Detroit Lions wide receiver Quintez Cephus catches a pass during an NFL football practice in Allen Park, Mich., Thursday, May 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)AP

ALLEN PARK -- Quintez Cephus’ comeback has come to a concerning halt.

The Detroit Lions receiver crumpled to the ground on Tuesday after making an acrobatic catch against Jeff Okudah during one-on-one drills. Cephus laid on the ground for several minutes, forcing drills to the other side of the field, before trainers helped escort him to the locker room. He put no weight on his left leg as he headed inside the training facility.

Cephus is a former fifth-round pick who is known for his ball skills, and was elevated to WR1 when Breshad Perriman and Tyrell Williams flamed out early last season. But he broke his collarbone in Week 5 and did not play again, costing him the final 12 games of the season.

He returned in time for the start of the offseason program in the spring, and stacked up a lot of good days too, although missed assignments and dropped passes had plagued him in recent days. He lost his first one-on-one rep to reserve defensive back Bobby Price on Tuesday, before adjusting to an underthrown pass against Okudah and making a phenomenal catch.

But Cephus laid on the ground several minutes after the play, in obvious pain on the left side of his lower body. With that, concern grows that the third-year wideout could miss yet more time. Trinity Benson figures to take his place in the rotation behind DJ Chark, Josh Reynolds and Amon-Ra St. Brown.

Detroit is already without another member of its projected rotation, first-round pick Jameson Williams, and just lost undrafted rookie Corey Sutton to retirement on Monday. The club might have to consider signing a camp body if it will be without Cephus for an extended period of time.

Here are more observations from Tuesday’s practice:

-- While the Cephus injury looked concerning, the Lions dodged another big bullet later in practice. Defensive tackle Alim McNeill is so good that Detroit has revamped its defensive scheme this offseason, with McNeill anchoring the middle. But he got rolled up on during team drills and hobbled off the field just a few minutes after Cephus left practice.

McNeill was able to run off the injury though, and was cleared by trainers to return to practice.

“I’m all good,” McNeill said as headed for the showers.

-- McNeill racked up a sack in his return to the field, while rookie Aidan Hutchinson added sacks from both the interior as well as the edge. It was a nice bounce-back performance for the No. 2 overall pick, who was handled by Penei Sewell (and decleated by T.J. Hockenson) when Detroit picked up the hitting on Monday. It’s yet another example of what we’ve heard about Hutchinson being a fast study.

“He gets out there and he gets beat on the first rep, he kind of coaches off of it and he memory banks that, and now he comes back once he gets the foundation of what we’re trying to do with him,” head coach Dan Campbell said. “Now the player can start to figure out what they can get away with, what they can do, what kind of moves they can make against these type of players, and so I just think you begin to grow and just you memory bank it, and you learn and you move on to the next rep.”

After practice on Tuesday, Hutchinson spoke with reporters for the first time in camp, then actually returned to the field to get in some more work by himself. He lined up under a canopy to practice staying low in his get-off, getting in two reps from the left edge, then two more from the right edge, before wrapping up with one more rep from the left and right.

Who knows how good Hutchinson will become, but it’s clear he works and he learns, which is all you can ask at this early stage.

-- Even reserve defensive end Austin Bryant had a big day for the defense, racking up a sack, tackle for loss, batted pass and other disruptions while working with the reserves. I don’t know whether he will make this team after all the additions on the edge, but he certainly helped himself today.

In case you were wondering, yes, the defense got the best of the offense on Tuesday. There was one play where the offense had someone jump offside, while Devin Funchess was also lined up wrong.

“I think we dominated today,” Hutchinson said.

-- You know it was a good day for the defense when even Jarrad Davis added a sack. The former first-round pick re-signed with Detroit hoping to rejuvenate his career after another lost season with the Jets, but was a non-entity during the first week of practice and relegated to mostly third-team work. Chris Board and Alex Anzalone are the first-team inside linebackers, and even rookie sixth-round pick Malcolm Rodriguez seems to have already surpassed Davis in the rotation. Davis finally broke through with the sack on Tuesday, although that had more to do with going unblocked on a blitz than anything else. He has a lot of work to do to make this team.

-- As for the offense, they finally scored in the 2-minute drills, the first time that has happened in three days. But it wasn’t pretty either. After getting the ball at their own 48-yard line with 52 seconds on the clock, Jared Goff completed short passes to Amon-Ra St. Brown and Shane Zylstra before getting sacked by Hutchinson and Charles Harris. Two plays later, the offense was flagged for delay of game, which set up a third-and-13 with 18 seconds left. Hutchinson flushed Goff out of the pocket, and an errant throw forced the offense to settle for an Austin Seibert field goal.

-- Tight end T.J. Hockenson and defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike got the day off. Hockenson was just getting some veteran rest, and said as he walked off the field that he’s fine. Shane Zylstra got the first-team reps in his place, yet another good sign of his bid to make this team. He caught three touchdown passes the other day, which won’t hurt either.

Onwuzurike could be more of a concern. He was shaken up at the end of practice on Monday, and also battled a back injury throughout the early parts of his rookie season last year, which really set him back.

-- The best rep I saw from a receiver during one-on-one drills came courtesy of Kalif Raymond, who shook A.J. Parker on his release and then simply outran the second-year cornerback to a downfield bomb. A lot of players put in hard work during camp, but Raymond’s habits stand out. He’s constantly one of the last players to leave the field, often spending huge amounts of time not only catching balls off the JUGS machine, but also shagging balls for others working the machine too. That’s a job that could be done by a staffer, a trainer, an intern, your 9-year-old kid, whoever, whatever. Yet Kalif Raymond is out there every day, sometimes an hour after practice, sweating his butt off in the sun, doing menial work for his teammates. And he’s been playing some pretty good ball, too.

-- The play of the day came from second-year running back Jermar Jefferson, who exploded through the box before stepping out of tackle attempts by Chase Lucas and Saivion Smith en route to a 45-yard touchdown. Jamaal Williams was certainly excited, yelling in excitement as he raced down the field to celebrate with Jefferson.

“I just like to get him juiced up,” Williams said. “I gotta let them know. I know they be tired, too. I’m telling you, that encouragement from your teammates, it lifts you up and makes you want to do more. So I’m just trying to make sure everybody knows I’m just here to help.”

-- Running back Justin Jackson made his Lions debut on Tuesday, and the former Chargers back didn’t waste any time showing his fresh legs. He was tackled into the net the kickers use to warm up on the sidelines, but popped to his feet and still sprinted the final 25 or 30 yards to the end zone. He’ll have a tough time making this team, but that’s the sort of effort that will catch Dan Campbell’s attention.

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