July 24, 2023
Opening Statement: “Not much to speak on. That was day one. But for day one, I thought that was good. We – it’s a good starting point and now we’re on. Onto the next one.”
On what he saw from Lions CB Starling Thomas V in the spring that earned him more reps yesterday: “Yeah, Starling, he caught our eye in the spring. Just his movement skills. He’s got some awareness about him. He’s built the right way. There’s some things on special teams that are really intriguing. And so it’s always – for us, that’s kind of the starting point for us is if there’s some intrigued special teams and then you go to the next level of it, like alright, now he’s playing the position. So, we want to get a look at him.”
On re-signing Lions RB Justin Jackson and what he brings back to the running back room: “Yeah, look we’re fired up to have him back. It’s – as you go through spring and you make these moves and you’re looking at the roster, you go through offseason and we’ve kind of always kept in contact with him from afar. But, once the dust clears and you kind of step back, it just made sense. He did a number of things for us last year. He’s a good special teams player. He’s a reliable third back for us, in the run and pass game. I mean there was – it got to the point where he was doing one or two critical things a game to help us, and so it just made sense, both parties, his and ours. And so that’s what he brings. He brings competition back and really, he brings what we feel like is – he’s at least a number three back. And now that’s competition with (Lions RB) Craig (Reynolds) and (Lions RB Jermar) Jefferson and those guys. We’ve talked about just making it more competitive in every room if we can, and it does that.”
On how long it will take Lions WR Denzel Mims to get acclimated to the playbook: “Yeah, it’s tough to say. It’s always tough to say with new players. The good news is, is that he’s not a rookie, so you’d like to believe that he’s got basic concepts of NFL pass-game, in particular some of those things down. We’re probably – we’ll start him out at one position right now and kind of let him get a feel of that before we start moving him. But, there again, it’s early and we’ll see. I wish I could give you a better answer than that, but we’ll see how it goes here.”
On Lions LB Jack Campbell coming into a competitive linebacker room and how he keeps him on the right track: “Yeah, I don’t think keeping him locked in is going to be an issue because he’s kind of wired that way. He – to that point, he is. He can kind of self-diagnose pretty quickly. Anything he doesn’t know, he’s not going to make that mistake again which – that’s a great trait to have, that’s how you develop quickly. But, I would just say this, there again it is early. But from spring to even yesterday, he just slowly improves. And I mean that in a good way. He just steadily gets a little bit better, picks something else up, a little more level of awareness. And that’s good. And then like we said with (Lions LB Derrick) Barnes, Barnes has made big jumps. Here we go. He’s year three and he continues to just get better. And then (Lions LB) Alex (Anzalone) is as steady as he’s been. It’s a good room. And then getting (Lions LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin) Germ back, I mean we go out there in 7-on-7, Germ gets a pick, it ricochets, and he’s a ball guy. He’s like a magnet. So, it’s good to have him back and with special teams. (Lions LB Anthony) Pittman, another guy. He’s been steady for us, does a lot of jobs. It’s a good group. It’s a real good group. I like it. There’s a lot of competition.”
On what Lions LB Malcolm Rodriguez adds to the linebacker room: “And Malcolm as well. Yeah, Malcolm as well. I wasn’t trying to leave him out for sure. Malcolm, I’m only bringing that up because he really didn’t go through spring with us. But I mean he’s back. He’s healthy. He’s getting his reps. And I’ve said this before, that – the nature of that room and the competition that’s in there and knowing the players, I mean I just don’t want to – I wouldn’t be shocked if Rodriguez is starting game one. That wouldn’t shock me. It wouldn’t shock me if (Lions LB Derrick) Barnes does. It wouldn’t shock me if (Lions LB Jack Campbell) the pup does, it wouldn’t shock me if – (Lions LB) Alex (Anzalone) – it’s a good room. So, we’ll let them duke it out and the goods news is they’re all competitive. They don’t sulk, they don’t worry about it, they just go to work.”
On how Lions LB Malcolm Rodriguez can improve: “Yeah, I think he can always – where he can really grow and improve is in the coverage aspect. That will be next level for him, a little bit. And he’s been improving. He improved last year during the season, but that’ll always be just kind of the next step to it and then just always taking care of his body. Always staying on top, I know he does, but the durability and the health and just always being conscious of it. But it’s a good room.”
On his confidence in the backup quarterback spot now that Lions QB Nate Sudfeld has a year with the team under his belt: “Yeah, there again, to your point we got him late. We like Nate though and he really, just to be around him and watch him pick up the playbook, watch him on scout team last year. We never felt like, if we needed him, that it was going to be – here’s what you want to know, that a guy can go in there and at the very least, he’s going to get you in the right play. He can function, he’s not going to panic. Now, is everything going to be perfect right – but you just want to know hey, this isn’t going to be too big for him and he knows the playbook, he’ll get us in the right play and we’ve got to play a certain way and I do believe that with Nate. And I’m talking about – that’s the starting point. And now we get him another year here, we’re in camp, let’s see where he goes. I thought by the end of spring he was doing some really good things, so we’re excited to have him back.”
On the severity of Lions WR Marvin Jones Jr.’s injury now that he is on the NFI list: “Yeah, he just – he had a little back issue right before he came here. It’s nothing major, but we knew we weren’t going to start him out at practice, so we just NFI’d him, but he’s improving and we’re not in any hurry right now to try to get him back. We’ve got three more and then a day off and then we’ll kind of assess it here as it goes, but we’re not worried about it.”
On how much Lions LB Malcolm Rodriguez could help the special teams unit if his role on defense decreases: “A ton, ton. He is, he’s a good special teams player. He’s – he can be really good. He’s – shoot on the coverage units, he’s really a heat-seeking missile. He’s got that about him. And he’s instinctive, aware and he just goes. And he can do other things as well on the return unit. So yeah look, he’s a pretty good player and of course we wanted him there and we still used him on punt team because he was that good for us. But he was playing so much, you’ve just got to be careful that you don’t wear him down, but yeah, it would certainly help us.”
On how his background as a player helps him keep the team level-headed with the ‘hype train’ surrounding the team: “Well, I don’t know about connecting, but when you’ve been under (Former Dallas Cowboys Head Coach) Bill Parcells and (Denver Broncos Head Coach) Sean Payton, and you come into the locker room and there’s mouse traps. There’s literally like 2,000 of them hanging from the ceiling, like I don’t know who does it, or who was doing it for them, but – and there’s cheese all over the floor, somebody has to pick up the real cheese. So, you just, you’ve got to keep it – not that I’ve done that yet, but you’ve got to keep it light and just, let’s be realistic. Look, I said this just like yesterday, we’ve got – listen we have significant goals, man. And we have high standards and we’re going to be better, but I just – we’ve got to be smart and I just don’t ever want the focus to be away from the work and earning everything we’ve gotten because that’s what we’ve built this off of starting in 2021.”
On if Denver Broncos Head Coach Sean Payton or former Dallas Cowboys Head Coach Bill Parcells planted the mouse traps in the locker room when he played under them: “Well Sean did it. Bill did it and then Sean obviously took a portion of that too and it yeah, it’s – needless to say, you stay pretty focused. It was good.”
On if they were considered rats or if they just had to watch out for the mouse traps when there were mouse traps in his locker room as a player: “Oh yeah, yeah, don’t take the cheese. Don’t take the cheese.”
On how the up-downs that he did yesterday felt: “Yeah, listen, it’s over. It’s over. Paid my dues, alright. I’m bought into our defense. I’m glad it’s over. That was the fastest whistle we’ve had in three years and I feel like every year it goes faster. (Lions Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn) AG pushes the tempo on that this year. It was rolling man, oh my God, it was good.”
On when he expects Lions CB Emmanuel Moseley to report to training camp: “Yeah, we’re hoping, there again, hopefully by the end of this week we’ll get him back in.”
On if he misses the HBO cameras in the room: “Do I miss it? No, I’m, we’re good, this is, this is good and there’s a lot in this room too right now, so we’re good. |
