| March 29, 2021 Opening Statement: “It’s great to see everybody. I just wanted to follow up. I know we met last time and specifically spoke a little bit more about Jared (Goff) and his acquisition, but wanted to get together with you guys again to provide a little bit more insight about the free agency process and where we’re at so far. I know it’s still a lot of more work to do between now, and free agency is still going on until the Draft, but I like where we’re at right now as a football team, from a roster standpoint. But any questions you guys may have, fire away.” On what the advantage was in having a trade agreed upon to acquire Lions QB Jared Goff in comparison to other moves around the NFL following the trade: “That is a good question. Definitely wanted to make sure that everybody knows that we are aggressive, and we weren’t scared to set the market first and set it early. It wasn’t just that intention, but that is one of the things that came about from it. It spoke a lot of volumes. It’s an unprecedented amount of question marks at that position, and so with the options that were available at the time when it came to the trade standpoint, even with Matthew (Stafford), Jared, whoever it was, Carson (Wentz) ended up getting traded – with all of that I just felt like it got pretty aggressive and we weren’t scared to come out first and set the market.” On how other trades around the NFL influence his vision for the No. 7 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft: “It doesn’t really change what our focus is, and what our approach is and what our plan is. A lot of the things, I believe I mentioned it before, it’s very, very important to know, I guess you say the quarterback class, especially when it comes to the Draft process to have a very clear understanding of that position. Things won’t really surprise you so much when you start seeing that movement kind of go around in front of you, or whatever the case is, you’re really not caught off guard. Not saying that I knew things were going to happen, but when it happened and when they unfold, you’re really not caught off guard, but it doesn’t change really our approach in terms of what our plans are.” On if he thinks the Draft related trades around the NFL allows a different caliber of player to be available for the Lions to select: “No, I don’t think it really changes. It’s still the same, it’s the same set of guys that are still in that – what I talked about before when you’re picking in the top 10, you have to know all those players that are deserving of that high of selection. So, it doesn’t change that approach in terms of the players that we’ve been discussing and may be there or may not be there.” On why he decided to not make New York Giants WR Kenny Golladay a player to build around for the future: “Well, you know with Kenny, I always stated that (he’s) a very, very talented receiver, but we pretty much knew that – as with pretty much every year in terms of free agency and the Draft, that it’s relatively deep in both spots. It was a few different factors that went into it, but at the end of the day it was just making the right decision for the Lions, both not only short term, but more importantly long term. So, that was a decision that we came to. Wish Kenny nothing but the best in New York and was happy to see that he got a good deal.” On if character concerns would eliminate a player on his draft board: “I always say when it comes to character concerns, it’s always case by case. It’s stuff I would say that gathering character is one of the hardest things when it comes from an evaluation. The talent aspect, that’s probably the easiest part, but when you’ve got human beings evaluating other human beings’ intangibles, there’s a lot that goes into it. So, what you might hear about on the surface, or what you might read about may not really be the absolute truth and even with myself, and our personnel department, as we dig into these guys sometimes on the surface it may seem like, ‘Man, I don’t know.’ But then you start getting deeper, and deeper, and deeper and then you kind of see like, ‘You know, actually, it’s not what we initially thought, or there was a lot of different moving parts that may have led to that headline of what the initial concern was.’ So, it definitely plays a part, but we just take them all case by case.” On his process so far of identifying and deciding to add wide receivers with speed to the roster: “Yeah, that’s a great question. So, going into it, obviously, you want to get faster. That’s across the board. Obviously, knew that the receiver group in general was thin when we first started this process. So, as we’re kind of adding, it’s like, let’s just add speed. And it’s not just looking for guys that just have speed and that’s it, but you know, pretty much all the guys that we acquire, starting with Tyrell (Williams) – yes, he does have speed. That’s an added benefit, but he’s also long. He can adjust very, very well. He has aggressive hands. He attacks the football out of the air and then plus, he’s got the speed to stretch it deep, obviously. And then even with the most recent with (Damion) Ratley, John Dorsey had him in Cleveland. When he became available, Dorsey and I spoke about it. He was another good add in terms of we had brought him in and had a slight little bit of a workout and was able to show that he still has his speed, and so, he was a good piece to add. Even with Breshad (Perriman), a great story on Breshad, right. On Perriman, when he came out in the Draft, he didn’t run his 40 at the Combine for whatever reason. I can’t remember. He was like a medical exclusion. And so, we all were at the pro day, and basically all to see him. It was like pretty much the whole league, all of these head coaches and GM’s and everybody. So, Perriman runs and for some reason he ran last after everybody. So, he gets down and you’re supposed to usually hold it for like a three count, but he goes and as soon as he puts his hand on the line, he just jumps and goes. And usually everybody stops the guy, everybody is like, ‘Woe, woe, woe, woe,’ but nobody stopped him because I guess everybody was kind of like nervous and was like, ‘Oh, man, this is the guy we kind of came down to see.’ And so, he’s hauling ass down there and you can feel the speed and he crossed it, but because he quick started, everybody had the clock, and everybody had like 4.1-something because he quick started. So, everybody had like 4.17, 4.15, and we were like, ‘Holy smokes.’ But then we knew that he quick started, but Breshad heard about those 4.1’s, and so once he heard about it, it was just like we tried to get him to run another one and he was like, ‘No, that’s it. I’m not going to run another one,’ which I really couldn’t blame him, but eventually we kind of talked him into running another one, and he did, and got down and sure enough, you know, it was a legitimate 4.25. Probably the fastest guy his size that I’ve seen running a 40, but just another element of him being able to take the top off the defense and have that element. And then with Jared (Goff), I do believe that will help Jared. I’m sure Jared won’t have any frowns about having this much speed in the receiver room. Definitely, I believe in Jared, with his ability on the deep ball, and he has showcased it. His explosive plays in the past four years, explosive passes have been up there, so I think it’ll be a good combination.” On if he had any discussions about a sign and trade with former Lions WR Kenny Golladay and why that does not happen frequently in the NFL compared to the NBA: “Yeah, we did discuss it. We did discuss it and we mulled over it. Guys, I wasn’t joking when I said he was at the forefront of my mind throughout the whole process. We did discuss those options. There is some difficulty in terms of forecasting that’s involved, so that’s kind of why you probably may see it more prevalent in the NBA versus the NFL, but it is possible. You can do it, but again with how the market was shaping out with the depth both in free agency and the Draft, then we just felt to go the route of just not tagging him.” On if he received any phone calls this past Friday on teams moving up to the No. 7 pick in the Draft: “No, I can’t say that my phone was blowing up, but obviously have had discussions with different teams, but I can’t say just on Friday that my phone was blowing up.” On his sense of urgency to add depth to the secondary versus potentially entering the season with a young group: “The corner position, I can say it with more than just the corner position, it’s a position that we’ll continue to address now (and) throughout the entire process, up into the Draft, and even after the Draft if need be. It’s definitely a position that is not going to be overlooked or ignored. It is a young group that we have now. I really like the group that we have in terms of the youth and the upside. The coaching staff that we have on board, starting with Aubrey Pleasant, Aaron Glenn, I do think that those guys will help those young kids tremendously and their development, but that is a position that we’ll continue to look to address now and through the Draft.” On if he feels they have accomplished what he is aiming for so far with player personalities and the pressure he faces to have success with roster acquisitions and drafting for the first time: “First, definitely, to get it right, that is the main goal and that is what you are started off with the fanbase. I’ve always said that One Pride deserves the best and deserves the No. 1 product that we can serve. So, it is a service role. So, that is the main goal. I would say we have stuck to a plan that Dan (Campbell) and I had in place and the players that we identified and that we’ve selected, they’ve all been very intentional in terms of having the right makeup and meeting the standards that we’ve been looking for, rather going through a lot of different avenues, rather it’s a player that has grit about them that has a chip on their shoulder, has something to prove. You know, we talked about the speed element at the (wide) receiver room. I mean, stuff like that. So, we’ve been very, very intentional and we’ve stuck to the plan that we’ve had in place and it’s coming together so far pretty nicely, in my opinion, but I can’t say that I’m feeling pressure being that it’s my first year. It’s just good that Dan has been awesome to work with and we have others that have played integral roles with Ray Agnew (Jr.). He’s been huge in his pro personnel background. John Dorsey has been huge in his experience in prior team building and being a GM. You know, even, you look at guys that we’ve added like a Tim Boyle from Green Bay. A lot of credit goes to Lance Newmark, our director of player personnel. He’s a guy that had Tim identified early in the process. So, it’s been a collective effort. It’s been a collaborative approach, but we’re just going to keep sticking to the plan and hopefully we can bring that product that One Pride deserves.” On how he builds a foundation and strategy for being aggressive and gauging interest in trades for the No. 7 overall draft selection: “We do our work that we do and make sure that we can do as much as we can in terms of making sure that we’re aware of what’s behind us, what’s in front of us. Like I was saying earlier about knowing the QB class regardless of your circumstance, that all helps kind of make a better prediction or forecast, but it’s not about the whole intent. I can’t really say any intent at all in terms of making sure that we have value to trade our pick. You know, again, there’s players that we feel really, really good about that you know, staying at where we’re currently are, that we feel comfortable with selecting. So, that’s not the sole focus in terms of that. But you’ve got to just be prepared for everything, and so, we kind of do our work in making sure that we’re best prepared as possible in terms of what may happen for the teams behind us or in front of us.” LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM) March 29, 2021 On if he sees an advantage for recruiting players as a first-time head coach: “I think, look, I think we’ve tried to create a narrative here of what we’re trying to build and what we want to do. Look, they do their homework too. These players do their homework. And so, they’ve got contacts, mutual contacts. They’ve got coaches that know coaches. They’ve got players that have played under those coaches, and so I think just the combination of what we’ve begun to build here, the vibe that I think people are starting to catch up on a little bit here. I think that’s where my staff and myself, I feel like, can kind of gain an advantage a little bit. So, that’s encouraging. That’s what you want. All these guys we’ve signed, salary aside, they’re fired up to be here. It’s a genuine excitement. And look, you can call it – there’s a little bit of a leap of faith on their part. Shoot, we appreciate that. But it kind of tells us that we feel like we’re going in the right direction.” On his evaluation of Florida TE Kyle Pitts and if he plays a different version of tight end than he did: “You tell me. You guys know better than that. You already know that answer. He’s a different bird than what a traditional tight end has been, or certainly has been when I played. Look, he’s one of those guys that’s talented, but there’s a number of guys up there that are talented. You look at the quarterbacks that are up there, you look at the receivers, you look at him, you look at the tackle – there’s a number of guys that you’d be fired up to have one way or another.” On his vision for where OL Halapoulivaati Vaitai will play: “Look, I would say the most obvious answer to that question to start without alluding would be that until we get our eyes on him and see kind of where we feel like he fits the best, it’s kind of hard to just put that in stone. But I will say this, and we’ve talked to him about it; we’re a little intrigued about moving him inside to guard. That does intrigue us. And so, we may, as a starting point, kind of work there and see where we’re at. But we’ve got enough guys on this roster to where – between he and (Tyrell) Crosby and (Matt) Nelson, you kind of let them fight it out a little bit and just see what comes out and who fits best where. Again, that’s tentatively right now, before we’ve done anything else (in) free agency or in the Draft. I would say the thought of moving him inside would intrigue us a little bit.” On the challenges of not having the ordinary time to implement his new system as a first-time head coach this offseason: “Here’s the beauty of it; everybody in the League has to fall under the same rules. That’s the bright side to all of this; we’re all kind of the same in that regard. Yeah, we are new, but I kind of think of it like this too; when all of this was going down last year, we kind of felt like one of the advantages with New Orleans was that he had a veteran group that worked together. Our offense, our defense, special teams, we were schematically the same. There was really nothing new, so we kind of felt like we had an advantage not having an offseason. But yet, I would tell you we got off to a slow start. We were 1-3, had dropped two in a row before I felt like we woke up and got our rhythm a little bit. I’m not that concerned about it, honestly. If there was a concern, it would be strength and conditioning, that part of it, and your guys working together a little bit. But if that’s the case, you give them a plan and you keep tabs on them and make sure they’re staying on top of what they need to do. But listen, we’re not going to use that as an excuse for us. If we can’t start until training camp, then you know what, we’ll be ready to go and we’ll hit the ground running and we’ll get what we need to get out of it and adapt as fast as possible.” On what excites him about the free agency class and what else needs to be done before the Draft: “Golly, there’s a number of areas to be honest with you. I’m really excited about this class, we all are. There again, Brad (Holmes) and I went in with kind of the vision of – everything we’ve said at the beginning is, ‘How do we bring in the guys that can help us as players, but to help us with the culture as well? But also, the right mix of the type of player we bring in.’ And so, these guys have not affected our future, but yet they bring in kind of a tone. They set a tone for us and we feel like they bring the ability to give us competition with what we already have on this roster. I thought it was important that we brought in guys, there again, we somehow have a relationship with or that we know somewhat intimately, because you know what those guys are about. You grade the tape and yeah, they can still do it, they have these, there’s a role that they have. But I do feel like we’ve got the right mix of guys that are dynamic players, we’ve got role players, we’ve got leaders, we’ve got workhorses. I just feel like it’s a good balance of people, and this is what I’m most proud of because I think this is important, I really do; I do think the relationship side of this, when you’ve had coaches that understand who these players are or GM, assistant GM, there’s just a number of guys here – you look at Josh Hill and Alex Anzalone, my relationship and A.G.’s (Aaron Glenn) relationship, that means something. We know what this guy is. Talking about (Michael) Brockers and (Jared) Goff, I mean, the insight that Brad and Ray (Agnew) had was huge. They started, kind of, this process, and they had a hand in it. You look at Tim Boyle – Lance Newmark was the one who really got us going on Tim. Like man, we need to check this guy out. All of these scouts look at him – Ray, Brad – they all knew who he was, but Lance was the one who kind of got us going in that direction to where we really focused our, ‘Let’s look at it, let’s see what we think this guy can become,’ and that’s one of the biggest reasons why he’s here. Damion Ratley, that was John Dorsey. He drafted him, he knew him well. Tyrell Williams, that was Ray Agnew. He kind of was like, ‘Look man, you need to check this guy out. He’s coming off an injury, but this guy’s got some juice. I think we can get him.’ Breshad Perriman, that was Antwaan Randle El. He had him in Tampa (and) knew everything that he was about. Knew what he could do, maybe what he’s not as great at. But those are just a couple of guys that you think of, but man, that’s a team effort. That’s all of us working together, because that was kind of the vision. Where do we find these guys that maybe are a little bit off-the-radar, if you will, but we know they’ve got some juice and they can play, and they can help us. Man, I’m fired up about those guys. Then you talk about Jamaal Williams. I mean, the fact that Jamaal, A, he’s in this division. We know him well. But we get to play Green Bay twice and the energy and the style of play that he brings, man, he energizes your offense. He energizes your team. That was important for us, that was important for me. I think you’ve got to have a halfback that can energize your offense. We love (D’Andre) Swift. We think Swift’s going to grow into something pretty special, but you’ve got to have another back. This guy will bring an element that we need, you know? I can go down through this list. I mean, Damion Ratley. He’s another one, I mean, Kalif Raymond – the dual returner that we’ve got. We think he can play some slot; we think he can work outside a little bit. He brings some versatility, but he wants to go to work. I’m probably answering a ton of questions you all were already going to ask, but since I’m rolling here, probably the best thing about all of these guys we’ve signed is I think they’ve all got something to prove. They’ve got a little bit of a chip on their shoulder, whether it’s ‘I’m coming off an injury’ or ‘they were trying to reduce my salary’ or ‘I’m a guy that they didn’t want anymore’ or ‘I’m a guy they think is washed up.’ All these guys have something to prove and man, so do we. I mean, Brad’s got something to prove, I’ve got something to prove. My staff has something to prove. I mean, everything we’ve kind of done – Sheila’s (Hamp) got something to prove – has been a little bit unorthodox, I guess you could call it. But that’s a good thing, man. We want hungry people here that want to be there, they all wanted to be here and wanted to win.” On what else he hopes to get done in free agency ahead of the Draft: “Doesn’t mean there’s not things that we’re not going to look at or want to do, but I don’t think we’re in any hurry to do anything before the Draft.” On what his pitch has been to new players acquired in free agency: “I think, to answer that question the way it’s presented, it’s an opportunity. It’s opportunity. Everybody understands where the salary cap’s at right now. And so, look, if you’re a guy who is looking for a one-year deal anyway and then see what happens next year, I mean, this is as good a place as any, just the way we’re set up and where we’re trying to go and the depth of our roster. And so, I think it’s been presented just like that. I mean, we’ve told everybody straight up – you come in here and you compete, you know? You compete, you win a job, then you start. If you start and you play pretty well, you’re probably taking even more reps than you would have. And then that production at the end of the year, nothing says we don’t re-sign you. Or, you know what? Kudos to you, man, somebody’s going to pay you a lot of money and you move on and we wish you well. But it gives us options, so we haven’t promised anybody anything. It’s opportunity.” On if he feels pressure to get things right in his first season: “Yeah, I mean, we don’t look at this year as – we don’t feel like we’ve got a free pass, now. Yeah, there’s pressure. But that pressure’s what drives you. That’s why we are in this business. That’s why I’m in this business. I mean, we’re one of 32 teams. These are some of the greatest athletes that there are on the Earth, man. This is one of the greatest games that you can imagine. And so, look, I’m one of 32 sitting in this seat, and so my job is to figure out how can we win with what we add on this roster right now? Or what’s here or whatever Brad (Holmes) comes up with, us collectively. That’s my job, that’s what I’m charged with. And I accept that. You know, I’m competitive, we’re all competitive. So yeah, there is pressure and that pressure drives me. It drives our staff, it drives everybody. I mean, we’re not going into this thing to say, ‘Well, we’re a little deficient in this area.’ No, man, we’re going to add what we think we can to be competitive and then our job is to find a way to win games. And more importantly, look, winning is the result all of it, but we have to go in and think – We have to be better Week 1 to Week 2, Week 2 to Week 3. By the time you hit Week 16, we need to be a much-improved team. And you’d like to think that always equates into wins, but the most thing is to improve and to let the process take care of itself.” On the linebacker corps: “I like what we’ve got going on. Jamie (Collins Sr.) is a versatile guy. He really gives us a guy that can do a little bit of everything. I mean, he can cover, he can rush, he can play in the stack, he can be a green dot making all the calls. He does give us versatility in that regard. When you add (Alex) Anzalone to that, we know what he is. He’s an athletic, big, long linebacker that can run. He’s a smart guy, he’s a steady guy. And then just the addition of (Jalen) Reeves-Maybin. Man, that guy, there again, we were excited to get him back because we know what he can do from a level on special teams for us. He’s really a four-quarter guy. He plays hard, he’s smart. You can watch him on tape. I mean, we went back and watched him in 2019 when he played at linebacker quite a bit. So he comes in, there’s no telling. You never know what you have in this player. We haven’t told anybody anything other than an opportunity, so he comes in here and we’ll give him a chance to compete. I mean, Shaun Dion Hamilton, that’s another one that was really claimed off waivers when I got here. I mean, that was done before we even got here. But I think he’s a pleasant surprise to have on this roster. I know he can play special teams, but let him get in there and mix it up. Obviously, we’ve got (Jahlani) Tavai, he’s another one that was a part of this draft class couple of years ago. And so, you know, we’ll see where these guys lay out, how they do. But does that mean we’re done? No, it doesn’t mean we’re done. I’ve said it all along, you’d like to go into this draft and not draft off need. You’d like to draft off best player available or the guy that when you’re sitting there and it’s your pick, man, do we all love this guy? Where does he fit? What’s the role? What’s the vision? But I would say signing Anzalone is a step in the right direction?” On what he liked about LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin’s tape from 2019: “His effort and the fact that he’s a smart player. I would say those two things stood out.” On if he expects there to be any difficulty establishing long-term continuity while he builds the team: “I got you, I know where you’re going with that. You get these one-year guys and you build off of one-year guys and then they’re gone and then what do you do, right? I get that. I think the ultimate vision would be, even at the very least, you bring in these guys – And let’s just say they are all one year, hypothetically. Well, even there, you get the production out of them, but you get this work mentality, this chip on your shoulder, this is how you win, this is how you build things, and they’ve installed that in some of these young players that are already here on this roster and the guys that you’re drafting. I think that at a minimum is what you’re looking for out of these guys because some of those guys you’re around, I just know this is a rookie player, even if they were only there for a year, but man they did things the right way and they helped you, those are lessons you never lose or you never forget. You also have those relationships for the rest of your time, probably the rest of your life. So I just think even at that, man, it just helps set the tone for where you’re trying to go and the way things are supposed to be done. And not only that, they appreciate the way that the way that they’ve been treated even if they do move on. Because they know they were never lied to, they were told exactly what they were thought of, what we thought of them and where they go. That’s all you can ask for. You may not always like to be heard the truth one way or another, but you can always respect the truth.” On how deep he gets involved with the virtual pre-draft process: “Yeah, I think that we honestly try to evaluate these guys off of the tape. Of course you take their character into account. I would say, as it pertains to personally, I try to – Our scouts do a great job, and the coaches, of just kind of digging into who they are and what we think they are. But then we’ve done a number of these Zooms, and so I try to pop on some of these Zooms. I’ve been involved in the draft meetings with Brad and Ray (Agnew) and John (Dorsey) and Lance (Newmark) and those guys, (Dave) Sears. And so, I just try to evenly spread my time through there between those and then popping in on Zooms. And then I’ll call people that I know to try to see if I can dig out any extra on the kid’s character or what he is. So, I would say that I’m certainly active in regards to that. I want to be involved in it and I want to hear the input. If we don’t have – If there are still question marks, then yeah, I try to get involved and see what I can figure out as well. Because, there again, I feel like all of this is about us working together. So if one of us can gain information that maybe somebody else can’t, that’s what we’re trying to do. But as far as evaluating a guy that – Yeah, there’s a little bit of ‘he didn’t play his senior year,’ but yet, man, you’re still grading off the tape. Maybe there’s a tick more projection, but look, I mentioned this, I guess it was last week. I kind of like grading off the tape, you know? The numbers will come out when they come out, but to be able to judge, what is this guy like as a football player? How does he bend? How does he move? Does he have twitch? Does he have explosiveness? What’s his length? Does he have a high motor? Is he a finisher? Man, those things, that stands the test of time. How does the guy look on tape and how is he as a football player?” |
