Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Calvin Johnson on whether he’ll mention Detroit Lions in HOF speech Former Detroit Lions star Calvin Johnson talks July 23, 2021 about his upcoming Hall of Fame ceremony and if there are hard feelings with the team. Pro Football Hall of Fame Jeff Okudah has always been a smart player. He’s

Duce Staley  doesn’t want to hear about the Detroit Lions’ historical struggles running the football. The Lions assistant head coach and running backs coach is too focused on the present to care. “It’s very easy for me to go back in history and find the bad things,” Staley said Monday. “It’s very easy to do

Quinton Dunbar missed his second straight practice Monday for undisclosed reasons, and I’m starting to wonder where he fits into the Detroit Lions‘ young secondary. Dunbar seemed ticketed for backup duties at outside cornerback behind Jeff Okudah and Amani Oruwariye when he signed a one-year minimum-salary benefit deal this offseason. He played well in Washington

Matthew Stafford feels he let down Detroit Lions fans. In a wide-ranging conversation with NBC Sports’ Peter King, the Los Angeles Rams quarterback was asked if “any part of you feel you let the franchise down there?” “Definitely,” Stafford said in the Monday morning column. “I sit there and go, ‘Man, I wish I could’ve gotten it done.’ I

The Detroit Lions made two moves to bolster their depleted offensive line Monday, signing free agent center Evan Boehm and activating guard Evan Heim from the reserve/COVID-19 list. “If your name’s Evan there’s a good chance you can play offensive line for us,” Lions coach Dan Campbell joked before the start of practice Monday. Boehm,

He entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent, scraped and clawed his way up from the practice squad to make his first roster, and spent four years pining for more playing time with the Green Bay Packers, so Geronimo Allison knew how dangerous the decision to sit out the 2020 season could be to

Tracy Walker ran up to Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell before practice Friday and said he was going to intercept a pass in practice and bring it to him as a gift. When Walker didn’t get his pick, Campbell had a surprise waiting for him at that night’s team meeting. “He goes, ‘I promise. It’s

After a season of missing everything, Jerry Evans didn’t want to miss one thing on Saturday. So he woke up at 3 a.m. and got ready to attend Detroit Lions training camp. It was the first practice open to season-ticket holders this year; it also marked the first time fans in large numbers could watch

How’s this for chemistry between T.J. Hockenson and Jared Goff? As Hockenson was speaking with reporters Saturday about the bond with his new quarterback, Goff walked behind everyone on his way to the locker room — but not before Hockenson spotted him and gave him a shout out. “Hey, JG!” Hockenson said, interrupting his own answer.

Among the thousand of competitors in the Tokyo Olympics, there’s one woman that the Detroit Lions are rooting hard for. Because she’s a part of the family. Melissa Gonzalez, the wife of Lions backup quarterback David Blough, is running the 400-meter hurdles for Colombia. HOW THEY GOT HERE: Melissa Gonzalez, wife of Lions QB, to

David Blough leaned backwards in his chair with his hands on his head, then hunched forward nervously, cranked his neck and slapped the floor to let some of his tension out. As Blough’s wife, Melissa Gonzalez, settled into her starting block for the first of four 400-meter hurdle qualifying heats Friday at the Tokyo Olympics,

Pro tip for the football junkies out there: If you stop by Detroit Lions training camp in the coming weeks, try grabbing a seat next to one of the portable on-field video boards. You’re liable to hear some very insightful conversations. Secondary coach Aubrey Pleasant, defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn and linebacker Jamie Collins had one

He doesn’t have Matthew Stafford’s rocket launcher of a right arm or penchant for squeezing passes through impossible windows, and when he declared “check downs are my friend” Friday, it caused frightening flashbacks of the Jim Bob Cooter years. But a few minutes before Jared Goff praised his running backs’ receiving ability by embracing the check-down, the

Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell shed more light on his team’s emerging running back tandem Friday, saying he envisions D’Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams being a 1-2 punch, similiar to Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram were for the New Orleans Saints years ago. “That’s my vision of this 1-2  punch,” Campbell said. “That’s how I see Jamaal

They won’t be as creative or impossible for the casual fan to decipher as the ones used by many college football teams, but the Detroit Lions will use a similar play card system to help players quickly identify personnel groupings this fall. At Thursday’s training camp practice, I noticed a Lions support staff member holding up

Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell said Friday he still is weighing how much to play his starters and when in the NFL’s new-look preseason. The NFL expanded to a 17-game regular season for the first time this fall and eliminated one of the standard four preseason games. Historically, teams used the third preseason game as

Ex-Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn has a new job. NFL Network reported Friday the Cleveland Browns hired Quinn as senior consultant to their football operations department. Quinn still has two years left on his contract with the Lions, and had been in the running for a front office position with the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier

Taylor Decker could have said nothing. He could have copped out. “I’d rather not get into that right now.” Or simply, “No comment.” Either of these old standbys would have been perfectly reasonable and acceptable answers when the Detroit Lions left tackle was asked Thursday if he had decided to change his mind and get

Show Caption Hide Caption Detroit Pistons take Cade Cunningham No. 1 in 2021 NBA draft The Detroit Pistons drafted Cade Cunningham, the former Oklahoma State star. The Free Press’ Omari Sankofa II and Tyler Davis discuss what’s next. Omari Sankofa II and Tyler J. Davis, Detroit Free Press Being a sports fan in Detroit has

Jeff Okudah ran stride-for-stride down the right sideline with Tyrell Williams in the second-to-last period of practice Thursday, then let out a scream as he knocked a Jared Goff pass harmlessly to the ground. Three plays later, Okudah chased Kalif Raymond across the field following a long gain on a screen and was greeted by