Allen Park, Mich.— The Detroit Lions selected DT Levi Onwuzurike (second round, 41st overall), DT Alim McNeill (third round, 72nd overall) and CB Ifeatu Melifonwu (third round, 101st overall) on Day 2 of the 2021 NFL Draft. 2021 DETROIT LIONS NFL DRAFT QUOTE SHEETS Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager Brad Holmes was available to the media via Zoom following the conclusion of Day 2 of the NFL Draft. In addition, DT Levi Onwuzurike, DT Alim McNeill and CB Ifeatu Melifonwu were made available to the media via Zoom. The following is a quote sheet with excerpts from their media sessions. LIONS EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & GENERAL MANAGER BRAD HOLMES QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM) Opening statement: “Alright guys, great to see everyone. Today was huge. We’re very, very excited about all of the players we were able to acquire today. I think we really gave a boost to our defense. Starting off with Levi (Onwuzurike), he actually, he was a kid we had our eye on. He’s a scheme fit. He’s very explosive, very talented. He’s one that I identified early on in the process, I’d say you know back from 2019 when he was still playing and even when he had his opt-out, still just kind of refreshing on his film again last year. Refreshing on his film last year, appreciated, liked him even more to the point that with the buy-in that we had on that player we actually made some efforts to actually acquire him earlier than we actually did. But it ended up falling in our favor. But very strong, very explosive. You know, really, I like to say that he’s a balanced player. He’s stout at the point of attack and he’s got the ability to rush inside so we’re really, really fired up about him. He was a big asset and I guess I’ll say, when I talk about how explosive he is, I heard his press conference was pretty explosive as well. I didn’t get a chance to hear it yet, but you kind of see the personality and fire that he’s got in him. And then kind of going to Alim (McNeill), he’s another one that we feel –all these guys, Levi and Alim, and then we’ll get to Iffy (Ifeatu Melifonwu) as well, but they all have versatility. Alim is another one that, you know, for a big nose tackle that’s powerful at the point of attack, he has a lot of upside. He has quickness, he has the ability to do some stuff inside and sub-nickel stuff. So, he has some upside as a rusher as well. Just to be able to add these two key cogs on the middle of our defense is a huge bump for us. Alim, he’s still raw in terms of he hasn’t been playing the position very long. He was a running back, linebacker, baseball player, just a big, huge athlete in high school and then kind of beefed up to become a defensive lineman. So, you see that athletic ability and footwork and explosiveness that he has in him. And then to just be able to cap it off with Iffy, just a big, long corner. I remember when scouting his brother years ago, and he’s got the same physical specimen traits for a big, long corner that from the outside it looks like he’s just a press corner, but he’s actually not. How Iffy grew on me in the process is his ability to actually play in off-coverage and actually be able to maneuver, show quickness in a short area, in zone and off-coverage, which usually guys that long and that big aren’t able to do. So, we’re fired up with all of these kids. I know I talked mostly about the physical traits, besides Levi’s press conference, but we stuck to what we believed in and they still live up to the standards of what we’re looking for for football players. They have the intangibles, they have grit, they’re tough, they’re physical, they’re smart and they’re explosive. And they’re all instinctive very well, so they’re smart football players. So, with all that said, we’ll take any questions.” On how his personal numbers from college would compare to DT Alim McNeill’s bench pressing: “Yeah, you’d probably need to cut that in half real quick.” On the athleticism of all the players drafted tonight: “Starting with Levi (Onwuzurike) first, again watching him like two years ago, you saw the power and you saw the ability. Like I said, he was just very instinctive in his ability to find the ball. But it was when I refreshed on his film for the first time last fall during his opt-out and watching basically the whole season on him and that’s when I really, really appreciated his explosiveness and how fast he was. He’s a kid that he can really run for a big man that’s 200 and not 95 pounds. There’s some plays on tape where he’s just really just chasing down guys to the perimeter and from the backside. I think he showed that, the one day that he showed up to the Senior Bowl he fared very, very well and then even for his pro day he ran a fast time before he had to kind of shut down for some soft-tissue stuff. And Alim (McNeill), he’s another one that, first watched him you’re thinking of not having seen him live physically, but watching him on film, he seems like a kind of shorter, wider guy, so you’re automatically thinking, ‘OK, he’s your typical two-down anchor nose tackle.’ But then you keep watching him and it’s like, ‘Wait, hold up. This dude’s got some quickness that you don’t usually see from a guy this big and this powerful,’ so he was really fun. So, to answer your question, the appreciation for the athletic skill-set and the same thing with Iffy (Ifeatu Melifonwu). You think press corner, but that’s the way he kind of grew on me in the process is like when we started matching him up versus the other corners in the Draft and just his movement skills in space was very, very impressive.” On if the Lions getting three linemen so quickly was by design or how the board fell: “You know, I think it’s pretty much how the board fell, I would say. Again, we try not to anchor ourselves into positions, per say. We try to make sure that we get the best football player. I would say, starting with Levi (Onwuzurike), he was just one that after we got Penei (Sewell) in the first round, toward the end of Thursday, we were just trying to see if there were ways to maybe go back up and get him. Even earlier today – the guys in the draft room did a heck of a job about keeping me tempered to practice a little bit more patience, because he’s one that was highly sought after. He just happened to play that same position. Same with Alim (McNeill). We get players that we love. We get players that we’re excited about. We don’t say like, ‘OK, we have to get this defensive lineman, we’ve got to get this nose tackle because those are the positions that we need.’ No. We just get football players that we’re really excited about and that we’re hot on. That’s kind of what it really boils down to, and it just so happens to be the same position on defensive line. But I did think to even get a guy to play on the perimeter on the outside at corner balanced it out well, too.” On if the Draft prospects had any off-the-field appeal and if personality matters to him: “All of that goes to our scouts. They work extremely hard to make sure that the intangibles are right, and they meet the standards of what we’re looking for. They do so much work. I mean, truly, they are the bloodline of the personnel department, and we just couldn’t operate without that because if they don’t have those intangibles, and they don’t have that passion, work ethic, desire, the love of the game, the intelligence, the football smarts, as we call it, if they don’t have that, it’s going to be hard. The NFL’s hard. The NFL is really hard and everybody’s talented. So, when you have those intangibles, often, that is the separation. It’s very important and that’s a total credit to the scouts that really be experts in their area and dominate out there.” On being careful where he watches DT Levi Onwuzurike’s press conference: “I saw something on Twitter, and I know Dan (Campbell) and myself got kind of a kick out of it. That’s just an excerpt, so I don’t know really how far it got. At least it showed that he is a passionate dude, which we already knew.” On if he feels he can get everything accomplished that he wants to in this draft with only two picks on day three: “We’ll just see how it falls. Again, when you say accomplish everything, that everything would be to get as many good football players as we possibly can with the picks that we have. If there’s some moves (that) happen where we happen to acquire extra, then it’ll fall that way. We’re not going to pass on good football players just to acquire an extra pick unless we feel like we’ll still be in position to get them. We had some dialogue with several teams throughout the day, before the start of the round and throughout the round. We just decided just to stay where we’re at because we really liked those players that we ended up picking. That’s kind of how it fell out. But, you know, it gets to the point where you can identify the areas of weaknesses or areas that we need to improve depth, but you can’t get everything in one draft. I think that we’re on a good path about sticking to what our vision is; getting the best football players.” On if he thinks CB Ifeatu Melifonwu is versatile enough to play safety: “You know what, I’ll leave that up to A.G. – Aaron Glenn – and Aubrey Pleasant. Personally, I do think that he has versatility to do everything. I think he has versatility to play outside, to play back deep and even to play inside in the matchup on big guys. That versatility, he has. But I’ll leave that up to A.G. in terms of where he feels like best fits.” On how he expects the undrafted rookie process to play out since there are fewer prospects in the Draft: “I don’t know if I can universally answer that and speak for other teams. I know for our case, obviously our last pick is in – as of right now – our last pick is in the fifth round. So, it’s not going to change our approach or alter our approach in how we’re going to attack undrafted free agency. We have a good plan in place that we have met about and we have a great process in place, I would say, for undrafted free agency. That’s not really going to change our approach in terms of numbers or how many we’re going to sign or how many that we need per position.” On his aggressiveness surrounding potentially trading up and at what point he realized that the Lions second round pick (41st overall) DT Levi Onwuzurike may be available: “Again, he was one that we felt like his skillset was worthy of being selected in the first round, and again, we all had buy in on it. He’s been one of my favorite players in the Draft. We did make some attempts to get back up there and then obviously, it didn’t fall through, and then we made some attempts earlier. We made a few attempts to get him, but it’s just sometimes the Draft gods smile on you a little bit and bless you with what you were wanting. All those guys in the (draft) room just kept stressing to stay patient, which it was a great suggestion. But we were all kind of sweating bullets a little bit, but the patience paid off.” On if he has a special affinity for defensive linemen having played the position or if it is more challenging to scout the position: “Yeah, that’s a good question because through different regimes they have different requirements for different schemes. And so, being in different regimes, sometimes you want defensive linemen to be quick and explosive up field, and then sometimes you want them to be more square and firm at the point of attack. So, I’ve had both. But one thing that’s universal that I don’t think ever gets looked past or is acceptable is to have the ability to rush the passer. So, that’s definitely one that if they show the upside to do that, and they have the quickness and length to have a pass rush upside, then that’s always a bonus. There’s certain instinctive things that you see at that position, especially from an interior standpoint about playing certain blocks, especially backside, scoop blocks, not getting reached, being able to get your hips in the hole, stay squared. So, there’s a lot of things that you see in both phases both as a rusher, as an interior rusher and at the point of attack. Those things that are quickly to be identified, and it shows a lot of different things. It shows how instinctive they are, it shows how well coached they are, how well they use their hands. Are they coachable? Are they using the technique that they’re taught? All of that stuff kind of plays into it. But I do say that both Levi (Onwuzurike) and Alim (McNeill) has shown that on their film.” On the importance of interior pass rushing and him coming from the Los Angeles Rams that had DT Aaron Donald: “Yeah, I think it’s very important. That is a great question. Now, where I came from, he’s just a rare, he’s a Hall of Fame player. So, it is what it is. You don’t find those type of guys like that. But just from having interior pass rush, that was something that we were looking to add. I do think that these guys do bring that and that’s just a bonus. That’s what I think the beauty is about both of these kids is that not only are they powerful and strong at the point of attack, but they do have that upside to catch an edge and get up field. You know, just like you brought up a great point about bringing pressure from the edge, but if you can apply that pressure even quicker on the interior inside, then you can even have more of an impact defensively.” On if he can commit to giving Lions third round draft selection (72nd overall) DT Alim McNeill some looks at fullback given his running back background in high school: “I don’t think that he would turn it down. I know he’s a confident kid that’s a really good athlete. But I believe that his running back days are behind him. I guess I will check with Anthony Lynn and see if he has anything up his sleeve for Alim.” On what possibilities were there to trade down and acquire some additional draft picks: “You know, that really never came to fruition. That really never came. It just so happened that actually at every pick we actually did have a player that we were really, really hoping that was going to come to us. So, it was more discussions of trading up, not only just for Levi (Onwuzurike), but even when we got into round three, you know, there were times when we were thinking, ‘Should we move up to get our guy?’ But again, only coming into the deal with six picks, we were just trying to make sure that we stayed patient, stayed discipline and trusted our board. I can say that was huge for Iffy (Ifeatu Melifonwu), you know at our last pick is that really trusting our board. He was actually standing out, I wouldn’t say like a sore thumb, but he was standing out significantly. So, from a value standpoint, from the cream of the position, let’s just go and just trust our board, trust the process, all the work that we put in and really feel good about the value you get.” On how tempted he was to try and draft a wide receiver or if that is for tomorrow: “Well, you know, the Draft is not over with yet. So, yeah, there’s obviously going to be some opportunities to add players tomorrow, and we’ll just see how that falls. We won’t anchor ourselves, still. We won’t pass up good football players. There’s other positions outside of wide receiver that can still help us.” LIONS 2021 SECOND ROUND DRAFT SELECTION (41ST OVERALL) DT LEVI ONWUZURIKE QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM) On if he was shocked to be drafted by the Lions: “I was pretty shocked. I got some insight that that might be coming, but (expletive), I was still shocked when it happened. I’m happy now.” On what Lions fans should expect from him the first time he touches the field: “(Expletive), I think it’s just disruptiveness, disruptiveness and speed. Just messing up offensive schemes and playing how I played in college, but at a higher level.” On if he knows where the Lions will use him on the defensive line and if he can play anywhere: “Yeah, I don’t have a sense of where they’ll play me, but just like you said, I can play anywhere and I played everywhere in the past. So just ready to be whether it’s a one, three, zero, five, nine, 10, wherever. I’m ready to play it.” On what he thinks his biggest strength is as a player: “I think get off and strength. I think those are the two most important things as a D-lineman out there. I have both of those.” On what it was like waiting until the second round to be drafted: “It was cool. I wasn’t tripping, I wasn’t chilling. At the end of the day, wherever I end up, I’m going to ball out. So, I was just waiting. That’s how it is.” On the difficulty of not playing the 2020 season after opting out: “Man, it was real difficult just watching my boys out there. But once again, I was real proud of them and real proud of what they did that season. It was for sure hard to watch. I felt like I went back to being a fan and just watching it on TV. It was tough to watch. You want to be out there, but for sure missed that.” On his excitement to get back to playing football: “Oh, (expletive). I’ll hop on the field right now if I have to.” On his favorite part of playing defensive line: “I mean I think it tells you all. I like (expletive) people up. I like to get off the line and just put my helmet or my hands on an offensive lineman and (expletive) up an offense’s scheme pretty much. I like pushing them back two, three yards and just making them feel like (expletive).” On his contact with Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell before the Draft: “We talked a lot. I can’t tell you the specifics just because I talked to so many teams, but I remember talking to him at the Senior Bowl and after that, so we talked a good amount.” On his thoughts on new Lions T Penei Sewell: “Oh yeah, he’s an elite player. He’s a dog, quick. For sure should have been, or he was, the first tackle out. First O-lineman out. That’s well deserved. He deserves all of that. One of the quickest players I’ve ever played against. Very balanced, very big, but also has an athletic build. He’s almost like a tight-end at the tackle position. He’s elite, so we’re going to make (expletive) happen up in Detroit.” On how he plans to take his game to the next level: “Everything I’ve practiced over this offseason, from bend, to pad level, to everything. At the end of the day, it’s about production, it’s about putting pressure on that quarterback and making that happen so your other players can succeed as well. But obviously we are going to work to take that next step.” On the Lions’ emphasis on drafting players for the trenches so far in the 2021 Draft: “I mean, I think it means a lot. The trenches are arguably the most important position group in football, I think. It’s an honor for me to be the first D-tackle out, it’s an honor to play at the Lions. I think the Lions are trying to build some (expletive) right here and we got two good (expletive) parts to build that.” On if he is currently at a draft party: “Yeah, downstairs everybody is turning up and enjoying their time. So, I’ll be down there after.” On if he had a draft party yesterday as well: “Yeah, same thing. We just had a bunch of the friends, bunch of the homies. Couple more guys came today.” On if he has a chip on his shoulder after going in the second round: “At the end of the day, I’m going to have a chip on my shoulder. If I went fourth round, I would have a chip on my shoulder. If I went first round first pick, I would have a chip on my shoulder. Either way, I’m going to (expletive) some (expletive) up, so I’m not really worried about that.” LIONS THIRD ROUND DRAFT SELECTION (72ND OVERALL) DT ALIM MCNEILL QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM) On his transition from playing running back and linebacker in high school to defensive tackle at NC State: “It wasn’t that hard of a transition for me. After about a week of college football in camp and stuff like that, I was able to catch on to it pretty quick and I put myself in a two-deep. Me being able to use my athleticism was what really pushed me over the edge. Being able to make moves on guards and stuff that I was a lot quicker than, that’s what really helped me and kind of gave me an edge over guys while playing in games or whether in practice putting myself in good positions and stuff.” On the mentality needed to be a successful nose tackle: “I mean really, the mindset you have to have in there, it’s not the most glorious position, whether it’s like stats wise and stuff like that. You really just have to be a selfless person to play in there. Somebody who is gritty and is willing to put their body and themselves on the line. To be able to have guys around them eat and succeed as well. It’s a very key position, but you have to have the mindset that, you know, ‘I’m here to plug gaps, I’m going to create havoc, I’m going to destroy blocks. I’m going to make plays in the backfield while also doing my job the correct way. Nose tackle is a very important position, so that’s the mindset you have to have.” On his contact with the Lions during the pre-draft process: “I remember it was a great meeting, I loved every moment of it, every minute of it. I remember they were really impressed with how I interviewed with them as well. Overall, it was just a great meeting.” On his thoughts about joining the Lions’ current culture: “I feel that we’re trending in the correct direction, we’re going up. I really think something special is brewing here and I can’t wait to get it going.” On the Lions’ selection of three linemen so far in the 2021 Draft: “I don’t really have many thoughts about that, I just know the games are won and they’re started in the trenches and I feel like that’s where they wanted to go at. But I don’t really have any thoughts on that really.” On how familiar he is with Lions second round draft selection (41st overall) DT Levi Onwuzurike and if he was upset that he was taken before him: “No, never not once did I say that. I was happy as ever when Levi got drafted. We’ve never really talked in person, but we know each other through this process. My position coach while I was out in California training was his as well, and so through him is how we got to meet each other. But not once did I ever say, ‘I’m better than him’, no. I can’t wait to get to work with him.” On his experience playing baseball growing up in the outfield: “Yeah, I love baseball. Baseball was actually my first sport. I didn’t see myself as a big guy in the outfield, honestly. I just see myself as an athlete out there, just making plays, tracking balls down. I was really just a really athletic player who had a good bat. I batted in the 4-hole. I think I batted around .335, I think it was, my senior year. And obviously, started right field. That’s pretty much what I did my whole career. Obviously played a lot of different other positions, but in high school I started right field. I was just a go-getter. I was able to go get the ball, track the ball down, make plays.” On why his sacks decreased during his final season at NC State and his pick-six play against Virginia: “I believe my sacks took a little bit of a dip. My sophomore year, I got more one-on-one blocks. Going into junior season, I didn’t see any. I didn’t have any one-on-one blocks, it was more double and triple teams with guards coming down. I believe that’s why. On the pick-six, I was actually getting triple teamed on that, and I was a rushing cover guy, so I was making sure the quarterback didn’t step up in the pocket, run through any B-gaps or A-gaps. He threw it, he had a low trajectory and he had kind of a side-arm type of slot, so I knew he was throwing pretty low through the B-gaps. So I seen his eyes, I went and attacked the B-gap, got my hands up, was able to bat it. It was in the air and I just went and tracked it down like an outfielder. Just brought it in and at that point I knew I was scoring.” On if the pick-six play is an example of his athleticism: “Yeah, that’s one of the many examples.” LIONS THIRD ROUND DRAFT SELECTION (101ST OVERALL) CB IFEATU MELIFONWU QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM) On his size and athleticism: “I feel like my size and athleticism, definitely it helps a lot just because I feel like I might be able to make up for things other corners can’t. It honestly, it’s always just a plus. Having technique and having athletic ability to go along with it, so I think that definitely helps me in a lot of areas.” On his contact with the Lions during the pre-draft process: “I talked to them, obviously at the Senior Bowl, and then I also had contact with Coach (Aubrey) Pleasant, one of the DB coaches. It was just a good meeting. We didn’t really talk too much about a specific role, I just had a real good conversation with him.” On his relationship with his brother Obi Melifonwu: “With my brother, it’s actually, I wouldn’t even call it a rivalry. We compete and me being the younger brother, I just want to do everything he does and I want to do it better. But from his end, he wants me to be better than him, he wants me to do things better. He wants me to perform better, everything. So, I can’t even say it’s really like a rivalry, you know. He just supports me in everything that I do.” On his Nigerian heritage and how it connects him to fellow Nigerian players on the defensive roster: “Yeah, so I knew that Jeff (Okudah) and Amani (Oruwariye) were also Nigerian. I feel like, Nigerians, we just always have that even if we don’t know each other, we have that connection with each other because we come from similar backgrounds and we know how our parents act and everything like that. We come from the same culture. I just feel like, even though I haven’t met them, I definitely have a deep-rooted connection with those two.” On his memories of playing football with his brother growing up: “Good stories about football. Actually, when I was younger and he was in high school, I believe he actually played quarterback. He was like wildcat quarterback. He really taught me how to catch. I remember we would just be in the backyard and he would literally just be whipping footballs at me and telling me not to be scared and to use my hands. So that’s one story. But we would always go to the field and he would help me on little different things. Even if I made a play, it could have been better and he always just tried to push me to that next step, that next level.” On how much older his brother is: “Yeah, he’s five years older.” On if watching his brother reach the NFL inspired him: “Yeah, 100 percent. When he got drafted in 2017. No, actually not when he got drafted but after the Combine. I actually made a little countdown in my phone. I set it for four years later, 2021 NFL Combine.” On what that reminder made him think about: “When that comes up, honestly, it really pushes me to go harder, go harder in every aspect. Not even just the athleticism and things like that. Film room, getting my body right, everything. It’s an overall motivator, definitely.” On if he forgot about that reminder before this year: “No, that’s something that I remembered every single year. It was definitely nothing that I forgot about. My goals, like I said earlier, my goals were just to be better than him, beat his numbers and that’s exactly what he wanted for me.” On why he chose Syracuse University over the University of Michigan during his recruitment: “I was committed to Syracuse at the time, and Michigan came in real, real late. Like five says before signing day. At the time, I was very comfortable with Syracuse, with their coaches and their staff, Coach (Dino) Babers. Just my recruiting class as well. I was overall just comfortable and I knew, I took a look at Syracuse’s roster and I knew that I had a chance to play maybe two years in after my redshirt year. And Michigan, I don’t think they would have let me redshirt and that’s one of the things I wanted to do coming into college.” On what he’s looking forward to most about working with Lions DB Coach Aubrey Pleasant: “He was just, he was probably one of the best coaches I had a meeting with. Just all-around, good dude, not even when it comes to football, just everything. I’m just looking forward to being a sponge and learning everything and trying to get on the field as fast as I can. Special teams, being a corner, anything. So, I’m just looking forward to getting all the information I can out of him.” |
