Pride of Detroit

This past Thursday, Fanatics posted a four-minute video on Twitter showing clips of rookies who attended the Rookie Premiere event in what they call the “Fanatics Locker Room.” On a side wall, a recorded message was played from an NFL veteran player (mostly retired, but some active) that meant a lot to the rookie in…

We here in Detroit have had a long history of… let’s just say “contentious” columnists. In particular, opinion pieces surrounding the Detroit Lions have ranged from reactionary to alarmist to downright stupid. Of course, this franchise has warranted it for decades and decades of losing, but with the team legitimately turning a corner now, the…

The Detroit Lions concluded mandatory minicamp last week, which—for many Lions—means the last team activities before training camp at the end of July. While there is still a week of OTAs left, veterans are not expected to be around. In other words, most of the big observations about this team’s offseason activities are done.

We are nearly there. The thick of the NFL offseason is about to be upon us, with the next major event not until late July, when players report for mandatory training camp. For the Detroit Lions, that means long hours spent at their facility in Allen Park, Michigan. And while there isn’t necessarily anything wrong…

Former Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker is, without question, the Detroit Lions’ most interesting draft pick. Selected in the third round, Hooker’s range of possibilities with the Lions is the largest of any selection made this past April. While he’ll have a slow start to his NFL career—battling through ACL tear recovery and a steep learning…

Marvin Jones Jr. is back home in Detroit after a two-year stint in Jacksonville, but this isn’t the same team he left behind. Far from it. “You step outside, everybody’s talking about (the Lions). There’s definitely a big buzz — a buzz that I haven’t really seen here,” he told Tim Twentyman on the latest…

The Detroit Lions closed out mandatory minicamp on Thursday with a relatively short practice. Based on what we’ve heard from the coaching staff and what we’ve seen all week, the Lions appeared to have gotten through all three practices without major injury—outside of receiver Maurice Alexander sporting a cast for the past two days.

In the latest edition of “what could’ve been” from the offseason news cycle, Mike Tannenbaum, the former executive vice president of football operations for the Miami Dolphins from 2015 to 2018, revealed on the Ross Tucker Podcast just how close Dan Campbell was to becoming the Dolphins full-time head coach after his stint as the…

The Minnesota Vikings have reportedly told running back Dalvin Cook that they intend to release him later this week, according to several news outlets. The release is not yet official—and there’s always a chance Minnesota finds a late trade partner—but one thing is clear: the Dalvin Cook era in Minnesota is over.

It’s clear that when coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes took control of the Detroit Lions over two years ago, they wanted to build around youth—particularly on defense, where the cupboard was bare. They’ve clearly succeeded in that goal, sporting the youngest defensive unit in football last year 2022, and one of the…

I’m going to be honest here. I don’t know more than a handful of Taylor Swift songs by name, but I do know she is one of the bigger performing artists on the planet right now. And this weekend, on Saturday, June 10, she will be performing at Ford Field in front of what is…

Take us back to 2013 and 2014. It feels strange to believe, but once upon a time, the Detroit Lions graced the cover of Madden in back-to-back years. While there of course is a large asterisk with Barry Sanders gracing the cover for the 25th anniversary, it is still no small feat for the Lions…

To be completely honest, it has been an offseason program to forget for Detroit Lions receiver Jameson Williams. Granted, this is the first set of OTAs and minicamp Williams has ever gone through after missing the entire offseason program last year with his ACL injury. Still, he’s dealt with regularly dropped passes and a clear…

For the second time this offseason the Detroit Lions have publicly toyed with the idea of going on the road for training. During the owners meetings in March, team president Rod Wood talked about potentially moving the entire team facility away from Allen Park. And on Tuesday, coach Dan Campbell—after a trip to Grand Rapids…

After the Detroit Lions cleared the field following Tuesday’s opening pracitce of mandatory minicamp, a significant milestone was being made. Rookie quarterback Hendon Hooker, the team’s third-round pick, took the field and started throwing passes to teammates running routes. It’s a significant step in Hooker’s rehabilitation from a torn ACL suffered in November.

Through a month of the Detroit Lions offseason program, without a doubt, the secondary has been the star of the show. While the defense is typically ahead of the offense at this point, it’s not very common that the defensive backfield is this dominant in the offense-favored 7-on-7 sessions. On Tuesday, during red zone drills,…

The Detroit Lions overhauled their secondary this offseason after struggling with depth and consistency the past two years. The Lions opened up the checkbook in free agency, signing Emmanuel Moseley, Cameron Sutton, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson, all prominent free agent defensive backs. They also spent a second-round pick on Brian Branch, the consensus best safety in…

The Detroit Lions opened their 2023 mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, welcoming in the media for the first of three practices this week. For the most part, the Lions roster is healthy as only 10 of their 90 players missed practice entirely, while another four were limited participants. That left a lot of players on the…

Before the Detroit Lions took the field on Tuesday for the first day of mandatory minicamp, coach Dan Campbell warned that there would be a lot of players sitting out during practice. “Oh probably 15-20 guys, maybe 30,” Campbell said through a wry smile. “We’ll find out when we get out there.”

For one reason or another, Jameson Williams has found himself in the sights of many a fan of the Detroit Lions, and now members of the media too. Maybe it was because he brushed off questions about his gambling suspension, or some old fan conspiracy about how he composed himself on draft night; but now…