Allen Park, Mich. -- Devin Thomas made his 2013 Lions camp debut Sunday.
Thomas, 26, who starred at Michigan State and Canton (Mich.) High School, had been on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list since the beginning of camp July 26.
"I just wanted to be smart, make sure I was ready to come back," Thomas said, without revealing what his injury was. "Now that I can work into the rotation, I'm just excited each and every day I come out."
As with any player returning from injury, Thomas was limited in what he was permitted to do.
"Today I'm just kind of working in," Thomas said. "I wanted to get more work, but they just wanted to take it easy. I'm just excited to be back and it's just a blessing."
Thomas is in the mix for the fourth and fifth wide receiver spots.
"What I know I bring to the table is my competitive spirit, my experience and leadership of being through a lot," Thomas said. "Got a championship under my belt so I know what it takes to win. I just want to bring my experience to this team."
Thomas won a Super Bowl with the New York Giants and believes he sees some of the same elements from this year's Lions.
"I feel the camaraderie is building as we go along and there's not a lot of, you could say celebrities on the team," Thomas said. "There's a lot of big-time players on the team but they're not on no high horse. They're down to earth guys. I think a lot of guys respect that and I think that's going to carry us a long way."
DELMAS RETURNS
The Lions are being extra cautious with safety Louis Delmas in an effort to maintain the health of his knees.
Delmas returned to the field after missing three straight days of practice.
"Anytime we can get Lou on the practice field, it's good work for us," coach Jim Schwartz said. "He gives a lift to the defense and makes a difference out there. He moved well today. But also, communicating with not just (Glover) Quin but his linebackers, the corners, I think that's all important.
"But like we said at the beginning of camp, we need to balance that with his health and doing too much. That's going to be a fine line there but I thought he had a good day today. He looked good in individual, he looked good in the other periods. When he gets out there, he's able to do a little bit more."
RIDDICK HURT
Rookie running back Theo Riddick appeared to injure his right foot in a team rushing drill Sunday.
He had to have it taped more than once before finally leaving the field with a trainer.
"They took him in just to make sure nothing was wrong, get an X-ray on it," Schwartz said. "I don't know anything yet but he got stepped on in practice."
INJURY UPDATES
While Thomas returned to the field, a few others remained off of it.
Cornerbacks Jonte Green and Chris Greenwood were out with hamstring issues. Defensive linemen Israel Idonije (hamstring) and Jason Jones (knee) also did not practice.
""Idonije) sort of tweaked a hamstring, I wouldn't say he pulled it," Schwartz said. "But he's moving pretty good today, he's pretty close. One thing you want to avoid in some of those, and I've said this before, a lot of our hamstrings we take the approach of saying when he's ready, give him one more day. With the off-day tomorrow, we thought it was a good day. He's close, he's working hard, he should be back. He's nothing more than day-to-day."
Linebacker Travis Lewis missed his first practice of camp.
However, Amari Spievey and Willie Young both returned to practice.
NO HARD KNOCKS FOR LIONS
The Cincinnati Bengals make their debut on HBO's Hard Knocks this Tuesday.
Commissioner Roger Goodell has expressed the opinion that all of the NFL teams should have their turn in the annual behind-the-scenes camp spotlight.
Some of the Lions are game, others not so much.
"Selfishly, I would love to be on Hard Knocks," Nate Burleson said. "It's a lot of characters, like you said, and it would bring a great amount of attention to not only this team, but to the city. A lot of misconceptions about Detroit, especially now. It would shine a light on a lot of great areas and the great things about Michigan.
"But I don't think we've arrived enough to be on Hard Knocks. We haven't accomplished enough in my mindset to be parading around on camera before the season starts. I don't know what their (Bengals') mindset was going into it, I'm saying from my perspective, being one of the leaders on this team, we need to accomplish something before we're smiling for the cameras for five weeks."
Schwartz did not seem overly enthused about the idea.
"We're not on Hard Knocks," Schwartz said. "We're worried about our training camp, we're worried about what we're doing, we're not worried about what might happen in the future or what other teams are doing. We need to concentrate on our stuff."
BROYLES IMPRESS WITH WIFE'S MOVES
Ryan Broyles may have some slick moves on the football field, but he said he can't quite compare to his wife, Mary Beth.
Mary Beth Broyles competed in the charity Dancing with the All-Stars event to benefit Jack's Place for Autism on Thursday night.
Even though she didn't win, her husband was impressed.
"She took it over like it was game day," Broyles said. "You see them in practice, kind of like us, you go out there and you work hard but it's not really until the lights come on. She went out there, she turned it on."
