Lions player representative Kyle Vanden Bosch said he's told teammates to hold off on showing up at the team's Allen Park practice facility despite a judge's lifting of the NFL lockout. "I don't want to put the players or the team in a situation that we don't want to be in," Vanden Bosch said. "I don't want to tell guys to go and find out that we really can't workout there. I'm just kind of telling everybody to, at least for tomorrow, do what you were going to do until I get more information about what we can and can't do. Just kind of hold tight a little bit." The NFL locked out players in a labor dispute last month after talks broke down on a new collective bargaining agreement.

Lions GM Martin Mayhew says Matthew Stafford's recovery from surgery on his right, throwing shoulder is going well, according to an ESPN.com report. Mayhew said Thursday the team received good reports from Stafford's showing at a charity event that was part of Georgia's spring game last week.

Lions president Tom Lewand would not discuss specific issues concerning the labor situation, but he's optimistic that the current negotiating will resolve the situation. "I can't comment on it under strong suggestion of the league; a suggestion I'm happy to take," Lewand said. "But from our standpoint, the process is going to play itself out. We haven't changed our opinion, and that is that the parties ought to be talking and this is going to be settled through a negotiation. I've felt that way for a long time. Personally, I think we feel that way as a league."

Virginia Union offensive tackle David Mims has worked out for the Chiefs, Lions and Ravens, according to a league source. Mims also visited the Rams this month. The lineman is 6-foot-8 and 331 pounds after playing at nearly 350 pounds for the majority of his career.

Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford threw at the halftime of Georgia's spring game. Stafford joined former Georgia quarterbacks Eric Zeier, David Greene and D.J. Shockley in the lighthearted competition, which Stafford "won." Participants first tried to place balls in a trashcan from 35 yards away. Stafford also threw three of five balls through a tire from about 20 yards out. He missed all but three games last season with a shoulder injury. The former first overall pick played in 10 games in 2009, his rookie season.

If the NFL's lockout is lifted, the Lions are unlikely to go after free agents this offseason. A lifted lockout would mean the 2011 season would operate under last season's rules, meaning no salary cap. "I think you have to consider all the rules," Lions president Tom Lewand said when asked about that possibility at the league meetings. "I think if you look at any one rule myopically, you lose sight of your ability to field a competitive team. "Our philosophy is not to field a competitive team just for next week -- it's for the entire season and the long haul."

The Lions will keep Ndamukong Suh at defensive tackle. Two of Suh's 10 sacks last season came when he lined up somewhere other than his normal position. "We moved him around quite a bit," coach Jim Schwartz said. "I think that when you do, you need to have reasons for it. If you just try to junk it up where you're moving him every play, you take away from what the guy's good at and what he can do. You need to balance both of those." Schwartz said Suh played "maybe a dozen" snaps as a standup rusher last year, a formation the Lions first unveiled in their Halloween win over the Redskins.

The Lions hosted draft prospects Aldon Smith of Missouri, Mikel Leshoure of Illinois and DeMarco Murray of Oklahoma this week. The news was posted on the team's official Web site. It marks a change in approach for a franchise that usually keeps their predraft plans secret. "The fact is, everybody in the league knows (whom we're bringing in)," coach Jim Schwartz said during the NFL meetings last week. "So if everybody in the league knows, it really doesn't matter. And if it's interesting for the fans, ... then I'm all for it."

Detroit's seventh-round selection in this year's NFL draft has been returned after a hearing on their appeal of sanctions issued for violating the league's tampering policy. The Lions instead will lose one pick in the 2012 draft: a sixth-rounder if they make the playoffs and a seventh-rounder if they don't, according to a league source. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Feb. 18 stripped the Lions of their 2011 seventh-round pick (205th overall), acquired in a trade with the Broncos, for publicly commenting on their desire to acquire players then under contract to the Chiefs.