When a player is selected in the third round of the NFL draft, they are expected to play some sort of role immediately. In the case of Brodric Martin, he has had to wait for his chance to prove himself and that time may be approaching.
After being a healthy scratch in the Lions’ first two games to start the year, the health and performance of others in front of him would seem to point to him playing soon. Instead, Justin Rogers of The Detroit News writes that the plan seems to be to hold steady with Martin.
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Rogers wrote about Martin’s situation while also speaking to the player out of Western Kentucky and stated “There don’t appear to be immediate plans to activate Martin in the near future.”
Martin notedly had a fun, active personality during training camp Rogers wrote but that has seemingly gone away as he continues to earn his keep on a tough Lions roster. Martin hasn’t lost faith in himself or in his belief stating “God has a plan and I’m just following God’s plan, I can complain all day, every day, but if it’s not in God’s will, then it doesn’t matter.”
When asking members of the staff and team about what exactly Martin needs to work on to become a starter in the league for the Lions they mentioned pad level, training his eyes, and mentally being prepared for everything the game throws at him. Position coach John Scott Jr. told Rogers “To his credit, we’ve seen some growth from this guy,” position coach John Scott Jr. said. “He’s continued to come on, like we’ve talked about. But it all starts with that, man, in this league…”
To Martin’s benefit, he remains on the team’s scout team defense for now so he is taking his licks and giving them to the likes of Frank Ragnow and Jonah Jackson. The saying goes iron sharpens iron and for Martin, it could be molding him into a bonafide starter sooner rather than later. He has the style and size that this front office and staff love, look at who is ahead of him on the depth chart. While injuries and performance haven’t pushed him into the limelight yet, it may still happen this season.
Until then, all the staff is doing is building the mental aspect of Martin’s game. According to Martin, “It’s definitely helping me grow mentally,It just builds up my hunger, every time I’m inactive. When I get my chance, you’ll see.”