Lions Believe Building Culture Will Maximize Talent
There hasn't been a lot of excitement generated by the Detroit Lions' free-agent signings up to this point -- and for good reason.
Outside of wide receiver DJ Chark and former New Orleans Saints reserve tight end Garrett Griffin, the Lions haven't signed any free agents from other NFL franchises.
Instead, Detroit general manager Brad Holmes and the team's front office have focused on re-signing their own, including the likes of wide receiver Kalif Raymond and EDGE Charles Harris.
While a bit of peculiar strategy for a team coming off a 3-13-1 campaign and a last-place finish in the NFC North division, it's all a part of Holmes' and Lions head coach Dan Campbell's plan to build a team full of players that are hard working and enjoy playing for each other and with one another.
This is the culture that Holmes and Campbell want to further establish in 2022, after seeing the foundation for it be laid a season ago.
It involved players, like Harris and Raymond, buying into the brand of football preached by the aforementioned duo, and fighting with tenacity and playing until the final whistle each and every single week, even as the losses continued to pile up.
These are the same players that consistently exerted a full amount of energy and effort at the Lions' practice facility in Allen Park, embodying the very culture being instilled by Holmes and Campbell.
During Raymond's media session to announce his new two-year deal in Detroit (worth up to $9.5 million), he referenced how he and his Detroit receiving counterparts didn't just work hard during practice last season. But, they also would put in extra time after practice to catch passes off the JUGS machine.
"For instance, ‘Ra (Amon-Ra St. Brown) caught 200 passes -- 202 to be exact -- (off the JUGS every day). I’m on the JUGS, KhaDarel (Hodge) and Trinity (Benson), you know what I’m saying? They’re after practice, even the days that nobody can see, they’re out catching passes with each other," Raymond told reporters. "One day, I’m out there, I think I had on this actual shirt and jeans, literally. If I remember, it was a little lumberjack shirt. It was about the same color as that one (one that was being worn by The Athletic’s Chris Burke during the press conference). I’m walking out of the facility, and they’re in there, catching passes off the JUGS. I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. What?’ Of course, I’m supposed to be resting, but I’m like, no, if they’re catching passes, I’m about to go in there. So, I (was) literally in casual clothes, out there catching passes with them."
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Raymond believes that heightened degree of competition brought out the best in him and his teammates a year ago, plus that it will do the same for the receivers room this upcoming season.
"When you have guys that play and work like that, when we get to the game, imagine how much different my game was and their game was, because we caught JUGS that day when everybody else was gone," Raymond said. "The more people you have like that in a room, I can only imagine if there’s six, 10, 12 wideouts all doing the same thing after practice. That’s going to grow, because if DJ goes out and catches or 'JRey' (Josh Reynolds) goes out and catches or 'QC' (Quintez Cephus) goes to catch, I’m going to go catch, and we all just got that much better."
Harris, just like Raymond, has bought into the culture being built by Holmes and Campbell in the Motor City.
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The EDGE rusher, who led Detroit with 7.5 sacks a season ago, expressed as much during his press conference Friday to announce his new two-year contract (worth up to $14M) with the organization.
"You want to be part of something that’s being built, rather than something that’s built, you walk in and just make your bed and lay down. You want to be a part of the base. You want to build something brick by brick, and sit back and look at your project," Harris told reporters. "Just me personally, but I think that’s what the desire everyone has, is we want to see this thing come to light, and see Coach Dan and his envisioning, and Brad and his envisioning, see all that come to light. I think that’s what’s creating that loyalty. We know the history of this team, we know the history of this city and we’re tired of it. We’re tired of the negative part of it. We’re trying to bring the positive.”
The roster-building approach that Holmes and Detroit's front office have taken is not unique to the Lions. Many teams aspire to create their own winning culture.
Yet, it was not the one that was largely expected by Detroit fans and a variety of both national and local pundits.
Instead of going out and making a splashy signing or two (i.e. inking safety Marcus Williams and wide receiver Allen Robinson to deals), Holmes & Co. have decided to build from within, relying upon the notion that Harris and Raymond and other returning members of the Lions' 2021 roster will continue to develop (i.e. rookie standouts Penei Sewell and Amon-Ra St. Brown).
The next step in Detroit's roster construction will consist of taking advantage of the nine total draft picks it possesses in this April's NFL Draft (two of which are first-rounders).
One of those picks happens to be the No. 2 overall selection. And, taking either Michigan's Aidan Hutchinson or Oregon's Kayvon Thibodeaux -- two potential generational pass rushers -- with the pick could do wonders for the organization, and ultimately expedite the team's rebuild.
Holmes and Campbell have chosen to build up the Lions' roster this offseason through bringing back and further developing their own players that they deem to be culture fits, while also looking toward the draft to address the team's multitude of needs.
It's not a perfect strategy for constructing a winner, but it's a financially sensible one and one that might just work for the franchise in the long haul.
