May 23, 2024
Opening Statement: “Alright, let me get this out of the way. (Lions C Frank) Ragnow, (Lions T Taylor) Decker, (Lions TE Sam) LaPorta, (Lions G Kayode Awosika) Yode, (Lions QB Nate) Sudfeld, (Lions RB Jahmyr) Gibbs, (Lions RB Zonovan Knight) Bam, (Lions S) Kerby (Joseph), (Lions DB Brian) Branch, (Lions OLB Marcus) Davenport, (Lions DL DJ) Reader, (Lions DL John) Cominsky, (Lions LB Derrick) Barnes, (Lions CB Emmanuel) Moseley, (Lions CB Terrion) Arnold, (Lions CB Ennis) Rakestraw, (Lions LB Alex) Anzalone – all of those players are either limited, no practice, or out for personal reasons. Then all are, could be PUP or doubtful to probable for the Rams. So, there you go. We got that out of the way. I’ve been dreading that the whole time so now I’m glad we got that done. Day three OTAs, the first two days have been good. I thought yesterday was better than the first day. They’re in good shape all-in-all. We’ll back down just a little bit today just to make sure we are being smart with them, but good work – guys have been working hard. It really has, it’s been a good spring. We are in pajamas and all that, we’re just kind of in the beginning phases of 2024 for football, but man I like where we are at. So that’s what it is.”
On if it is Super Bowl or bust this year: “Yeah, I don’t see bust. I see Super Bowl. I don’t know what the bust is. Here’s what I know, we all – every team ought to have that. Every team ought to be like, ‘Man what are you playing for? You’re playing for a Super Bowl.’ So, we are no different than that. Now we work backwards from there, and so you’ve got to set yourself up no different than last year, certain things you’ve got to do to really make that valid, make that a reality. Ultimately, that’s what we want to do. Now to do that, you better win the division. You’ve got to give yourself the best odds you can. You need to win the division, best seeding you can possibly do. OK, well how do you do that? Well, you’ve got to start with where we are at now, you’ve got to go back to work, you’ve got to do all the little things, which to this point our guys have done. They’ve been here for offseason, they’re grinding, they’re working, we’re in good shape. We’re strong, we’re physical, we’re explosive, and we are just in the beginning of this.”
On Lions DB Brian Branch being seen on a knee scooter this offseason and his status: “He just had a little clean up there. Something that coming out of last year that – thought it might heal, and then it just ended up being, ‘You know we better get this thing done.’ So anyway, that’s where he’s at. That and I think he likes riding a scooter. But we feel like he’s progressing well, we feel like he’ll be ready to go in camp, if not early enough – it’ll be certainly he’ll get enough reps and be ready for the season. That’s how we feel right now.”
On if having multiple young players that are getting opportunity early due to injury allows them to see who fits well: “It does. It’s a good thing, one of the things – getting (Lions CB) Amik (Robertson), playing Amik at some nickel here, obviously we got (Lions CB Carlton) Davis outside, (Lions CB Khalil) Dorsey is outside, those guys. (Lions CB Ennis) Rakestraw and (Lions CB Terrion) Arnold really aren’t getting a lot of reps right now, we’re being smart with both of those guys. Just a couple of things popped up, nothing to panic about. But that’s kind of the beauty of it, especially when they come back. We’ve got – (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes)’s done such a good job on the backend now where we’ve got a lot of competition back there. Then it’s, ‘Man, who can do this?’ And that’s just the beginning of this. Amik at nickel – we know Amik can play outside too, but then what about Rakestraw, Arnold, Dorsey, (Lions CB Kindle) Vildor, and we just have options. So that’s kind of what we are tinkering with a little but right now. It is exciting though. It’s pretty fun right now.”
On if the offseason has been as drama-free and smooth as it could be: “Yeah, everything has progressed nicely here. I felt like it was another good year, another good – you know the process of where we are at going into year four. I thought (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) and his crew – I swear every year, I’m like, ‘How can this get more efficient?’ Because it is so efficient right now, and he does it. It’s unbelievable. He’s a machine. I love the players that we got, free agency obviously, the Draft, the level we’re at here, we’re just in a pretty good place right now. We really are, we’re in a good place. We got our guys signed back, that was big to be able to get (Lions QB Jared) Goff and (Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint and (Lions T Penei) Sewell, those were a priority. It’s been really good for us. It has. We’re sitting in a good place right now.”
On how Lions WR Jameson Williams has looked coming back and what he will look like stepping into a number two role: “There again, we started this thing back in April. You’ve got Phase I for a couple of weeks, then we’ve been on the grass for three weeks in Phase II, which has been routes on air, fundamentals, and individual, and doing all this. We’re two practices in and if you said, ‘Give me one player that is the most improved from that start to finish in that time,’ Jamo would be that guy right now. He is a man on a mission and I’m just going to leave it at that. I’m going to leave it at that.”
On what his early impressions are of Lions CB Terrion Arnold: “No practice for him yet, he’s doing a couple little individual. Just started yesterday, so I can’t even answer that.”
On what he is looking for in Lions QB Hendon Hooker to take the number two quarterback spot: “He needs to take a step up. We need to feel like by the end of camp this guy can run this offense. He’s somebody that we know we can play the game a certain way with him, we know he’s going to be able to process the information, he’s going to get us in the right play, and he’s somebody that we can – he’s going to keep the ship afloat. That’s it. We don’t need him to come in and win a game, you just want to feel like, alright. So obviously, he’s going to need to take another step up. The good news is, especially right now, he’s getting a ton of reps. In the last two days, he’s gotten – he’s really getting all the second and third group because (Lions QB Nate) Sudfeld is limited, and that’s a good thing. So, we are just going to douse him with reps and he’s getting all of this, he’s going to get a ton in training camp, and that’s the best thing he can get right now is reps.”
On if keeping Lions TE Brock Wright will help them with two tight end sets: “It helps because – Brock, here we go man, he’s another one of these guys that – we have a lot of trust in Brock. His professionalism man, he’s smart, he’s tough, he’s got versatility as a blocker, he’s got speed down the middle of the field. To your point, he allows us to do things personnel-wise with (Lions TE Sam) LaPorta in the game – he does a lot of the dirty work. He’s kind of one of those unsung heroes, and you’ve got to have them. You’ve got to have a guy like him. It was big for us to be able to get him back. He does, he just brings more versatility offense. He allows you to be able to play in 12-personnel and do some of those things because of his – not only his mental, but his ability to block and really stretch the field.”
On the biggest factor for players showing him that they have improved especially without pads: “With where we’re at now, for the most part – it is. The coaches are intact. We got (Lions Offensive Coordinator) Ben (Johnson), we got (Lions Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn) AG back, we got (Special Teams Coordinator Dave) Fipp, we got (Lions Assistant Head Coach/Running Backs) Scottie (Montgomery), we got (Linebackers Coach Kelvin Sheppard) Shep, (Lions Offensive Line Coach) Hank (Fraley), we can go across the board here. We’ve got continuity with the staff. We got (Lions QB Jared) Goff, we got (Lions T Penei) Sewell, we got (Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint, we got (Lions T Taylor) Decker, we got (Lions C) Frank (Ragnow) – and then the defense. You got (Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson) Hutch, you got (Lions DL Alim McNeill) Mac – you want to feel like alright, let’s take this to another level. Let’s raise everything. This time of the year it can’t be the physical necessarily or the violent side of the game, but man the mental. Can we grow in situational football, can we really take this to the next step? I talk about this ‘Level 401’ – we need to be playing and thinking in Level 401 now because we have all been together. We’ve got the talent here, we got smart guys, we got competitive guys, and so now, some of these teams that are starting from scratch – now we need to be like, ‘Hey man we’re in year four, we’re all together and we’ve been together.’ That’s what I’m looking for. I want to know even by the end of OTAs, we’ve taken this to another level. You want to know – man this time last year, we’re even crisper than we were last year. We’ve taken it to another notch. Our end-of-game situations, some of these things we’ve done, we made it harder on them than it was last year. We’ve stressed them more, we put a little more pressure on them, and I think ultimately that’s what we are looking for, I am.”
On where specifically Lions WR Jameson Williams has improved: “Everywhere. Everywhere. And we’re not in pads yet. Everywhere.”
On what he has seen from Lions DL Brodric Martin: “He’s improving. There again, it’s hard to say without pads on. Till we get pads on, that O-line, D-line, but I can tell you this, (Lions Run Game Coordinator/Defensive Line Coach) Terrell (Williams), who – I’ve got a lot of confidence in Terrell Williams as our D-Line coach, I think he really is – he’s the best D-Line coach in this League. And if he’s not, then you can argue what place he is. He’s been working with him, a ton of one-on-one, individual. Look the kid wants it, he’s working, and he’s improving. He’s another guy, we’ve just got to get him reps, and training camp is going to be pivotal for him with the pads on.”
On if they will have joint practices this training camp: “Yeah, so the Giants, we will go to the New York Giants. That’ll be the Week 1, Preseason Week 1, we’ll go out there for a couple of days. That’ll be the only one we have this year.”
On if he wanted a second set of joint practices: “Yes. It didn’t work out. I know that – I talked to (Chiefs Head) Coach (Andy) Reid a while back, that’s just not necessarily something that they do. That’s not – and that’s all good. We’ll be here and no problem.”
On if the ‘I know we can’ mentality permeates through the team and if he feels that: “Yeah, I can feel it. You have to believe and think that way. I think we all know what we are capable of here. But more importantly – yeah it does permeate. But it’s also, you can’t just say it and say we’re going to believe and not put the work in. That’s the most important thing. There is a belief, but I think the belief comes from the work that you put in and doing all the little things right and starting back from the ground up and surpassing where you were at. Build from the ground up and now we have to get even further, we’ve got to think a little bit different here. There’s got to be a different level of focus and detail to what we do. That can never be lost. You’ve got to go earn everything again. I mentioned this last year and I’ll say it again, it’s going to take a lot more than it did last year to get to where we were. That’s just the nature of how it goes. But we’re going to be more than capable of doing that. Things have got to go your way, but it does start with you. It starts with those players, starts with the coaches, we’ve got to put the work in.”
On what the benefits are of joint practices: “Yeah, you get something different. You get a different – your O-line, D-line, receivers, DB, the backs, tight ends, everything – you get a whole different – you get used to somebody over about a 10-day period then now you get to go and now this guy runs routes a little but different, his stems are different, the speed’s different, he’s a little more physical, or he’s a little – whatever, I think it sparks the system. It gives you somebody new to see and you adjust and react, so that’s where I think it’s good. Then it breaks up a little bit of the monotony of camp of going against each other. It’s something – it’s just a little fresh.”
On if having no second joint practice changes their approach to playing starters in the preseason: “Yeah, I’m still tinkering with that a little bit. Certainly, we’ll get our work done here however we need to do that whether we are playing in the preseason or we’re getting it done here together during that week with the starters and the guys we’re going to count on. We’ll have a good plan. We’ll have them ready to go.”
On if he worries about anything in particular with the team outside of injuries: “No. I don’t. Injuries you have no control over. You do the best you can with the way you set things up and training is a big part of that, guys taking care of their body. But no, no I don’t. What I worry about is the things we have control of, so I shouldn’t have to worry about it right? We put the work in, nobody gets complacent, there shouldn’t be any entitlement, we’ve got to go back to work and as long as we do that, we’ll be just fine.”
On what his contract extension with the Lions this offseason means to him: “I’m fortunate. To me, those coaches and (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) himself, that crew over there, and those players – that’s because of them. I’m thankful for that, and I’m thankful to be around the people that I’m around. They make me a better coach, there’s no doubt about that. Here we go man, we’re into the next phase.” |
