Covering Detroit Lions coordinators’ press conferences has always been a challenge. Aaron Glenn, Dave Fipp and Ben Johnson are all at the podium within 90 minutes of each other, and with it being so late in the week, it’s difficult to comprehensively document every important statement they make.
So this year I’m going to try to just cherry-pick the most interesting, timely and insightful quotes and provide a little context. Here’s what I took away from the first week’s press conferences.
Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn
1. Subject: Aidan Hutchinson
“Hutch had a great offseason. He had a great training camp and now he’s at the point where he has to set his sights on being, if not the best defensive player in this league, then at least one of the best players – which he is, but now it’s time to start thinking of himself as the best player.”
Glenn is setting the bar high for third-year defensive end Aidan Hutchinson. It won’t be easy for Hutchinson to top his 11.5-sack season, which saw him trail only Micah Parsons in PFF pressure ratings during the regular season, but it’s clear Glenn believes Defensive Player of the Year honors are within his grasp.
2. Subject: Marcus Davenport
“Listen, this guy is exactly what we want on defense, especially playing alongside Hutch. He’s violent, he’s physical, he’s an athletic big man who plays the game the right way. So you’re absolutely right – when you have a guy like him who can bull rush and compact the pocket, Hutch and the other guys can go to work.”
Davenport is a player the Lions have thought very highly of since his first practice appearance. Given his injury history, many are understandably skeptical about signing him, but I think Detroit has little doubt that if he stays on the field, he will be a perfect fit for what they do.
3. Subject: Lions Secondary School
“I would say they didn’t play together much. I think we just have damn good players and when you have players like that, it’s up to us as coaches to make sure we put them in positions and train them to communicate at a high level.”
Glenn believes the secondary has improved despite their short time together. It’s an important reminder that it may not look perfect right away, but the potential is sky-high.
Special teams coordinator Dave Fipp
4. Subject: Bates
“I’m really excited about him. He’s one of the most talented players I know at that position. I think all the guys from the other teams watch him warm up in the preseason and think, ‘Oh my God, this guy is incredible.’ So he has tremendous potential.”
5. Bates, continued
“I think we have to be patient with him. A lot of players at that position have made it to the second or third team in the past, like (Raiders K Daniel) Carlson or those guys. And maybe Minnesota shouldn’t have given up on him so quickly and just held on and been patient.”
These two quotes from Fipp about Lions kicker Jake Bates perfectly capture the duality of the exciting young player. His leg strength and overall talent are literally breathtaking at times. But Fipp is also quick to point out that such an inexperienced player will have some initial struggles and it would be wise to give him some leeway. Daniel Carlson is a fascinating example, as he missed three of three kicks with the Vikings, including two in overtime, and was cut from the roster after just two games in his rookie season. He’s been a Raider since then and has converted 89.4% of his kicks – which ranks him sixth among all kickers during that time period (minimum 50 attempts).
It is also worth noting that Fipp noted that they would not let Bates be on the leash so long that all of his kicks would be missed.
“Patience doesn’t mean you miss a million kicks. Patience means you miss a kick here and there, it’s going to happen.”
Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson
6. Subject: Sione Vaki
“Anyone we see active on game day, we find a role on offense. We don’t want to come out of a game and have guys get zero playing time on offense. So if he’s active on game day, we’d definitely like to find a package for him to use, whether it’s some runs or some routes, whatever that is, that would be great.”
On our midweek mailbag show, Erik Schlitt and I discussed whether Sione Vaki would get playing time on offense in Week 1. This quote from Johnson on Vaki seems to indicate that they will try to put together a package for him if Vaki is active – and given his strong ability on special teams, it would be a surprise if he wasn’t.
7. Subject: New additions Allen Robinson and Tim Patrick
“Allen’s arms seem to reach the ground and Tim is the biggest receiver I’ve seen in my time in the NFL. So both guys are definitely an attraction for Jared (Goff) with their big catch radius and we’ll see how far we can take them. I’m really encouraged by what we’ve seen so far.”
Robinson and Patrick are the two newest players on the Lions offense, and Johnson shared his first impressions of both. In addition to the above quote, Johnson also noted how professional both players were, and their ability to quickly read the offense shows how experienced they are and how they prepare properly.
