Pro right tackle Penei Sewell was impressed with what he saw from Niese the past two days.

“I was with Niese "The Beast" out there,” Sewell said. “It's been great working with him. I think he responded well as a man looking for a job should. I was really proud of the way he worked, came in and not only knew what he was doing, but did it at a high level.”

● One of the hidden benefits of joint practices is getting looks at stuff your team doesn’t run, schematically. Alex Anzalone mentioned that to me during a brief conversation Monday, when the Giants offense tested the Lions defense with a particular draw play they hadn’t previously seen this camp.

Bigger picture, the amount of shotgun the Giants utilize challenged the Lions in an important way with the regular season fast approaching.

“It’s the first time we’ve faced, this year, a significant amount of gun — gun action, gun runs,” Campbell said. “Some of these things where they’re creating some two-back (looks) out of 11 personnel, it’s just a little different. And Daboll’s got some wrinkles here offensively that are really good for us. Some of it are things that we’ve kind of seen from our offense, but they’re different.”