The Detroit Lions returned to Allen Park for the third week of training camp, and eased back into practice Sunday.

Players did not have to be fully padded and went through practice without full hitting. Some players were kept out Sunday, three days after the Lions' first exhibition game concluded a physical week with two days of joint practices against the New York Giants in New Jersey.

"Now we are back home and we're seeing the same faces," head coach Dan Campbell said before practice. "This is when you're sore, you're tired, you're beat up — you find out who's who. And this is where you get an advantage if you approach it that way."

The Lions had a number of players who did not participate in practice but were still on the field including Levi Onwuzurike, Kevin Zeitler, Taylor Decker, James Houston, Daurice Fountain, Malcolm Rodriguez, Morice Norris, Alim McNeill and Antoine Green. Defensive tackle D.J. Reader was also on the field during practice but wasn't in uniform, while backup quarterback Hendon Hooker was out as he remains in concussion protocol.

The absences allowed the Lions to put different combinations of players together, including Kyle Peko and Brodric Martin playing next to Aidan Hutchinson on the defensive line, and Maurice Alexander and Kalif Raymond running with Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams in three wide-receiver sets.

[ Lions fans: Celebrate the team's epic 2023 season with a new book from the Free Press, "From Grit to Glory." Order now! ]    

Campbell said the work Sunday was to prepare the team to have a great week of practice before the second preseason game Saturday against the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.

"We're going to get good work but it's really over the next two practices after this is where the bulk of what we're going to get's coming in," Campbell said.

Here are observations from Sunday's practice.

Khalil Dorsey builds on strong training camp

One player that has stood out to the coaching staff has been cornerback Khalil Dorsey, who is battling for one of the final spots on the secondary depth chart. Campbell said he liked what he saw from first-round rookie Terrion Arnold and second-round rookie Ennis Rakestraw Jr., the latter of whom he described as a player who "really showed up" against the Giants.

"It was encouraging from all those guys," Campbell said.

He added Dorsey, along with the two rookies and Amik Robertson, were the secondary players who have stood out so far. Dorsey, 26, made two starts at cornerback last season and appeared in 11 other games as a special teams player. In camp, he has been rotating in at cornerback alongside Steven Gilmore and Kindle Vildor. Dorsey is also a steady participant in special teams snaps.

"Dors(ey) did a good job (against the Giants) too, so we like where we are at at the corner position right now," Campbell said.

Dorsey followed up the praise with another strong day of practice. He was one of the first players in line for special teams snaps again, and broke up three passes in the one-on-one coverage drills against receivers. He had a pair of PBUs against slants from Shane Zylstra and Maurice Alexander, and got his hand in between the ball and body on a sideline fade.

Jameson Williams' drops and a contested catch

Campbell said he wanted a "clean, crisp" practice that took a while to fruition. There were a few hiccups to offensive position drills, including drops from multiple receivers. Williams had a pair of early drops, including during the one-on-one portion with defensive backs, but made up for it with the play of the day while practicing the two-minute offense to close practice.

Williams elevated to come down with a contested catch from Jared Goff on a post over the middle, while absorbing a hit from Alex Anzalone and two defensive backs and maintaining control of the football. The catch set up a late field goal make from Jake Bates.

Hogan Hatten creating 'real competition' at long snapper

Hatten, who is trying to become the Lions long snapper, got some reps at linebacker in Thursday's exhibition.

Wait a second. What is a long snapper doing on defense?

“We needed him in there with where we were at at linebacker to finish a game out,” Campbell said. “So, that’s what he’s got.”

Hatten is no stranger to defense. He had 15 tackles, including two sacks at Idaho.

“He did play linebacker in college,” Campbell said. “So, he runs pretty good, and he kind of has an awareness of the football.”

The Lions brought Hatten in to give incumbent Scott Daly competition.

“That’s a real competition,” Campbell said.

The ability to cover is one of the most intriguing aspects of Hatten’s game, which is something you don’t think about. It’s trying to win around the edges, trying to find the slightest advantage at every spot on the roster.

“One of the reasons we wanted to bring Hogan in was, he was intriguing in his coverage ability,” Campbell said.

Now, Hatten has to prove he can handle long snapping in pressure situations.

“Now it’s about, ‘Okay, well can you?'” Campbell said. “Daly has been able to snap consistently and under pressure, big games, different looks, handling the protection and the snap. So, that’s the next step for (Hogan). He has to be able to prove that he can do that with a rush on him. Some of these hard situations are what we have to try to put him in."

Quarterback situation

Hooker was not on the field and remains in concussion protocol, leaving the Lions with just Goff and Nate Sudfeld to run through all of the team repetitions on offense. Sudfeld was able to soak up the extra throws with Hooker still out rather than splitting all of the second and third-team offense snaps. Hooker's recovery this week will determine if the Lions add a quarterback to the roster to improve the competition behind Goff.

"Brad (Holmes) and I talked about that this morning," Campbell said about adding a quarterback. "That could come down to the wire today or tomorrow. There is a chance and I think we'll have a pretty good idea this afternoon as to do we need to go ahead and do that."

Red Wings in house

The strong relationship between the Red Wings and the Lions was on display again. Wings captain Dylan Larkin, Alex Debrincat, Andrew Copp, Jeff Petry and Ben Chiarot were on the sidelines for Sunday's practice, and presented players like Goff, St. Brown and Campbell with a customized Red Wings jersey with their names.

This is the second time Hockeytown has had a presence at the Lions training camp: general manager Steve Yzerman and assistant GM Kris Draper stopped by during the first week.

Make "Carlos and Shawn" your go-to Detroit sports podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify).

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions observations: Jameson Williams makes top play of practice