A few more tidbits from today's practice:

Lions coach Jim Schwartz complimented Drew Stanton's play Thursday and said Stanton, a second-round pick out of Michigan State in 2007, “has consistently gotten better throughout all these OTAs.”

“He didn't start off very strong, but the thing I've been pleased with him is that when he has had a bad day, he's come back the next time with a better day,” Schwartz said. “And even though he's had a couple bumps in the road, his general graph has been trending up.”

That doesn't mean, however, that the Lions are no longer considering adding a veteran to compete for the No. 3 quarterback job. Trent Green and Gus Frerotte are among those available.

“We're not a team that went deep into the playoffs last year that's coming back set at a lot of positions and we're trying not to upset the apple cart,” Schwartz said. “I'm trying to upset the apple cart as much as we can. Let's create that situation.”

Sticking with that theme:

• Newly-signed tackle Ephraim Salaam took part in individual drills Thursday, but not team work. The 32-year-old can play either tackle spot and spent last season as a backup in Houston. “It goes in with everything we talked about, creating competition on the team,” Schwartz said. “There's no spot set in stone. We want to create competition as much as we can, bring as many people into the equation as we can, make people earn their jobs. We don't want to give anything away for free.”

• Schwartz on the Lions interest in former Arizona cornerback Rod Hood: “We had him in for a visit last week, had good conversations with him. I think he was still in the exploratory range, looking around, checking his options out. We're going to look at everybody. We're at that point, I keep saying the same things, there's no spot that we feel great about that we go in right now saying we're 100 percent set, so anybody that comes available we're going to do our due diligence.”

• Except Michael Vick, that is. Schwartz made it clear the Lions have no interest in the Falcons quarterback, who was released from federal prison Wednesday and will be cut or traded by Atlanta once he's reinstated to the NFL. “No, I think we're pretty happy with where our quarterbacks are right now,” Schwartz said.

• Defensive end Dewayne White missed Thursday's voluntary workout for personal reasons. Defensive tackle Grady Jackson still hasn't taken part in any offseason practices, but Jackson, whose brother, Javorris, was charged with murder and shot himself, is back with the team. “His spirits are good,” Schwartz said. “It's a tough situation. Nobody wants to go through something like that. He's had a lot of support in the locker room. We've given him time to be able to take care of things that are more important than on the football field right now. Physically, he still has a long way to go, but he'll get there.”

• Rookie safety Louis Delmas is working as a personal protector on the punt team. “It's something I never done,” Delmas said. “I always was a gunner on punt, but now I'm a personal protector. I think that's a very big responsibility for me. I think that'll prove a lot to the team, that I can step up and be that role model for the personal protector. I'm looking forward to it.”