The first week is basically an extension of the OTA's but with the entire team participating. That is to say there is a lot of experimenting going on. When I said in another post that when TC really gets rolling, that part will happen when they get back from their short break. The coaching staff uses that break to build their depth chart and plan who they really want to look at in preseason. I expect they will again not play most starters in preseason and those they do only on a limited basis.
I'm not surprised that Hager is rotating in with the 1's. He has speed and coverage skills that Kiser doesn't have and this allows him to matchup better in coverage. The second ILB use to be called the MO LB and usually was the coverage ILB. Hager is a better matchup with RB's and TE's and can play both man and zone. Kiser isn't a good matchup in man coverage so he's strictly a zone coverage LB. Middleton is also a zone coverage LB so that isn't necessarily a bad thing. But having one of the two able to play man gives Wade more flexibility.
I'm also not surprised that Gaines is starting out with the 2's. SJD has been there a year so he's ahead simply because he understands the scheme better. He can play faster because he's not thinking his way through plays. All that will change as the season progresses. That is when the real battle for the position will start.
Dante Fowler is looking like his 2017 self, i.e. fast, quick, strong with some new moves. I expect an 8-10 sack season from him this year.
For those who attend camp and can watch SJD in his drills I'm interested in if he has learned to keep his pads down. Coming into the NFL, he was an early down 5T, who was expected to set a hard edge in the run defense. Because he rarely played inside he tended to play too upright and without power or leverage. Now he's playing inside at 1T and he needs to keep his pads down and play with leverage and power. He's a physically imposing man but he had trouble playing that way. Case in point when he played against Mich St they played him inside on many snaps thinking he would be a miss match against....guess who....Brian Allen who absolutely stoned him. In college SJD had problems getting off blocks. That cannot happen if he wants to start at 1T. I'm going to be interested in if he has improved his game as much as his physique.
We will get a much better feel for who will be playing where over the next two weeks. This will be when the real team is built for this season. The guys you see playing from the middle of the 3rd qtr of the 3rd pre-season game are the bubble sitters. Most won't make the team. The reality is most of these guys have 2.5 pre-season games to make the team. This is why they could drop the 4th game completely and not have it affect anything at all.