Preseason football has finally arrived for Dan Campbell’s Detroit Lions. For him and his staff, it’s their first chance to see whether their message is being received.“How do they compete? Do they use what they’ve been taught? You want to see the development, you’re excited for some of these young guys,” Campbell said when asked what he’s looking forward to. “Some of these rookies, young players, to have a chance to see where they’ve grown. Do they take what you’re teaching them to the field? And then some of these veteran guys that are playing for a spot, to watch them go out and compete. That’s what’s fun about all this.”There’s quite a bit of competition unfolding — some expected, some out of necessity — so the preseason opener couldn’t come at a better time. The Lions aren’t expected to play key starters, but their opponent, the Cincinnati Bengals, will trot out Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and others when these teams face off Thursday night at 7 ET.It should be a good test for the roster hopefuls, looking to prove they can be counted on during the regular season. Here are five players I’m keeping an eye on Thursday.Lions eager to see what translates from training camp into preseasonColton PouncyCenter Seth McLaughlinTwo weeks into training camp, the Lions lost starting center Cade Mays to a wrist injury. He’s expected to miss eight to 10 weeks, per a league source who was not authorized to speak publicly, which means the Lions could be without him through mid-to-late October. This is a brutal loss, considering the Lions were counting on Mays to be an answer in the interior of their offensive line. Without him, they’re back to square one, trying to adjust on the fly, but are they better positioned to handle the loss of a starting center this year versus last year? Players such as McLaughlin can answer that.McLaughlin, a 2025 UDFA out of Ohio State, enters his second NFL season, but it’s really more like his first. McLaughlin ruptured his Achilles in November 2024, his final year of college. Before that, he was playing the best football of his life — a consensus All-American and the winner of the 2024 Rimington Trophy, awarded to the nation’s best center. However, the Achilles injury was enough for McLaughlin to go undrafted. He spent the 2025 season on the Bengals’ practice squad, essentially redshirting as he recovered from injury. After signing a futures contract with the Lions in January, McLaughlin has been around to learn the playbook and earned most — if not all — of the first-team reps since Mays’ injury.McLaughlin is an intriguing option, and Thursday night, he’ll get a chance to face Dexter Lawrence in perhaps a welcome-to-the-NFL moment. If he holds his own this preseason, he could push for a starting gig over Juice Scruggs.Seth McLaughlin, right, steps into the spotlight as the Lions’ center with Cade Mays sidelined for eight to 10 weeks. (Junfu Han / Imagn Images)Edge Ahmed HassaneinFew players have made more noise than Hassanein this training camp. Feel free to take that literally. If you hear someone yelling along the second-team defensive line, there’s a good chance it’s Hassanein. His energy is infectious, and his motor never runs cold. He’s one of the best stories on the team, given his background moving to the U.S. in high school and taking up football a few years later, but it’s time for Hassanein to prove he belongs in the defensive line rotation.The Lions have been experimenting with Hassanein this offseason, moving him to the big end role in their defense, rather than playing the rush end behind Aidan Hutchinson. You can view it as a way to get him on the field more and see what he can do. Hassanein is a smaller defensive end, but he’s strong as a bull and feels he’s better equipped to handle what’s asked of him in the structure of the defense. If that can lead to a rotational edge who can hold his own against the run and clean things up as a pass rusher, Hassanein can provide value to this team.“Listen, he’s had a really good camp,” Campbell said. “He is all out, all the time. The guy never takes a play off, literally never takes a play off. He doesn’t take a water break off, I mean, the guy is all out. Some of his things, honestly, is we’ve got to rein him back in a little bit. Sometimes he gets out of his mind and goes a little rogue on some stuff. But you’d rather it be that way and pull back on him than the other, where you’re constantly having to prod him. So, he’s really grown, kind of moving him to the big end. That was a move that was made. So, he’s a little bit of an undersized big end, but it doesn’t affect him. He plays so dang hard, plays with leverage. And he has — he’s grown, man.”CBs Ennis Rakestraw Jr. and Nick WhitesideThe secondary is an obvious question mark. Its two safeties are recovering from serious injuries and won’t be ready for the start of the season, and its 2024 first-round pick was arrested and released this summer.We probably won’t see much of D.J. Reed (soft tissue) and Rock Ya-Sin (veteran) this preseason. If the season started today, they’d be the projected starting corners, and the Lions can’t afford to lose one of them at this stage. That said, expect a heavy dose of Rakestraw and Whiteside on Thursday. The Lions need to see what they have in Rakestraw, a 2024 second-round pick who hasn’t been able to stay healthy in his career. Training camp has been a mixed bag for Rakestraw, as the Lions have consistently paired him with Jameson Williams and Amon-Ra St. Brown to test him. How will he fare against the likes of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins?Then there’s Whiteside — a cornerback who isn’t supposed to be here but keeps showing up. A 2023 UDFA out of Saginaw Valley State, Whiteside is an Auburn Hills, Mich., native who continues to impress this staff. He spent the 2025 season with the Lions and was even called to play major snaps when cornerback depth was thin. He’s back with the team for training camp this year, and there aren’t many players who’ve helped their stock more. He’s won reps against Isaac TeSlaa, St. Brown and Williams in camp, and the coaching staff gave him first-team reps in practice leading up to the preseason game. They’re eager to see what he can do.“You can’t ignore him,” Campbell said. “And a guy like him, he is rising. What I love about Ironsides is it is not too big for him. He doesn’t care who’s across from him, he will compete, and he’s going to try to use his craft. And he doesn’t go in a shell, and he’s defeated before the play is even snapped. I mean, really, I know this sounds crazy, but some guys, man, all of a sudden, man, Jamo’s across from me or Saint and I’m already done, and the fear is already there. He is not that way. This guy, it doesn’t matter who’s there. He’s going to try to use his craft and compete, and you love that. Special teams, he makes plays every day. And so I like where he’s at right now. We’ll see where this goes.”Defensive tackle Skyler Gill-HowardIf the Lions are resting starters, we probably won’t see much of Alim McNeill or Tyleik Williams. Those two are entrenched in the defensive interior; however, the depth behind them is an open competition. Yes, the Lions have Levi Onwuzurike back, but he’s off to a slow start in camp, and the Lions might not want to push a player coming back from a torn ACL. Mekhi Wingo has missed time with a groin injury, so his status for Thursday is TBD. This means we should get a long look at Gill-Howard, the Lions’ sixth-round pick.The Lions need more interior juice. With McNeill and Onwuzurike missing time with torn ACLs last year, it was severely lacking. In search of defensive tackles who could provide a spark, the Lions selected Gill-Howard out of Texas Tech and believe his best days are ahead of him. A former linebacker who worked his way from Division II Upper Iowa to Northwestern to Texas Tech, Gill-Howard just keeps getting better and better, and though his 2025 season was cut short because of an ankle injury, he put enough on tape for the Lions to target him on Day 3. He’s mostly been repping with the second-team defense but has received some first-team snaps. Curious to see whether he can flash in the preseason.