Johnson: ‘Fans out at practice … means everybody steps up their game’

“This is my fourth camp. Definitely everything is a lot slower to me. Since I know the whole offense, everything’s a lot easier – I know what to do on every play. I’m not thinking about everything, I’m playing fast.

“Not having coaching changes also helps out a lot. You get used to the system that you’re in and you can progress even more in the system that you’re in. You, your coach and the rest of your teammates can evolve even more with the current situation and I see that happening right now.

“Today was the first practice. I came out a little rusty. I dropped an easy ball in a one-on-one drill – it was right in my hands. Routes were okay, though. I was happy with my routes.

“My man-to-man routes were pretty good today, I felt real good about that. But just that one drop – that messed up my whole day. I try to be perfect when I go out and practice, knowing it’s not really possible. I’m working real hard on my blocking. It’s the first day – I’m a little rusty.

“The big thing about camp as a receiver is that you get to work a lot more man-on-man – on your man-to-man routes. Unlike in the offseason, you can’t do a lot of one-on-one stuff, but we can do it here and do it with pads on and stuff like that. It’s better to get used to that game tempo here with pads on.

“We also have the fans out at practice, which means everybody steps up their game. Nobody wants to look bad in front of the fans, so the competition level steps up and that’s great. It’s only going to make everybody better.”

Lewand on Getting Suh Signed

With RB Jahvid Best signed and at camp, the only player remaining is DT Ndamukong Suh.

Prior to the Lions’ first training camp practice on Saturday, Team President Tom Lewand spoke about current negotiations with Suh’s agent and the sense of urgency the team is placing on getting him signed.

Lewand transcripts from the interview:

On team negotiations with DT Ndamukong Suh: “We’re still talking – nothing to announce. We’re still working hard at it. I just got off the phone with Eugene (Parker) and Rosey (Barnes) and we’ll keep diligently working at it until we get the deal done.”

On whether it helps that deals are done for the No. 1 and No. 3 overall picks: “I think the more reference points we have, the more helpful it becomes but at the same time every deal is unique, every deal is its own deal and the only thing we can do is continue to work hard to get a fair deal done for Ndamukong Suh and for our club.”

On how close he can ‘gauge’ that a deal is to being done: “It’s hard to gauge. I really try not to gauge any individual deal because they are very different; negotiations are all very different. You can think that you’re very close and have something catch you late in the process and delay it, but you can also have something that seems like it’s very far away and then it gets done quickly. We just continue to work at it and work at it and with the idea of getting it done as quickly as possible.”

On whether he would say it’s closer because the No. 1 and No. 3 overall picks have signed with their teams: “Well, they’re reference points, but it really does take both sides to get a deal done. It takes the involvement of a player and his representatives and obviously the club to come to a meeting of the minds. Generally speaking, the more information that’s available, the more helpful it is but each negotiation and each contract is different.”

On it not being as easy as just ‘slotting him’ based on the other deals that have been done around him: “Again, it is a process – there are lots of variables in a contract in this process that take some time and it takes both parties having a meeting of the minds.”

On whether he is disappointed that Suh was not signed in time for the first practice: “It’s always our goal to have them here as early as possible and I think our track record suggests the importance that we place on that has been realized in most cases. Even when they haven’t, when players who we’ve selected particularly high in the draft haven’t been here for their first practice, it hasn’t been that long after. Our goal is to stop talking about contracts and start talking about football.”

On whether the contract the team did with QB Matthew Stafford last year is a reference point: “There are lots of deals that are done this year that looked towards a reference last year or the year before that. I don’t want to get into specifics, but there’s lots of different reference points whenever you’re dealing with a rookie contract.”

On Suh having stated previously how important it was for him to be at camp on time: “What I’m focused on right now is getting the deal done as quickly as possible and having Ndamukong (Suh) miss as little time as possible. Knowing him as I’ve gotten to know him over the last few months, I’m sure he’s feeling the same way about wanting to get our here as quickly as possible. As I said, I just got off the phone with those guys a minute ago, we had an extended conversation and I’m sure we’ll have another one here shortly and both sides are focused on trying to get this done as quickly as possible.”

On whether it could get done tonight: “Again, I don’t predict.”

On whether Suh is in town: “I believe he is but I’m not positive of that.”

On whether progress is being made: “As long as we’re talking, we’re making progress and we continue to talk. We are very, very focused on trying to get a deal done.”

On whether he has spoken to Suh at all during this process: “I have not talked to him (directly) for a few weeks and I wouldn’t try and negotiate with him at all – but I always welcome the opportunity to talk to the player directly.”