LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET
December 31, 2025
On the who the starting center will be since OL Kingsley Eguakun was poached from the practice squad by the Cleveland Browns: “Yeah, well (Lions OL) Graham (Glasgow) is feeling a lot better.”
On how Browns OL Kingsley Eguakun got away from the Lions practice squad roster after starting the last two games for the Lions: “Well, he liked the opportunity. So, he felt like that was the right thing for him and I wish him well. Love Kingsley – he’s a good dude, works his tail off, has here for a couple of years. And so, wish him the best of luck, man.”
On if Browns OL Kingsley Eguakun was someone they wanted on the 53-man roster: “Yeah. Yeah. Liked Kingsley. He’s done a good job. He’s really – he’s grown.”
On how losing Lions TEs Sam LaPorta and Brock Wright to injury impacted the offense down the stretch: “Yeah, it’s – tight ends are a big part of what we do. They – certainly the run game, but the pass game as well. So, when you lose your top two guys, it becomes a little harder for sure. So, it’s affected us. Now, that being said, it’s good to get (Lions TE Shane) Zylstra back. He’s a pro, he’s a vet, can do a lot of jobs. And then (Lions TE Anthony Firkser) Firk as well. Firkser’s – he’s got some versatility too. So, it’s been good to have those two guys.”
On the logistics of practice squad poaching and if the team has first right of refusal for a player on a practice squad: “Yeah, well I think what it is – is we’re not going to lie to anybody. Like I can’t guarantee a starting spot. We’re not going to do that. I can’t guarantee that. So, they guaranteed it and so it’s all good. It’s good for him.”
On what he hopes Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs takes from this season especially in the last game this week: “Well, he’s like any other player. He’s not done growing and developing. And so, I think so much of it is you’ve always got to look to yourself and what are the little things, the little details that you can improve on personally that can help maybe some of these runs. And then you work off of that. And so, just always hone in on the little things – your first step, your landmarks. And I’ve said this all along, if we can just get he or (Lions RB) David (Montgomery) to bust one of these early – if we can just get a breakout run early – it goes a long way. It really does. And we just haven’t been able to do that. But look, he works, he grinds – both of those backs do. So, we just haven’t been able to do it in a while. We haven’t been able to break out of there. But he’s not done growing, that’s what you love about Gibbs. He’s got so much room to grow in both areas – run and pass. And I feel like that’s where he’s really blossomed is in the pass game and there’s so much left to work with here.”
On how Lions TE Sam LaPorta is recovering: “Yeah, he’s getting better. It wouldn’t have been one of those things where you get in the playoffs, did he have a chance to play. No, it wouldn’t be that. But I feel like next year, that certainly isn’t off the table early in the year. You’d like to believe training camp we’ll get him. But you’re talking about a back (injury). And he’s improving, but yet he’s not completely healed.”
On what long-term questions there are about Lions TE Sam LaPorta’s future now: “Well, I think it’s anytime when you start talking about a neck or a back or some of those things – depending on a knee, what kind of knee it is or what it looks like – those can be concerning just because you don’t know. You don’t know exactly what’s going to come out of that, how do they recover. So, that’s always going to kind of be back there a little bit until either he is fully healed or he’s not quite there. But I’d like to believe he’ll have a lot of time to heal here. He’s rehabbing every day. Certainly, it feels better after the surgery than he did right before, so that’s a positive. Took a lot of stress off that nerve, so we’ll see.”
On if Lions T Taylor Decker will play this weekend: “Yeah, I mean the plan is to get Decker going. He wants to play. I mean he wanted to play last week but he looked like he was about six inches from the grave. It was unfortunate. But barring anything this week, he’ll be ready to go.”
On how the disappointment of this season can fuel growth for him and the coaches going forward: “Well, I think that’s exactly what it does. I think that’s exactly what it does. It – I mean sometimes you’ve got to hit rock bottom before you can work your way back up. And relative to where we were at, this is rock bottom. But as bad as it looks – I said this the other day – it’s not as far away as it may appear. We’ve just got to get a few things back in line here. But it does apply to the coaches, and no different than the players – that’s what you look for. I do as a head coach. How do the coaches respond to what we’re going through here? We’ve got one more and what are we willing to do to try to get this win?”
On how he picked himself up from the disappointment of missing the playoffs in 2021 and 2022 and how he used those experiences to become a better coach: “Well, I mean it’s – look, for me failure, it’s easy to – it’s very good motivation. You either go one of two ways. I mean you either just go down in the dumps and you sit in the dirty diaper for awhile – you guys that got kids – and you just lay there, you just sit there and it’s miserable. Or you change your diaper and you get the hell up and you go. And so, the motivation is respect. You don’t want to go through what you went through again and you’ll do whatever it takes to not let it happen again. Whatever it takes or you’ll die trying, relative to what we go through in this League.”
On if he got a better sense of all of the things that Lions QB Jared Goff had to deal with the loss of key offensive players when he took over play-calling duties: “Well, anytime – to be in that position with him, you really learn a lot about each other. And we’ve known a lot about each other. It’s not the first time we’ve done this – but you do. And I do know this, every time you lose somebody, more pressure gets applied to him. And – right, wrong or indifferent – I put more on him. I put more on him and it can become hard. Now, he’ll always embrace all of it, ‘Give me every bit of it. I can handle it. I can give it to these guys. I can do it.’ And so, but it does – we put a lot on the guy. And that’s why I respect him. One of many reasons why I respect him. I mean he’s played at a high level, and he really hasn’t had everything at his disposal. We just kind of – you lose a player here or there and you lose them in different areas, but he’s handled it like a champ.”
On what he liked about play-calling this season and what the challenges were: “I’m not going to get into all of that right now. That’s not the time. If you want to ask me next week, then I’ll tell you. I’m not going to get into that until the week after or whatever.”
LIONS QB JARED GOFF QUOTE SHEET
December 31, 2025
On why it is important for him to play in the game this week: “Yeah, it’s what I’m paid to do. I’m the quarterback of this team and paid to play on Sundays and do my job and do it to the best of my ability. It doesn’t matter what our record is, what the situation may be, that’s my job. And it’s about – I think (Lions Head Coach) Dan (Campbell) talked to us about this earlier – it’s about respect. Not only respect for yourself within your own team, but respect around the League. We want to go out there and put something good on tape, gain a little bit of respect back from probably some of the loss of respect we’ve earned this year.”
On what the team can learn from experiencing this season as a whole: “Yeah, learn a ton. I think I could give you a better answer maybe a week from now, but you’ll go back and look at it and see where you could have done things better. And you’re constantly evaluating yourself but I think every guy looks internally at themselves and how can they improve. I know I certainly will and what ways can I be better and help our team.”
On if the disappointment from this season diminishes the areas of growth that he has seen from the team: “I don’t know. I mean that’s up to you guys. I think there has been good growth by certain players, certainly some of the young players. But I don’t know if we’re going to take a moral victory in that. We don’t want to be in the certain position that we are.”
On how valuable he thinks Lions WR Isaac TeSlaa’s production in the last few weeks can be for him as a launching point going into his second season: “Very. Yeah, he really has turned it on this last quarter/third of the season. And it’s starting to – things are starting to click for him, it’s all starting to fall into place a little bit and it’s been good. It’s been really good to see and hopefully it carries onto the next year.”
On how good the trio of Lions WRs Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams and Isaac TeSlaa can be next year: “Yeah, they can be as good as anyone. They’re a bunch of hard working guys who are about the right stuff and love the game and do everything right. And so, the sky’s the limit.”
On how he thinks he weathered the adversity of this season: “I don’t – hopefully well. Yeah, there have been challenges, but it’s part of the job. It is. It’s – there are ups and downs through the season. We would’ve liked to get on a little bit of a stretch there at some point in the last eight games and be able to string a few together and get out of that adversity. But we weren’t able to and it sucks and I wish there was a magic potion that would have fixed everything, but there isn’t. It’s about work and doing the right thing over and over and being on the same page and communication and execution, the whole thing. So, yeah. I don’t know. How have I weathered it? Hopefully well but I don’t know.”
On what the vibe was like in the building and at practice today: “Yeah, it was good. It was good. We all know the situation. We all know where we’re at. And we’ve got a lot of prideful players and coaches and staff and the whole thing who want to – like I said – I think gain a little bit of respect back and go out there this Sunday and just find a way to win.”
On what this year has taught him about himself: “Yeah, I think the margin is just so thin. And I think we’re seeing that now. Last year, not to make a comparison, but we were on the right side of a lot of these games that were close and come out with 15 wins and you have a great regular season. And then this year you’re on the wrong side of a lot of these and – for our own doing, it’s not because of anything else. But that margin is so thin and I think it gives you a really good reminder of the work and the execution, communication, that whole thing, putting in all the time and hours in the intentional way to be able to be on the right side of those margins. And that’s our whole League, everyone’s trying to do it and you’ve got to find a way to do it a little more than the other guy.”
On why he still trusts that Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager Brad Holmes and Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell can turn things around: “I mean I trust those guys immensely. I mean they’re the ones who trusted me and I trust the hell out of them. I know they’re going to get things right. And I know they are as urgent and intentional about putting us in a better position and getting us in a spot where we can win more games next year as anybody.”
