April 4, 2025 • 32 mins
On this episode of the Twentyman in the Huddle podcast presented by Microsoft, Tim Twentyman sits down with Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes, team president Rod Wood and head coach Dan Campbell in Palm Beach, Florida from the NFL Annual Meetings.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Two teams will meet out in the middle of the
field to say job well done, job better done on
this night by your Detroit Lions. They are still NFC
North champions. Is they defend the division title that they
won last year.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to the twenty in the Huddle podcast. Here at
their breakers in West Palm Beach is the annual league meetings.
And everybody knows the guy sitting next to me Brad Holmes,
the general manager Detroit Lions. But Brett, I want to
start with this. Have you ever seen the movie Moneyball?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Okay, so everybody out there that negotiating window that starts.
I always view it, and I think some people may
be out there too. That scene when Brad Pitt is
trying to trade for ricardover and Cone and he's got
two gms on the line, and he's got a secretary, Collin,
and he's wondering who's this and he's eating the popcorn
trying to wait. You know, I always picture like, that's
(00:51):
what that little when it starts at noon on Monday?
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Is it anything close to that? Or is it? What
is that line?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
It?
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Is this so organized ahead of time? It's not chaotic
because it.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Can be you know, I will say this, it can
be that chaotic. I remember last year, and usually it's
not like early in the day. It's usually like later
on in the evening. But you know, kind of early
in the day, you've kind of already done your planning
and all your scenarios. You kind of went through everything,
at least that's how we do it. So you feel
(01:26):
pretty good from a preparation standpoint. But then look when
that clock strikes, I mean, it's fair game. And so
even what you feel good about and what you think
that you might be able to accomplish, that thing can
flip in a hurry. And you know, you might have
a Plan B that just flew off and you're still
(01:49):
negotiating with Plan A, and then Plant C flies off
and and now it's like, okay, are you sunk costant
to Plan A? And you know, and so so there's
that there were some moments, I know last year when
we were a little bit more.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Active in the external market.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
You know, it kind of gets you know, late afternoon,
early evening and all the way through the night where
you have to be very very disciplined. You have to
be very disciplined, and you have to be willing to
draw a line and walk away if you have to.
But yeah, it it can get pretty aheadache. I don't
know if it's you know, I don't have popcorn. I'm
(02:28):
not a really a big eater guy when those moments
are happening, But yeah, it can get chaotic at times.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
You know.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
My take from free agency and just from the outside
looking in, and you guys obviously added some important external
peaches pieces.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
In DJ Reid and Roy Lopez and Stuart.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
But to me, it was a roster that you thought
could win a championship last year had not half a
dozen guys maybe ended up on injured reserve. It was
a lot of you know, signing back a lot of
your key pieces that was important. You know those guys, right, Brad,
they fit the culture already. But you did go out
and get some some pieces. Is that maybe an accurate
statement that you really loved.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
The pieces you had to the roster.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
You thought it was championship You needed to supplement a
little bit, which did ye, But it was you've really
felt good about that roster last Oh.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, no, we really did. And look, I just want
to be clear about the the because the term we
know the guys.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
That's not the only like when when you say you
know a guy, yeah, you know their name and their
birth date, and you know where they're from, where they
went to high school. But when we say you know,
like you know what kind of guy they are in
the locker room, you know what kind of teammate they are,
you know what their reliability factor is, you know how
they are when adversity comes in. You know how they're
(03:42):
going to respond to adversity, and what their work ethic is,
and like, you know that's that's all those components come
into I know this guy, you know you don't. You
might not always have those details on those external guys,
but you hope that you can find out enough. Maybe
it's you know, through when they came out in college,
(04:05):
or there might be a coach that you know might
be on staff that might have been with that player.
So you try to get as much you can, but
always say about a player's football character often shows on
film as well, and you know that'd be a case
like a DJ Reid, you know his intangibles speak on tape.
(04:26):
A Stewart like from Indy, like his intangibles speak on tape,
and so that's what makes you feel really, really good
good about it. So again, like I was saying earlier,
you know, we didn't come in with the plan of like, well,
let's just bring all of our guys back. But when
you start stacking our own guys versus arrested the league,
it just kind of made sense. And that's important because
(04:48):
you do that in every position too. Absolutely, you have
a board with your guys and you rank them. And
sometimes maybe there's a guy that's out there that's a
little bit, but sometimes it's your guy.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
And if it's the same price point that what you
talked about, those intangible different exactly.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
If it's if it's very close, you know, there's there
might be times where you know you have a guy externally,
you know, stacked right above your own guy, and it's like, ah,
it's close, but we don't really quite know this guy,
you know what I mean. And then it's like the
other guy, the money's close, you know, we'll engage and
(05:24):
kind of see you know, what the financials are. But
again that comfort of it's so close, but we know
what this guy is about, and those are the things
that matter, especially when you run into the adversity. You know,
late in the season. Those components matter than just maybe
that that that small fraction of what this guy's a
(05:46):
tick faster from from the other guy that we don't know,
this guy might be a tick faster. Well, is that
tick faster really worth the unknown? You know, always look
at Fridge. You can be a little bit of of
a haunted house and that in that way, and you
look at the draft. You know, the draft is more
(06:06):
of a safe house because you have all this time
to do all this work on the intangibles and all
that stuff. And look, you know the the haunted house.
You know, you gotta go through it. You gotta pay
your mission, but you got to be disciplined in that
hanted house.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
You made another great analogy I thought earlier when speaking
to some reporters about free agency and some bills that
are coming Doe and you you liken it kind of
the five twenty nine plan. College hits close to my
heart with a junior in high school, so I know
I know where this is going.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Me and my wife been doing that for a minute.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
But I thought it was a great point because you
do have some really great players, and it's a compliment
to you and the front office and the coaching staff.
How you build a great football team as you draft,
you develop, and you resign. Yep, well guess what the
resigning part is a little bit expensive, isn't it. And
so you'd love to go get the best free agent
pass rusher and the best whatever. But you know, bills
are come due, and that's just the part of it. Yeah,
(07:01):
and that's a good problem to happen, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
You know it is.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
And look our early years when we first got here,
we were in a position to be a little bit
more dependent on free agency. We we were still building
a team, so we had to be a little bit
more dependent on free agency. But we had just drafted
these guys, so we weren't worried about the bill coming.
So we had the extra surve plat surplus of financial
(07:26):
you know, of financial resources to spend a little bit more.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Well, now now bills are coming in, and that's when
it comes to the discipline of that's the five two nine,
and that's the mortgage. And it's like, okay, like we
really can't take the vacation that we really want right now,
or we might have to just scale down the vacation
a little bit. But still I was still thrilled of
what we were being that we were able to do
(07:54):
this free agency, because we still did more than I
thought we're gonna be able to do.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
They'll changeover, obviously on Dan staff, but your front office
staff too.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Another problem.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Right when you win, you're gonna lose coaches, You're gonna
lose front office guys. Maybe just talk about the process
and the implementation of some of the new guys, how
they helped benefit of what you thought of kind of
your staff, and then maybe quickly of the coaching staff
as well.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, you know, I'll start with the coaches. Look, I
thought Dan just he just did a phenomenal job of
replenishing like he always does. Obviously, we had more than
what we've ever had to replent this this past year.
That comes along with the success. But I thought Dan
did an amazing job of displaying patience and just making
(08:36):
sure he didn't just rush and all these coaches were
signing different places and all that stuff, and he didn't
panic and just get a guy. You know, fit is
everything for us, and he wanted to make sure that,
you know, we got guys that fit who we are
and what we're about, and just along those lines of fit.
You know, they happened to be really good coaches, you
(08:58):
know at all start with, you know, what is your
ability to teach and develop and you know, lead and
inspire and motivate and uh we we we felt really
good all about all those additions. And then you know,
from a front office standpoint, we've obviously you know, we've
had we've had some losses and some departures there, you know,
(09:21):
going back to you know, Dave Sears I think was
one one of the first big ones, and that was
that was a big one. And then you know, then
you get a Lance Newmark that leaves, and then you know,
you have Mike Martin, you have a Johndikma, you know.
But again, like I said earlier, that that's me and job,
me and Dan's job to make sure that we have
(09:41):
successions playing in place. You know, we we hired Dwayne
Joseph last year from from the Raiders, uh director scouting,
and he's been a huge audition for us, so he
definitely helped fill a lot of the void that we lost.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Speaking of scouting, I'd be remiss if I if we
didn't talk a little bit about it. And I have
to say, Brad, I was really proud of myself at
the combine because you probably know this too. Every year
I try to ask a question about the draft, whether
a position group or something. Every year you turn me down.
I mean, you're the answer is always kind of you know,
I like to keep things close to the best. You know,
(10:19):
we're still you know, we're still analyzed this year.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Something this year.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Let you let me have the defensive line this year,
which I.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
Was so excited about.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
But my question, I'm curious when a position group is
as stacked as that one is, and all indications are it's,
you know, one of the better ones and maybe a decade,
how does that affect strategy at all? And does it
at all? Because let's say you're at the end of
the first round and you know there's a bunch of
d line guys there that you love, but maybe there's
another position group you really love too, and you're like, well,
(10:51):
maybe I get that defensive line guy a little. How
much does that affect your decision making or is it
always just this is my guy. I love this guy.
He's nomber one on my board.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
I'm taking yeah, look, yeah, but no, it's it's it's
a fair question, because that's me and Dan Are. We're
truly about man, let's get the guy that we love.
Like I don't care about the position and all this
and that, you know, I think the only time that
really kind of makes his way into his quarterback obviously
(11:22):
is if you have a franchise quarterback like what we do.
Then obviously if you're in a position to draft one,
you feel good, then okay, maybe that starts to come
into play. But but I'll tell you when it did
come to fruition was our first draft, and you know,
we were in the third round and we thought that
(11:42):
we were going to get a receiver around that time,
and there were some receivers that we liked, but the
defensive line, you know, it was it was getting thin,
and we really liked the Lee McNeil and if we
didn't get them where we got him. You know, although
that we wanted to still add a receiver, you know,
we're like, okay, well let's get a lean here and
(12:04):
then hopefully you know, sat Saint Brown. You know, it's
a risk, it's a risk, but but it was. It
was a larger volume just at at receiver. In general,
a loan it usually is a larger pool. It's one
of the more VOLUMEUS positions in each draft is receiver
and corner. But this year the defensive line depth is
(12:28):
is pretty good.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
So again we'll just see how it how it goes,
but you know, we try not to Yeah, we feel
good about it, but we try not to let that
effect like, you know, well, let's just get a defensive
linement later. Well that's a fascination of the draft. You
can say later, you wait till later, there's none left
(12:50):
because everybody's picked. Yeah, so you know you so you
gotta kind of go by feel. But it's it's it's
all about the preparation.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Speaking of defensive line. And a couple more for you here, Hutch,
how's he doing? How you're liking the rehab and that's that's.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
A nice piece to get back.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Yeah, it's look man, he Yeah. I saw something just
last week of him doing some mobility things that was
very encouraging. And there's a lot of sports science that
goes into those rehab processes, and so you know, his movement, Uh,
(13:26):
his data that that he's putting out right right now
is very very encouraging. Uh at this point, and and
the other thing about you know, a guy like Hutch
is like you know how he's wired. You know how
he's wired, And it makes you sleep good at night
that you know you have a guy that's gonna you
just go maximum, full throttle and really attack, and it
(13:49):
makes you sleep good at night because he's doing Look
are medical and and and and training staff like they
can do all they can, but the player has to
want to really push it and stack hard days. And
you know how that guys make the games. And so
when you have a player like Hutch and with our
you know, great medical staff, you know, it's it's it
(14:11):
makes it a lot more encouraged.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
I find a one from me.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
We are in this beautiful environment here, it's nice and warm,
but any proposals, any of the league business that happens
or does anything jump out to you. I know you
guys issued a couple of proposals here, some with the
illegal contact and defensive holding not to be a first down,
some of the changes to the to playoff format. I'm
just curious, is there anyone that you feel strongly, strongly
(14:34):
about or not really You're just gonna see how Yeah,
we just.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Kind of see you on Tuesday morning. That's always like
the fate, you know. You know, we have a lot
of dialogue back and forth. You know, we we've already
touched a lot of those topics. We talked, we touched
a lot of them yesterday, uh in our session with
all the proposals, and you know, it's always just kind
of the wait and see. You know, you want to
always be able to provide more clarity on all of them,
(14:59):
just to kind of nature case of why you're doing it,
whether it's you know, the ICT or whether it's the
playoff season or the ninety.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
Man roster limit.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
You know, you just want to provide more clarity just
to make sure that the league understands why we're proposing them.
But we just got to see what happens Tuesday morning.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
We will see Brad Holmes general managers. Just right, Lions,
thank you so much for taking the time. Always one
of my favorite ones down here.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Appreciate it, Appreciate them.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Welcome back to the podcast. And I always like this
segment right here because.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
We talked so much about the on field product and
we'll get into that a little bit too, but the
business side of the NFL is so important too, and
obviously here with the team president Rod Would and last
year it was the uniforms and a lot going on there.
What's kind of been the main thing, the big thing
on your plate this offseason as you've kind of prepared
(15:54):
for the players coming back and everything else. I know
there's a lot going on in Allen Parkers that been
in one and the naming rights at Ford Field has
been big too.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Well.
Speaker 6 (16:00):
A couple of things we got done the naming rights
extension with Ford at the field, which is great. We've
got the Final Four coming up in twenty twenty seven.
The deal was going to expire just before that, so
getting it done so we can maximize the benefit for
forward and market. You know, Ford Field is a destination
of the Final Four, especially while March Madness is going on,
it kind of is a great time to do that.
So that's exciting. And then you know with the facility
(16:22):
while the players are away, we always look at a
off season project or two and we're redoing the locker room.
It'll be you know, space age compared to what it
you know was. I'm sure they'll be excited to see it.
Some have been in and checked it out and we
had them sit in the chairs to make sure everybody fits,
everything's good. And then we're also redoing the weight room
and you know, significant expansion of that and bringing in
(16:42):
all new weight equipment. So when they get back, everything
should be done ready to go. Off season program starts
in a couple of weeks and it'll be good to go, you.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Know, and it'll be NFLPA survey is a big thing.
But you guys do your own survey. I know you've
mentioned that before too, and just how important is getting
that that player aspect of those kind of things. And
I don't think a lot of teams maybe take it
as serious as you guys do. But to do your
own kind of survey and have that player input that
seems like an important part of kind of that process.
Speaker 6 (17:08):
We do it right at the end of the year,
before the guys take off, give them a chance to
voice their opinion on what they like, what they don't like,
what we can be doing better, and we take it
very seriously. And really the weight room and the locker
room where the result of that survey. And in addition
to that, we talked to the leadership council and say,
here's four or five things we could do. What are
the two or three that you think have the biggest impact.
(17:29):
Those were the two, locker room being number one. That's
more fun than the weight room.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
Yep.
Speaker 6 (17:34):
The light room's important too, So that was number two.
And you know we have you know in the queue
maybe for next year. The next couple that are also important.
And it's all about making the players, you know, feel
like they're appreciated, their voice is heard, and when they
come to work, you know, it's a good place to
be and helps them get better and helps them want
to stay there longer. All those things are important.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
One other offseason piece of news is you guys have
obviously been in the Germany, Switzerland, Austria market. You guys
are entering Brazil now. Just how excited are you and
kind of what went behind you know, that collaboration with
with with Brazil.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
So we we talked about Brazil a year ago when
we've been on Germany and Canada, we decided to you know,
let's get our you know, toe's wet in those two markets.
First put Brazil on the back burner. Brazil was in
an attractive market. There's a lot of NFL fans down there.
One of our leading business and football analytics guys Brazilian,
so he you know, helps help us interpret what the
(18:29):
hell's going on down there. And you know there's a
lot of connection to Detroit and the auto industry because
of that. It's in our you know, hemisphere, so getting
back and forth, you know, there's been games played in
Brazil that could be you know, in the future for
us down the road. So all those made sense, and
you know, we've we kind of took a back seat
to going into the national market. Let some other teams
(18:49):
go in there figure out what works what doesn't work.
So we've been able to learn from other teams and
you know, hopefully take advantage of that. We're off to
a pretty good start in Germany with a couple of
potential sponsors and Saint Brown's huge popular fan over there.
Ye player over there and you see guys wearing his jersey.
He speaks fluent German. So we'll benefit from you know,
being in Germany with Saint Brown and we'll see how
(19:11):
it all goes.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Speaking of that, when do you expect It's been a
while since we've been overseas with with London, do you
expect that coming soon? You've got an extra home game
in twenty twenty six is.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Is that maybe the expectation. What conversations have you had
with the league on that.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
There's no promises or you know, threats of it, But
I think it's going to be our turn, probably in
twenty six when you have your ninth home game once
every eight years, you have to give up one of
those to play internationally, and we're overdue. And if we
were to go, I have voice an interest in playing
in Germany because of the marketing efforts there and the
Saint Brown connection. So we'll see what happens with that,
(19:45):
but that's a possibility for sure.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
You're probably the perfect person to ask this, But just
how fun is it to be the president of a
team that's wanted, you know, and you look at the
television contracts, you look at some of the secondary ticket
market stuff. I mean, Rob, this team is really, really,
really popular, and how fun is that aspect?
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Because you've seen both.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Sides of it, and it's an underdog story and probably
being on this side of it as a heck of
a lot more fun, isn't it.
Speaker 6 (20:10):
It's certainly a lot more fun, you know. It's it's
great to see the fans, you know, enjoying themselves and
so happy and seeing Lions jerseys and Lions stuff all
over and you know, people yelling go Lions, and you
don't have the Oh my god, I'm phil so sorry
for you. You're Alliance fan. I think we've done a
lot to help, you know, the brand in Detroit and
you know, having the draft there and you know, being
a team that people root for. I love the shirt
(20:33):
that was actually the guys sitting behind me on the
plane on the way down here says I would Detroit
Lions fan before it was cool. And you know, so
that's seeing things like that. Yeah, you know, put a
smile on your face. Everybody's a lot nicer to me.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
I know that.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
But financially, I mean with with some of the television stuff,
I mean I think you were you were talking earlier.
You guys were the number one team on CBS, ABC, Amazon,
ESPN's second on Fox. I mean, there's a real move
of popularity with this football team.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
Why do you think that is?
Speaker 6 (21:01):
I just think, you know, we have, you know, a young,
exciting team. I think people were for an underdog and
we you know, not been good for a long time,
so being in this position is new and exciting. Certainly.
Dan Campbell's a big part of it. You know, I
think he's a coach everybody loves and I know a
lot of fans have said, I'd love to have my
Dan Campbell or why can't we get a Dan Campbell
as a coach. So I think he's a big part
of it. The fact that we score a lot of
(21:21):
points and have some you know, playmakers on offense is exciting.
So all that puts together. And then I think our
fan base has always been rabbid, yeah, and now they're
just getting the benefits of you know, being fans for
a long time and taking it to a whole other
level and bringing in new fans because of all those
things I just mentioned.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
We talked to Brad down here and really it's a
player driven league, right, and he made the analogy of it.
You know, we can't really go on vacation right now
because of all the young players that we've got. It's
compliment to the drafting that he's done. But those bills
come doue, right, And so the focus this offseason on
just keeping your own Why is that such a big
focus for.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
You and Mike and Brad?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
And when you when you sit down and decide the cap,
and and that's the way you guys want to go.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
Well, I mean, everybody says they want to draft well,
they want to develop their own players, and they want
to resign them. Everybody says that's their plan. Yeah, and
then most people don't draft well, you can't develop them,
and then have to sign free agents and they get
headlines this time of the year because they're signing free agents.
We're getting headlines for signing our own guys, and you
(22:22):
know that's not as sexy sometimes. But the plan that
we're pursuing, I think is the plan that everybody talks about, yeah,
which is you draft well, you develop those guys, they
become stars, they become your foundation, You reward them with
the second contract, and you keep drafting well. And you know,
right now we've been benefiting from a lot of stars
that are on rookie contracts. Those bills are starting to
(22:43):
come due, and you know they'll continue to come do
with with Hutch and you know, Gibbs.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
You got branch, Yeah, and it's you.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
Know, and you know, those are stars. They just happen
to be on our team. So you're not going to
win the free agency headlines. But It's a little bit
like trying to win the draft headline. If you draft
the guy that mel Kuiper likes, you might win the night.
But if you draft Juamior Gibbs and number twelve, you
get criticized. Yeah, until he scores twenty touchdowns.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
And you're thinking about signing four years later. Yeah, then
nobody's criticized. Well it obviously, but it's an exciting lash.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Didn't end the way you guys wanted, but you're bringing
back your own players.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
There's a lot of excitement around this team.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Dance on a good job with the coaching staff, obviously,
Brad's getting ready for the draft, and the business side
seems like it's booming. Everything seems to be going really
well right now.
Speaker 6 (23:31):
Done that, that's a fun time to be, you know,
working for the Lions and being a Lion fan. You're
looking forward to the draft. We you know, again, hopefully
we have another good draft we've had. We got a
great coaching staff. You know, we lost a lot of guys.
I was talking to somebody to day, you know, eight
or nine coaches I think we turned over, which I've
never seen anything like that. But we've been backfilling them
with great new additions. Some of what you guys are
(23:51):
just getting to know and the fans are just getting
to know. But we'll be ready when we get ready
to tee it up in the fall.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Means your good football team, Rodwood, Welcome to the twin
Public podcast. Year at the annual league meetings at the
Breakers in Florida, the man next to meeting needs a
little introduction, Dan.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
Campbell, the head coach. How you doing, Dan Good?
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Good?
Speaker 2 (24:13):
So obviously a tough loss to the end of the season.
I'm just curious how long does something like that stick
with you or is it for you just let's get
back to work, turn this thing around.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
I guess what's the motivation after that? What of the
last you.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
Know, a couple of months been like yeah, I mean, well, look,
I think a press conference right after I was, you
know whatever, that was two days after the game. I
guess I don't know when that was a day two
days you know, I was ready to go. And it
doesn't mean you know, you asked one is that it
doesn't go away. That'll always be there, you know, no
(24:45):
different than what happened the year prior. You use that
as motivation, But it's important that it doesn't bury you,
or that you lose confidence or you don't have the
fight anymore, or it's it's always there as a motivation,
you know. And I look, I've still got to up
on my board. I've written it and it'll be there
all year. And it was and it says you failed
own it? And what am I going to do about it?
(25:07):
What are we going to do about it? That's the mindset.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Well, what you guys have began to do about is
build this roster for twenty twenty five. And just from
the outside looking at my biggest takeaway from free agency
is that this was a coaching staff and a front
office that felt like you guys had a team that
could win the championship last year. Obviously the injuries added
up in everything, but you've added some key pieces. But
(25:30):
the big part of it was resigning a lot of
your own guys and running a lot of this back.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
Is that accurate to say that you.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Really felt good about that roster? Injuries are injuries still
going to happen, right, you play through it. But if
you don't have that this was a championship roster in
your mind.
Speaker 5 (25:45):
Yeah, we believe that, you know, we did. I think
what we had built and what would would Brad and
myself have built over the last four years to get
to this point. Is we had a team that was
we had just so good a chance as anybody. We
had the enough talent, we had, the coaching, we had everything. Uh,
and so we did. We felt good about that and uh,
(26:07):
you know, we're we're going to look to improve as
well in the draft and add to this. But that
that's the our goal is every year we've got a
team that that can compete and has a chance to
win every year. That's that's what we're trying to do.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Some of the additions.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Roy Lopez seems like a Dan Campbell guy. He talked
in his press conference, you know, meet and coach. I
think Dan can still play. You know, he joked, he's
a big guy, you know, but how does he fit
Dj Reed Stewart. Maybe just go through a couple of
those first wave guys that how they really fit you.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
Look, they these well they're the way they play speaks
for itself, you know, and and uh, I mean when
when we watch guys, look, I tell the team every year,
I did it again this year, is is Bratton that
we're we will not bring anybody into this team that
we don't believe fits us or fits those guys. Uh
(26:59):
And Man, if you play a certain type of way,
or you're not going to be a certain type of
teammate that plays a certain type of way, and you're
not about the hard stuff, or you don't have a
little bit of a chip on your show, you don't
belong with us. And like Lopez, watch him play, man.
This guy is a he's a dirt bag on the
d line. You know, he plays hard. He's aggressive, he's tough,
he's smart, he's relentless. And then same thing with Reid.
(27:22):
Watch Reid man. This guy's competitive, he's feisty, he gets
in your face. Man. He challenges at the catch point,
he challenges on the perimeter, he tackles. I mean that's us, man.
And you got to be a football player. You got
to be able to do a little bit of everything,
and certainly do the hard work, the stuff that's that's
not always the most glorious. You do that stuff, and
(27:43):
then yeah, you belong here.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
A little bit of turnover on your coaching staff.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
You know, you talk about parcels all the time, Peyton,
that that coaching tree, right, you reference those guys.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
You learn so much from those guys.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
How happy are you for Ben and Aaron to kind
of start you know, their journeys now and opens up
your coaching tree. Not but you probably care about that
as much.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
But no, buts it is that's the cycle, right, I mean,
every year when coaches get head jobs, that's always been
the model, right, It's like, hey, man, we're gonna win here,
and then you know, I know you're here, you're gonna
get promoted or you're gonna get a chance to go
somewhere else, and and then it doesn't always work that way.
And we've been fortunate here. We've done things right for
a while. We've we've been able to win, you know.
(28:22):
And because of that, guys are moving up, you know,
they move up, they move on, and and it's really
how it's supposed to be. It's it's hard, but I
am happy for them. I'm happy for both of those guys.
And uh, you know, I'll have I'll be happy for
Ben other than two times a year.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
Obviously.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Some of the news down here are some of the proposals.
Is there anything you feel passionate about? So I know
you guys submitted a couple of proposals for for the
ownership to take a look at. Is there anyone in
particularly jumps out to you that you'd really like to see.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
Or I mean, I don't know how you know, man,
are we going to down this hill for this? I
don't know if there's necessarily that, you know, certainly the
proposal for the illegal contact defensive holding, you know that.
I feel like that would be nice, because I do
think there's you know, it's it's not I don't feel
(29:09):
like that's equal right now. There's that's not equality and
the penalty itself, you know, But I look, I don't
know if that's gonna make it or not. But I
just know from the number of times that we had
it wasn't so much the penalty itself. It's a fact
that second sixteen, second twelve, second ten, second ten, third
and eight. You're like, man, you know this, this illegal
(29:30):
contact happened six yards down the field and it was
second sixteen. That's I'm a first down seems.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
A little I'm sure a lot of head coaches, probably
not as many offensive Corontine.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
Coach, I got the defensive guys, he's got it. Look
all right, coach, let's finish with this.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
You know, it's obviously such a huge jump in production
first year to second year. How excited are you for
some of this second year guys? Heering obviously got a
lot of playing time and it's not as much because
of the injuries.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
But you know there's a list of guys, you.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Know, Wingo and Vaki in Manu, just those second year guys.
How much of a big jump do you expect from
those guys? How much can they can they help you
obviously be no Terrian, but maybe the other guys that
that didn't see as much. Are you excited about that
group in the in the progression of the jump they
could make.
Speaker 5 (30:12):
Yeah, we are. And I think you make your biggest
jump between year one and year two. You know, most
of the time, it doesn't mean you don't improve every year,
but your biggest jump normally is between those two years
because you learn so much. So yeah, I am looking
forward to those guys. You know. It was you know,
really tarry On played played the most out of those guys,
(30:33):
you know, and then Vaki a ton on special teams,
limited on offense. But but those guys, we also know
there was gonna be a learning curve it would take it.
There's gonna be a little bit of a process with
growth with these guys, with Manu Mahogany, right with Regstraw
(30:53):
and and so yeah, we expect these guys to really
step up and help us in a big way this year,
take big jump.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
How much is that this process? The draft process fun?
Speaker 2 (31:03):
I know it's the league meetings down here, but you guys,
I'm sure have an eye you know, a couple of
weeks coming.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Do you like this this part of it?
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (31:10):
I do this process.
Speaker 5 (31:11):
I do yeah, because you're you are You're you're trying
to find these guys that you fall in love with,
you know, and that you really feel like fit what
you're about and and you know, and you want to
envision them on the football field with the guys around them,
and you want to envision them in the locker room
with those guys. And uh, man, we don't take anybody
with lukewarm On, you know, like you know, he's a
(31:31):
productive player. But it's okay, like man, this because then
if it doesn't work out, you got nobody to be
upset with but yourself. So that that so, yeah, from
that aspect, it's fun to try to find these guys
that you just feel like, man that got belongs here
with us.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Well, it's a fun time. Free agency obviously finishing up.
We'll figure out some some league business here. The draft
is upcoming. Busy time. Thanks for joining me, coach, appreciate
it
Speaker 5 (31:55):
All right, Thank you,
Two teams will meet out in the middle of the
field to say job well done, job better done on
this night by your Detroit Lions. They are still NFC
North champions. Is they defend the division title that they
won last year.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to the twenty in the Huddle podcast. Here at
their breakers in West Palm Beach is the annual league meetings.
And everybody knows the guy sitting next to me Brad Holmes,
the general manager Detroit Lions. But Brett, I want to
start with this. Have you ever seen the movie Moneyball?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Okay, so everybody out there that negotiating window that starts.
I always view it, and I think some people may
be out there too. That scene when Brad Pitt is
trying to trade for ricardover and Cone and he's got
two gms on the line, and he's got a secretary, Collin,
and he's wondering who's this and he's eating the popcorn
trying to wait. You know, I always picture like, that's
(00:51):
what that little when it starts at noon on Monday?
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Is it anything close to that? Or is it? What
is that line?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
It?
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Is this so organized ahead of time? It's not chaotic
because it.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Can be you know, I will say this, it can
be that chaotic. I remember last year, and usually it's
not like early in the day. It's usually like later
on in the evening. But you know, kind of early
in the day, you've kind of already done your planning
and all your scenarios. You kind of went through everything,
at least that's how we do it. So you feel
(01:26):
pretty good from a preparation standpoint. But then look when
that clock strikes, I mean, it's fair game. And so
even what you feel good about and what you think
that you might be able to accomplish, that thing can
flip in a hurry. And you know, you might have
a Plan B that just flew off and you're still
(01:49):
negotiating with Plan A, and then Plant C flies off
and and now it's like, okay, are you sunk costant
to Plan A? And you know, and so so there's
that there were some moments, I know last year when
we were a little bit more.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Active in the external market.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
You know, it kind of gets you know, late afternoon,
early evening and all the way through the night where
you have to be very very disciplined. You have to
be very disciplined, and you have to be willing to
draw a line and walk away if you have to.
But yeah, it it can get pretty aheadache. I don't
know if it's you know, I don't have popcorn. I'm
(02:28):
not a really a big eater guy when those moments
are happening, But yeah, it can get chaotic at times.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
You know.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
My take from free agency and just from the outside
looking in, and you guys obviously added some important external
peaches pieces.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
In DJ Reid and Roy Lopez and Stuart.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
But to me, it was a roster that you thought
could win a championship last year had not half a
dozen guys maybe ended up on injured reserve. It was
a lot of you know, signing back a lot of
your key pieces that was important. You know those guys, right, Brad,
they fit the culture already. But you did go out
and get some some pieces. Is that maybe an accurate
statement that you really loved.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
The pieces you had to the roster.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
You thought it was championship You needed to supplement a
little bit, which did ye, But it was you've really
felt good about that roster last Oh.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, no, we really did. And look, I just want
to be clear about the the because the term we
know the guys.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
That's not the only like when when you say you
know a guy, yeah, you know their name and their
birth date, and you know where they're from, where they
went to high school. But when we say you know,
like you know what kind of guy they are in
the locker room, you know what kind of teammate they are,
you know what their reliability factor is, you know how
they are when adversity comes in. You know how they're
(03:42):
going to respond to adversity, and what their work ethic is,
and like, you know that's that's all those components come
into I know this guy, you know you don't. You
might not always have those details on those external guys,
but you hope that you can find out enough. Maybe
it's you know, through when they came out in college,
(04:05):
or there might be a coach that you know might
be on staff that might have been with that player.
So you try to get as much you can, but
always say about a player's football character often shows on
film as well, and you know that'd be a case
like a DJ Reid, you know his intangibles speak on tape.
(04:26):
A Stewart like from Indy, like his intangibles speak on tape,
and so that's what makes you feel really, really good
good about it. So again, like I was saying earlier,
you know, we didn't come in with the plan of like, well,
let's just bring all of our guys back. But when
you start stacking our own guys versus arrested the league,
it just kind of made sense. And that's important because
(04:48):
you do that in every position too. Absolutely, you have
a board with your guys and you rank them. And
sometimes maybe there's a guy that's out there that's a
little bit, but sometimes it's your guy.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
And if it's the same price point that what you
talked about, those intangible different exactly.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
If it's if it's very close, you know, there's there
might be times where you know you have a guy externally,
you know, stacked right above your own guy, and it's like, ah,
it's close, but we don't really quite know this guy,
you know what I mean. And then it's like the
other guy, the money's close, you know, we'll engage and
(05:24):
kind of see you know, what the financials are. But
again that comfort of it's so close, but we know
what this guy is about, and those are the things
that matter, especially when you run into the adversity. You know,
late in the season. Those components matter than just maybe
that that that small fraction of what this guy's a
(05:46):
tick faster from from the other guy that we don't know,
this guy might be a tick faster. Well, is that
tick faster really worth the unknown? You know, always look
at Fridge. You can be a little bit of of
a haunted house and that in that way, and you
look at the draft. You know, the draft is more
(06:06):
of a safe house because you have all this time
to do all this work on the intangibles and all
that stuff. And look, you know the the haunted house.
You know, you gotta go through it. You gotta pay
your mission, but you got to be disciplined in that
hanted house.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
You made another great analogy I thought earlier when speaking
to some reporters about free agency and some bills that
are coming Doe and you you liken it kind of
the five twenty nine plan. College hits close to my
heart with a junior in high school, so I know
I know where this is going.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Me and my wife been doing that for a minute.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
But I thought it was a great point because you
do have some really great players, and it's a compliment
to you and the front office and the coaching staff.
How you build a great football team as you draft,
you develop, and you resign. Yep, well guess what the
resigning part is a little bit expensive, isn't it. And
so you'd love to go get the best free agent
pass rusher and the best whatever. But you know, bills
are come due, and that's just the part of it. Yeah,
(07:01):
and that's a good problem to happen, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
You know it is.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
And look our early years when we first got here,
we were in a position to be a little bit
more dependent on free agency. We we were still building
a team, so we had to be a little bit
more dependent on free agency. But we had just drafted
these guys, so we weren't worried about the bill coming.
So we had the extra surve plat surplus of financial
(07:26):
you know, of financial resources to spend a little bit more.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Well, now now bills are coming in, and that's when
it comes to the discipline of that's the five two nine,
and that's the mortgage. And it's like, okay, like we
really can't take the vacation that we really want right now,
or we might have to just scale down the vacation
a little bit. But still I was still thrilled of
what we were being that we were able to do
(07:54):
this free agency, because we still did more than I
thought we're gonna be able to do.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
They'll changeover, obviously on Dan staff, but your front office
staff too.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Another problem.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Right when you win, you're gonna lose coaches, You're gonna
lose front office guys. Maybe just talk about the process
and the implementation of some of the new guys, how
they helped benefit of what you thought of kind of
your staff, and then maybe quickly of the coaching staff
as well.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, you know, I'll start with the coaches. Look, I
thought Dan just he just did a phenomenal job of
replenishing like he always does. Obviously, we had more than
what we've ever had to replent this this past year.
That comes along with the success. But I thought Dan
did an amazing job of displaying patience and just making
(08:36):
sure he didn't just rush and all these coaches were
signing different places and all that stuff, and he didn't
panic and just get a guy. You know, fit is
everything for us, and he wanted to make sure that,
you know, we got guys that fit who we are
and what we're about, and just along those lines of fit.
You know, they happened to be really good coaches, you
(08:58):
know at all start with, you know, what is your
ability to teach and develop and you know, lead and
inspire and motivate and uh we we we felt really
good all about all those additions. And then you know,
from a front office standpoint, we've obviously you know, we've
had we've had some losses and some departures there, you know,
(09:21):
going back to you know, Dave Sears I think was
one one of the first big ones, and that was
that was a big one. And then you know, then
you get a Lance Newmark that leaves, and then you know,
you have Mike Martin, you have a Johndikma, you know.
But again, like I said earlier, that that's me and job,
me and Dan's job to make sure that we have
(09:41):
successions playing in place. You know, we we hired Dwayne
Joseph last year from from the Raiders, uh director scouting,
and he's been a huge audition for us, so he
definitely helped fill a lot of the void that we lost.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Speaking of scouting, I'd be remiss if I if we
didn't talk a little bit about it. And I have
to say, Brad, I was really proud of myself at
the combine because you probably know this too. Every year
I try to ask a question about the draft, whether
a position group or something. Every year you turn me down.
I mean, you're the answer is always kind of you know,
I like to keep things close to the best. You know,
(10:19):
we're still you know, we're still analyzed this year.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Something this year.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Let you let me have the defensive line this year,
which I.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
Was so excited about.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
But my question, I'm curious when a position group is
as stacked as that one is, and all indications are it's,
you know, one of the better ones and maybe a decade,
how does that affect strategy at all? And does it
at all? Because let's say you're at the end of
the first round and you know there's a bunch of
d line guys there that you love, but maybe there's
another position group you really love too, and you're like, well,
(10:51):
maybe I get that defensive line guy a little. How
much does that affect your decision making or is it
always just this is my guy. I love this guy.
He's nomber one on my board.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
I'm taking yeah, look, yeah, but no, it's it's it's
a fair question, because that's me and Dan Are. We're
truly about man, let's get the guy that we love.
Like I don't care about the position and all this
and that, you know, I think the only time that
really kind of makes his way into his quarterback obviously
(11:22):
is if you have a franchise quarterback like what we do.
Then obviously if you're in a position to draft one,
you feel good, then okay, maybe that starts to come
into play. But but I'll tell you when it did
come to fruition was our first draft, and you know,
we were in the third round and we thought that
(11:42):
we were going to get a receiver around that time,
and there were some receivers that we liked, but the
defensive line, you know, it was it was getting thin,
and we really liked the Lee McNeil and if we
didn't get them where we got him. You know, although
that we wanted to still add a receiver, you know,
we're like, okay, well let's get a lean here and
(12:04):
then hopefully you know, sat Saint Brown. You know, it's
a risk, it's a risk, but but it was. It
was a larger volume just at at receiver. In general,
a loan it usually is a larger pool. It's one
of the more VOLUMEUS positions in each draft is receiver
and corner. But this year the defensive line depth is
(12:28):
is pretty good.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
So again we'll just see how it how it goes,
but you know, we try not to Yeah, we feel
good about it, but we try not to let that
effect like, you know, well, let's just get a defensive
linement later. Well that's a fascination of the draft. You
can say later, you wait till later, there's none left
(12:50):
because everybody's picked. Yeah, so you know you so you
gotta kind of go by feel. But it's it's it's
all about the preparation.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Speaking of defensive line. And a couple more for you here, Hutch,
how's he doing? How you're liking the rehab and that's that's.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
A nice piece to get back.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Yeah, it's look man, he Yeah. I saw something just
last week of him doing some mobility things that was
very encouraging. And there's a lot of sports science that
goes into those rehab processes, and so you know, his movement, Uh,
(13:26):
his data that that he's putting out right right now
is very very encouraging. Uh at this point, and and
the other thing about you know, a guy like Hutch
is like you know how he's wired. You know how
he's wired, And it makes you sleep good at night
that you know you have a guy that's gonna you
just go maximum, full throttle and really attack, and it
(13:49):
makes you sleep good at night because he's doing Look
are medical and and and and training staff like they
can do all they can, but the player has to
want to really push it and stack hard days. And
you know how that guys make the games. And so
when you have a player like Hutch and with our
you know, great medical staff, you know, it's it's it
(14:11):
makes it a lot more encouraged.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
I find a one from me.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
We are in this beautiful environment here, it's nice and warm,
but any proposals, any of the league business that happens
or does anything jump out to you. I know you
guys issued a couple of proposals here, some with the
illegal contact and defensive holding not to be a first down,
some of the changes to the to playoff format. I'm
just curious, is there anyone that you feel strongly, strongly
(14:34):
about or not really You're just gonna see how Yeah,
we just.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Kind of see you on Tuesday morning. That's always like
the fate, you know. You know, we have a lot
of dialogue back and forth. You know, we we've already
touched a lot of those topics. We talked, we touched
a lot of them yesterday, uh in our session with
all the proposals, and you know, it's always just kind
of the wait and see. You know, you want to
always be able to provide more clarity on all of them,
(14:59):
just to kind of nature case of why you're doing it,
whether it's you know, the ICT or whether it's the
playoff season or the ninety.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
Man roster limit.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
You know, you just want to provide more clarity just
to make sure that the league understands why we're proposing them.
But we just got to see what happens Tuesday morning.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
We will see Brad Holmes general managers. Just right, Lions,
thank you so much for taking the time. Always one
of my favorite ones down here.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Appreciate it, Appreciate them.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Welcome back to the podcast. And I always like this
segment right here because.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
We talked so much about the on field product and
we'll get into that a little bit too, but the
business side of the NFL is so important too, and
obviously here with the team president Rod Would and last
year it was the uniforms and a lot going on there.
What's kind of been the main thing, the big thing
on your plate this offseason as you've kind of prepared
(15:54):
for the players coming back and everything else. I know
there's a lot going on in Allen Parkers that been
in one and the naming rights at Ford Field has
been big too.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Well.
Speaker 6 (16:00):
A couple of things we got done the naming rights
extension with Ford at the field, which is great. We've
got the Final Four coming up in twenty twenty seven.
The deal was going to expire just before that, so
getting it done so we can maximize the benefit for
forward and market. You know, Ford Field is a destination
of the Final Four, especially while March Madness is going on,
it kind of is a great time to do that.
So that's exciting. And then you know with the facility
(16:22):
while the players are away, we always look at a
off season project or two and we're redoing the locker room.
It'll be you know, space age compared to what it
you know was. I'm sure they'll be excited to see it.
Some have been in and checked it out and we
had them sit in the chairs to make sure everybody fits,
everything's good. And then we're also redoing the weight room
and you know, significant expansion of that and bringing in
(16:42):
all new weight equipment. So when they get back, everything
should be done ready to go. Off season program starts
in a couple of weeks and it'll be good to go, you.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Know, and it'll be NFLPA survey is a big thing.
But you guys do your own survey. I know you've
mentioned that before too, and just how important is getting
that that player aspect of those kind of things. And
I don't think a lot of teams maybe take it
as serious as you guys do. But to do your
own kind of survey and have that player input that
seems like an important part of kind of that process.
Speaker 6 (17:08):
We do it right at the end of the year,
before the guys take off, give them a chance to
voice their opinion on what they like, what they don't like,
what we can be doing better, and we take it
very seriously. And really the weight room and the locker
room where the result of that survey. And in addition
to that, we talked to the leadership council and say,
here's four or five things we could do. What are
the two or three that you think have the biggest impact.
(17:29):
Those were the two, locker room being number one. That's
more fun than the weight room.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
Yep.
Speaker 6 (17:34):
The light room's important too, So that was number two.
And you know we have you know in the queue
maybe for next year. The next couple that are also important.
And it's all about making the players, you know, feel
like they're appreciated, their voice is heard, and when they
come to work, you know, it's a good place to
be and helps them get better and helps them want
to stay there longer. All those things are important.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
One other offseason piece of news is you guys have
obviously been in the Germany, Switzerland, Austria market. You guys
are entering Brazil now. Just how excited are you and
kind of what went behind you know, that collaboration with
with with Brazil.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
So we we talked about Brazil a year ago when
we've been on Germany and Canada, we decided to you know,
let's get our you know, toe's wet in those two markets.
First put Brazil on the back burner. Brazil was in
an attractive market. There's a lot of NFL fans down there.
One of our leading business and football analytics guys Brazilian,
so he you know, helps help us interpret what the
(18:29):
hell's going on down there. And you know there's a
lot of connection to Detroit and the auto industry because
of that. It's in our you know, hemisphere, so getting
back and forth, you know, there's been games played in
Brazil that could be you know, in the future for
us down the road. So all those made sense, and
you know, we've we kind of took a back seat
to going into the national market. Let some other teams
(18:49):
go in there figure out what works what doesn't work.
So we've been able to learn from other teams and
you know, hopefully take advantage of that. We're off to
a pretty good start in Germany with a couple of
potential sponsors and Saint Brown's huge popular fan over there.
Ye player over there and you see guys wearing his jersey.
He speaks fluent German. So we'll benefit from you know,
being in Germany with Saint Brown and we'll see how
(19:11):
it all goes.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Speaking of that, when do you expect It's been a
while since we've been overseas with with London, do you
expect that coming soon? You've got an extra home game
in twenty twenty six is.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Is that maybe the expectation. What conversations have you had
with the league on that.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
There's no promises or you know, threats of it, But
I think it's going to be our turn, probably in
twenty six when you have your ninth home game once
every eight years, you have to give up one of
those to play internationally, and we're overdue. And if we
were to go, I have voice an interest in playing
in Germany because of the marketing efforts there and the
Saint Brown connection. So we'll see what happens with that,
(19:45):
but that's a possibility for sure.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
You're probably the perfect person to ask this, But just
how fun is it to be the president of a
team that's wanted, you know, and you look at the
television contracts, you look at some of the secondary ticket
market stuff. I mean, Rob, this team is really, really,
really popular, and how fun is that aspect?
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Because you've seen both.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Sides of it, and it's an underdog story and probably
being on this side of it as a heck of
a lot more fun, isn't it.
Speaker 6 (20:10):
It's certainly a lot more fun, you know. It's it's
great to see the fans, you know, enjoying themselves and
so happy and seeing Lions jerseys and Lions stuff all
over and you know, people yelling go Lions, and you
don't have the Oh my god, I'm phil so sorry
for you. You're Alliance fan. I think we've done a
lot to help, you know, the brand in Detroit and
you know, having the draft there and you know, being
a team that people root for. I love the shirt
(20:33):
that was actually the guys sitting behind me on the
plane on the way down here says I would Detroit
Lions fan before it was cool. And you know, so
that's seeing things like that. Yeah, you know, put a
smile on your face. Everybody's a lot nicer to me.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
I know that.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
But financially, I mean with with some of the television stuff,
I mean I think you were you were talking earlier.
You guys were the number one team on CBS, ABC, Amazon,
ESPN's second on Fox. I mean, there's a real move
of popularity with this football team.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
Why do you think that is?
Speaker 6 (21:01):
I just think, you know, we have, you know, a young,
exciting team. I think people were for an underdog and
we you know, not been good for a long time,
so being in this position is new and exciting. Certainly.
Dan Campbell's a big part of it. You know, I
think he's a coach everybody loves and I know a
lot of fans have said, I'd love to have my
Dan Campbell or why can't we get a Dan Campbell
as a coach. So I think he's a big part
of it. The fact that we score a lot of
(21:21):
points and have some you know, playmakers on offense is exciting.
So all that puts together. And then I think our
fan base has always been rabbid, yeah, and now they're
just getting the benefits of you know, being fans for
a long time and taking it to a whole other
level and bringing in new fans because of all those
things I just mentioned.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
We talked to Brad down here and really it's a
player driven league, right, and he made the analogy of it.
You know, we can't really go on vacation right now
because of all the young players that we've got. It's
compliment to the drafting that he's done. But those bills
come doue, right, And so the focus this offseason on
just keeping your own Why is that such a big
focus for.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
You and Mike and Brad?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
And when you when you sit down and decide the cap,
and and that's the way you guys want to go.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
Well, I mean, everybody says they want to draft well,
they want to develop their own players, and they want
to resign them. Everybody says that's their plan. Yeah, and
then most people don't draft well, you can't develop them,
and then have to sign free agents and they get
headlines this time of the year because they're signing free agents.
We're getting headlines for signing our own guys, and you
(22:22):
know that's not as sexy sometimes. But the plan that
we're pursuing, I think is the plan that everybody talks about, yeah,
which is you draft well, you develop those guys, they
become stars, they become your foundation, You reward them with
the second contract, and you keep drafting well. And you know,
right now we've been benefiting from a lot of stars
that are on rookie contracts. Those bills are starting to
(22:43):
come due, and you know they'll continue to come do
with with Hutch and you know, Gibbs.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
You got branch, Yeah, and it's you.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
Know, and you know, those are stars. They just happen
to be on our team. So you're not going to
win the free agency headlines. But It's a little bit
like trying to win the draft headline. If you draft
the guy that mel Kuiper likes, you might win the night.
But if you draft Juamior Gibbs and number twelve, you
get criticized. Yeah, until he scores twenty touchdowns.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
And you're thinking about signing four years later. Yeah, then
nobody's criticized. Well it obviously, but it's an exciting lash.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Didn't end the way you guys wanted, but you're bringing
back your own players.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
There's a lot of excitement around this team.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Dance on a good job with the coaching staff, obviously,
Brad's getting ready for the draft, and the business side
seems like it's booming. Everything seems to be going really
well right now.
Speaker 6 (23:31):
Done that, that's a fun time to be, you know,
working for the Lions and being a Lion fan. You're
looking forward to the draft. We you know, again, hopefully
we have another good draft we've had. We got a
great coaching staff. You know, we lost a lot of guys.
I was talking to somebody to day, you know, eight
or nine coaches I think we turned over, which I've
never seen anything like that. But we've been backfilling them
with great new additions. Some of what you guys are
(23:51):
just getting to know and the fans are just getting
to know. But we'll be ready when we get ready
to tee it up in the fall.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Means your good football team, Rodwood, Welcome to the twin
Public podcast. Year at the annual league meetings at the
Breakers in Florida, the man next to meeting needs a
little introduction, Dan.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
Campbell, the head coach. How you doing, Dan Good?
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Good?
Speaker 2 (24:13):
So obviously a tough loss to the end of the season.
I'm just curious how long does something like that stick
with you or is it for you just let's get
back to work, turn this thing around.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
I guess what's the motivation after that? What of the
last you.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
Know, a couple of months been like yeah, I mean, well, look,
I think a press conference right after I was, you
know whatever, that was two days after the game. I
guess I don't know when that was a day two
days you know, I was ready to go. And it
doesn't mean you know, you asked one is that it
doesn't go away. That'll always be there, you know, no
(24:45):
different than what happened the year prior. You use that
as motivation, But it's important that it doesn't bury you,
or that you lose confidence or you don't have the
fight anymore, or it's it's always there as a motivation,
you know. And I look, I've still got to up
on my board. I've written it and it'll be there
all year. And it was and it says you failed
own it? And what am I going to do about it?
(25:07):
What are we going to do about it? That's the mindset.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Well, what you guys have began to do about is
build this roster for twenty twenty five. And just from
the outside looking at my biggest takeaway from free agency
is that this was a coaching staff and a front
office that felt like you guys had a team that
could win the championship last year. Obviously the injuries added
up in everything, but you've added some key pieces. But
(25:30):
the big part of it was resigning a lot of
your own guys and running a lot of this back.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
Is that accurate to say that you.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Really felt good about that roster? Injuries are injuries still
going to happen, right, you play through it. But if
you don't have that this was a championship roster in
your mind.
Speaker 5 (25:45):
Yeah, we believe that, you know, we did. I think
what we had built and what would would Brad and
myself have built over the last four years to get
to this point. Is we had a team that was
we had just so good a chance as anybody. We
had the enough talent, we had, the coaching, we had everything. Uh,
and so we did. We felt good about that and uh,
(26:07):
you know, we're we're going to look to improve as
well in the draft and add to this. But that
that's the our goal is every year we've got a
team that that can compete and has a chance to
win every year. That's that's what we're trying to do.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Some of the additions.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Roy Lopez seems like a Dan Campbell guy. He talked
in his press conference, you know, meet and coach. I
think Dan can still play. You know, he joked, he's
a big guy, you know, but how does he fit
Dj Reed Stewart. Maybe just go through a couple of
those first wave guys that how they really fit you.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
Look, they these well they're the way they play speaks
for itself, you know, and and uh, I mean when
when we watch guys, look, I tell the team every year,
I did it again this year, is is Bratton that
we're we will not bring anybody into this team that
we don't believe fits us or fits those guys. Uh
(26:59):
And Man, if you play a certain type of way,
or you're not going to be a certain type of
teammate that plays a certain type of way, and you're
not about the hard stuff, or you don't have a
little bit of a chip on your show, you don't
belong with us. And like Lopez, watch him play, man.
This guy is a he's a dirt bag on the
d line. You know, he plays hard. He's aggressive, he's tough,
he's smart, he's relentless. And then same thing with Reid.
(27:22):
Watch Reid man. This guy's competitive, he's feisty, he gets
in your face. Man. He challenges at the catch point,
he challenges on the perimeter, he tackles. I mean that's us, man.
And you got to be a football player. You got
to be able to do a little bit of everything,
and certainly do the hard work, the stuff that's that's
not always the most glorious. You do that stuff, and
(27:43):
then yeah, you belong here.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
A little bit of turnover on your coaching staff.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
You know, you talk about parcels all the time, Peyton,
that that coaching tree, right, you reference those guys.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
You learn so much from those guys.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
How happy are you for Ben and Aaron to kind
of start you know, their journeys now and opens up
your coaching tree. Not but you probably care about that
as much.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
But no, buts it is that's the cycle, right, I mean,
every year when coaches get head jobs, that's always been
the model, right, It's like, hey, man, we're gonna win here,
and then you know, I know you're here, you're gonna
get promoted or you're gonna get a chance to go
somewhere else, and and then it doesn't always work that way.
And we've been fortunate here. We've done things right for
a while. We've we've been able to win, you know.
(28:22):
And because of that, guys are moving up, you know,
they move up, they move on, and and it's really
how it's supposed to be. It's it's hard, but I
am happy for them. I'm happy for both of those guys.
And uh, you know, I'll have I'll be happy for
Ben other than two times a year.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
Obviously.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Some of the news down here are some of the proposals.
Is there anything you feel passionate about? So I know
you guys submitted a couple of proposals for for the
ownership to take a look at. Is there anyone in
particularly jumps out to you that you'd really like to see.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
Or I mean, I don't know how you know, man,
are we going to down this hill for this? I
don't know if there's necessarily that, you know, certainly the
proposal for the illegal contact defensive holding, you know that.
I feel like that would be nice, because I do
think there's you know, it's it's not I don't feel
(29:09):
like that's equal right now. There's that's not equality and
the penalty itself, you know, But I look, I don't
know if that's gonna make it or not. But I
just know from the number of times that we had
it wasn't so much the penalty itself. It's a fact
that second sixteen, second twelve, second ten, second ten, third
and eight. You're like, man, you know this, this illegal
(29:30):
contact happened six yards down the field and it was
second sixteen. That's I'm a first down seems.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
A little I'm sure a lot of head coaches, probably
not as many offensive Corontine.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
Coach, I got the defensive guys, he's got it. Look
all right, coach, let's finish with this.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
You know, it's obviously such a huge jump in production
first year to second year. How excited are you for
some of this second year guys? Heering obviously got a
lot of playing time and it's not as much because
of the injuries.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
But you know there's a list of guys, you.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Know, Wingo and Vaki in Manu, just those second year guys.
How much of a big jump do you expect from
those guys? How much can they can they help you
obviously be no Terrian, but maybe the other guys that
that didn't see as much. Are you excited about that
group in the in the progression of the jump they
could make.
Speaker 5 (30:12):
Yeah, we are. And I think you make your biggest
jump between year one and year two. You know, most
of the time, it doesn't mean you don't improve every year,
but your biggest jump normally is between those two years
because you learn so much. So yeah, I am looking
forward to those guys. You know. It was you know,
really tarry On played played the most out of those guys,
(30:33):
you know, and then Vaki a ton on special teams,
limited on offense. But but those guys, we also know
there was gonna be a learning curve it would take it.
There's gonna be a little bit of a process with
growth with these guys, with Manu Mahogany, right with Regstraw
(30:53):
and and so yeah, we expect these guys to really
step up and help us in a big way this year,
take big jump.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
How much is that this process? The draft process fun?
Speaker 2 (31:03):
I know it's the league meetings down here, but you guys,
I'm sure have an eye you know, a couple of
weeks coming.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Do you like this this part of it?
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (31:10):
I do this process.
Speaker 5 (31:11):
I do yeah, because you're you are You're you're trying
to find these guys that you fall in love with,
you know, and that you really feel like fit what
you're about and and you know, and you want to
envision them on the football field with the guys around them,
and you want to envision them in the locker room
with those guys. And uh, man, we don't take anybody
with lukewarm On, you know, like you know, he's a
(31:31):
productive player. But it's okay, like man, this because then
if it doesn't work out, you got nobody to be
upset with but yourself. So that that so, yeah, from
that aspect, it's fun to try to find these guys
that you just feel like, man that got belongs here
with us.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Well, it's a fun time. Free agency obviously finishing up.
We'll figure out some some league business here. The draft
is upcoming. Busy time. Thanks for joining me, coach, appreciate
it
Speaker 5 (31:55):
All right, Thank you,
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.