Dave Birkett Detroit Free Press Published 7:58 AM EDT Aug 16, 2020 Calvin Johnson remains estranged from the only NFL team he played for, but five years into retirement, there is a glimmer of hope for a reunion. Johnson, the Detroit Lions’ all-time leading receiver, told the Free Press in an exclusive podcast Saturday that
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Dave Birkett Detroit Free Press Published 6:00 AM EDT Aug 16, 2020 Disclaimer: Some language in this interview may not be suitable for all audiences. Listen in on Free Press writer Dave Birkett’s exclusive interview with Calvin Johnson, during which the Detroit Lions legend discusses his Hall of Fame candidacy, his frosty — but possibly repairable —
Justin Rogers The Detroit News Published 11:00 PM EDT Aug 15, 2020 While the Detroit Lions represent the Motor City, in the team’s locker room, there’s a growing Rocket City flavor. Perhaps that’s fitting, given the astronomical odds of four players on the roster growing up and playing their high school ball in a six-mile
Dave Birkett Detroit Free Press Published 6:11 PM EDT Aug 15, 2020 Three years after she criticized Colin Kaepernick for kneeling during the national anthem, the wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford said she was wrong. “When Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem, I had strong feelings about it,” Kelly Stafford wrote in an
Justin Rogers The Detroit News Published 6:39 PM EDT Aug 14, 2020 Herb Orvis, a College Football Hall-of-Famer and a first-round pick for the Detroit Lions in 1972, died Friday morning after a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 73. A Michigan native, Orvis was born in Petoskey in 1946 and played his high-school football for Flint Beecher.
Dave Birkett Detroit Free Press Published 5:20 PM EDT Aug 14, 2020 In case they needed another reminder that this is not a normal NFL training camp, Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia gave his players one Thursday. “I said this to the team (Thursday) night, ‘Think about where we would’ve been (tonight) if things hadn’t changed,'”
Dave Birkett Detroit Free Press Published 3:35 PM EDT Aug 14, 2020 In case they needed another reminder that this is not a normal NFL training camp, Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia gave his players one Thursday. “I said this to the team (Thursday) night, ‘Think about where we would’ve been (tonight) if things hadn’t changed,'”
Justin Rogers The Detroit News Published 3:22 PM EDT Aug 14, 2020 The Detroit Lions took a stiff jab from the initial wave of coronavirus testing, but since quarterback Matthew Stafford’s false positive test Aug. 1, the team hasn’t placed another player on the COVID-19 reserve list. Including Stafford, the Lions landed eight players on
Dave Birkett Detroit Free Press Published 11:25 AM EDT Aug 14, 2020 Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford is helping to fund a social justice program for athletes at his alma matter. The University of Georgia said in a news release Friday that Stafford and his wife, Kelly, earmarked $350,000 of a larger donation to the
Justin Rogers The Detroit News Published 11:28 AM EDT Aug 14, 2020 Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford and wife Kelly have a long-established history of philanthropy in the metro Detroit community. Now the couple are partnering with their alma mater, the University of Georgia, to help launch a social justice program for the school’s athletic
Justin Rogers The Detroit News Published 11:44 AM EDT Aug 14, 2020 Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford and wife Kelly have a long-established history of philanthropy in the metro Detroit community. Now the couple are partnering with their alma mater, the University of Georgia, to help launch a social justice program for the school’s athletic
Dave Birkett Detroit Free Press Published 7:39 AM EDT Aug 14, 2020 They were some of the most powerful conversations anyone who sat through them had ever been a part of. As protests against racial inequality and police brutality raged across the country earlier this spring, the Detroit Lions spent in June more than a week
Robert Snell The Detroit News Published 10:27 PM EDT Aug 13, 2020 Detroit — A former Buffalo Bills linebacker was deep in debt, double-crossing drug dealers and hunted by killers before being executed on Detroit’s west side, according to federal prosecutors. Federal court records, search warrant affidavits, security camera footage and witness interviews shed light on
Dave Birkett Detroit Free Press Published 7:43 PM EDT Aug 13, 2020 First game, first play. That’s how long it took Desmond Trufant to learn playing cornerback in the NFL was “a different game” than college. “So we were scrimmaging the Bengals in (joint) practice,” Trufant said Thursday. “I was talking to (Jermaine Gresham), talking
Justin Rogers The Detroit News Published 6:27 PM EDT Aug 13, 2020 Desmond Trufant has walked, not backpedaled, in Jeff Okudah’s shoes. Trufant knows the pressures that come with being a first-round draft pick. He understands the challenges of having to start right away. But while the majority of cornerbacks stumble out the blocks at the start
John Niyo The Detroit News Published 5:31 PM EDT Aug 13, 2020 They’ve spent the last eight months trying to heal — together as a family — so it’s easy to understand why Lions receiver Marvin Jones wouldn’t be eager to dig into a scar that’s still fresh and painful, just because a relative stranger
Justin Rogers The Detroit News Published 3:14 PM EDT Aug 13, 2020 When Detroit Lions wide receiver Kenny Golladay got to the NFL, he hit the ground running. In his 2017 debut, the rookie out of Northern Illinois hauled in a pair of touchdown passes, offering an immediate glimpse into the player he’d develop into
Dave Birkett Detroit Free Press Published 2:21 PM EDT Aug 13, 2020 No one should have to endure what Marvin Jones has gone through the past eight months. Before the coronavirus pandemic brought much of the nation to a halt, and after an ankle injury ended his 2019 season, Jones’ infant son Marlo died unexpectedly
Dave Birkett Detroit Free Press Published 6:00 AM EDT Aug 13, 2020 With last weekend’s Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony postponed until next summer because of the coronavirus pandemic, ESPN decided to look at potential Hall of Famers on every NFL roster and separate them into four groups: The locks (who writer Bill
The Detroit News Published 1:01 PM EDT Aug 12, 2020 It’s possible the Detroit Lions’ group of wide receivers could look a lot different after the 2020 season. Their top three receivers — Kenny Golladay, Marvin Jones and Danny Amendola — all could hit free agency after this season, though it seems Golladay would be a