Lions officially open 2011 training camp & sign free agents

**Admin** Sat Jul 30, 2011 2:42 am

Thursday was the first day of camp, and normally that would mean players report, meet with coaches and have a team dinner. Day 2 normally would be for physicals and conditioning tests.

This year, Schwartz said, all those activities were crammed into Day 1.

But even before physicals, Schwartz knew veteran left tackle Jeff Backus, who has started 160 consecutive games, would be unavailable for practice, due to a partial tear of a pectoral muscle, an injury sustained presumably during private workouts. He attended all eight of the team's voluntary workouts and didn't appear injured.

In addition to the start of training camp, the Lions signed their rookies on Friday, including first-round pick Nick Fairley, and other key free agents, like veteran linebacker Justin Durant and wide receiver Rashied Davis, the former Bears player who agreed to terms Thursday.

COMMENTS FROM THE LIONS TRAINING CAMP

Head coach Jim Schwartz

Quarterback Matthew Stafford

Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh

Defensive tackle Nick Fairly

Linebacker DeAndre Levy