Detroit Lions: It will take more than a rough first camp to make Teez Tabor a bust

It has been a rough first training camp for Detroit Lions rookie cornerback Teez Tabor but it will take a lot more of that to make him a bust.

Detroit Lions rookies like Jarrad Davis and Kenny Golladay have enjoyed good starts in their first training camp as professionals. The same can’t be said for fellow rookie Teez Tabor.

If you’ve been keeping up on updates out of Lions camp, you probably already knew that. All it takes is one quickly Google News search of Tabor’s name and you’ll see headlines like these:

Lions rookie corner Teez Tabor gets schooled early

Darius Slay isn’t letting Teez Tabor get down on himself with the Lions

Detroit Lions trying to keep struggling CB Teez Tabor from losing confidence

Darius Slay is the perfect role model for Tabor to lean on as he adjusts to life in the NFL. It was this time four years ago that a rookie Slay was in the news because he thought Lambeau Field was “like the car” rather than named after Curly Lambeau, the founder, player and coach of the Green Bay Packers.

Slay went on to have an uneven rookie year in which he both gained and lost playing time due to his performance. Now, Slay is one of the best young corners in the game and was richly rewarded with a contract extension that pays him to be a foundational piece of the Lions defense for the foreseeable future.

That’s certainly not to say there is no reason to worry and that Tabor will ultimately turn out like Slay. However, the example of Slay shows how lost a rookie cornerback can be early on yet still turn things around to avoid being labeled a bust.

To be honest, I would be more surprised if Tabor was earning rave reviews at this point than I am by reports he’s struggling. He doesn’t have the athletic profile of a player like Slay, but there are definite “ways he wins” on the football field. As a player who relies on reaction time, reflexes and instincts over athleticism, it makes sense that it would take time before Tabor flashes on the field.

Maybe it never comes and he does end up a bust, but it’s far too early to say whether he will or won’t. Working in the Lions’, and Tabor’s, favor is that what shows up on tape is actually quantifiable, as presented in a Sport Science clip released during draft season.

Tabor’s ability to read and react made up for his so-so athletic profile in the college game and will have to be the way he wins in the NFL as well. For that to start to show up will take experience and repetition at the NFL level. That takes time – certainly more time than a rookie minicamp, OTAs and a couple weeks of training camp afford.

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Tabor and the rest of the Lions’ rookie class suit up for the first time as Lions Sunday afternoon in the 2017 preseason opener at the Indianapolis Colts.