ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Two days of Detroit Lions rookie minicamp are all wrapped up. Here are some thoughts and observations after Day 2.
1. Focusing on Laken Tomlinson: The Lions invested their first-round pick in the Duke offensive lineman and for the second straight day, he lined up at left guard during individual drills -- the position he is expected to win in training camp. During the time I watched the offensive line, line coach Jeremiah Washburn spent a good chunk of time working on individually coaching Tomlinson as well as left tackle Corey Robinson, the team's seventh-round pick who was lined up next to him.
2. Alex Carter needs a weight plan: There's a lot to like about the frame of the third-round pick. He's got the height at a listed 6-foot. He has pretty good length in his arms as well. But what stuck out the most to me was his build. Alex Carter is pretty skinny. He's listed at 196 pounds, but at the distance we were able to view him, he appears to have a lot of room to grow and put muscle on. It was particularly noticeable when he turned sideways after his backpedaling drills. I'd expect that to happen, at least somewhat, but he's a pretty impressive kid overall.
3. Michael Burton also has room to grow: The former Rutgers walk-on fullback who the Lions took in the fifth round has good size to him already, but it is fairly obvious there is a lot of room for him to add some size to his listed 230 pounds. It wouldn't be surprising to see him get up closer to 250 pounds, which is the approximate weight Jed Collins played at last season. Burton is the replacement for Collins, so don't be surprised if he shows up at training camp closer to 245 than where he is now. While watching the running backs, Ameer Abdullah looked like a much better physical specimen than all of the other running backs. It has shown throughout his career during games, but physically he looks like he could take a hit and be fine.
4. Reuben Frank looked pretty small: He's a tryout guy, but it definitely stood out how much smaller former Connecticut defensive end Reuben Frank looked than the other guys he was lining up next to and with. He caught my eye as I was watching Gabe Wright for the second straight day. He had some explosiveness, but his size should be a concern. In some ways, he reminded me of Darryl Tapp from a build standpoint. He's also an intriguing prospect as he converted from fullback to defensive end before the 2013 season. Frank probably won't be around after this weekend but he caught my eye really quick as a hybrid outside linebacker/defensive end.
5. Gabe Wright chased down a guy: Didn't see this today -- mostly because it supposedly happened during a session closed to the media -- but the former Auburn defensive tackle might have had a massive play at practice Saturday. Here's how he described it:
"Today a receiver caught the ball," Wright said. "But he ran about a hundred thousand yards down the field but I caught him. I'm sure he slowed down, but either way."
If this actually happened and Wright has wheels even close to that, it could be a good thing for Detroit.
