Lions News

[ghandi]

If the Lions do draft a TE this year, which one of the current three would most likely be cut? Wright, Zylstra, or Mitchell? Im guessing Deese is camp fodder.

[Futureshock]

None. They carry four if available. They may not carry as many OL

[Futureshock]

Me too



Amon-Ra St. Brown: I’m excited to see what Jameson Williams does with a full offseason

Posted by Myles Simmons on April 18, 2023, 12:19 PM EDT

Getty Images

The Lions selected receiver Jameson Williams with the 12th overall pick of last year’s draft knowing that he would miss a substantial portion of his rookie year.

Williams, who tore his ACL while playing for Alabama in the CFP National Championship Game, ended up appearing in six games for Detroit as a rookie. He was on the field for 78 offensive snaps, making one 41-yard touchdown catch. And he also took a carry for 40 yards.

So as Williams enters his second season, there’s plenty of optimism that the receiver will help Detroit significantly in 2023. Fellow Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown kept the hype train going on Tuesday.

Via Eric Woodyard of ESPN, St. Brown told reporters on Tuesday that he recently had an “awesome” workout with Williams in California.

“He looked good,” St. Brown said. “I’m excited to see what he does with a full offseason under his belt.”

The Lions finished No. 4 in yards gained and No. 5 in points scored last season. With a healthy Williams providing a boost, the club should be in the mix for one of the best offensive units once again in 2023.

[jaadam4]

Hell yes

[Futureshock]

Jared Goff: I don’t believe there are any favorites to win anything in April

Posted by Myles Simmons on April 18, 2023, 1:39 PM EDT

Getty Images

After finishing last season on an 8-2 run, the Lions are largely thought of as a team that should be a contender in 2023.

Put another way — external expectations for Detroit in the upcoming season are as high as they’ve been in some time.

But that doesn’t mean the Lions should enter the year with a target on their collective backs, at least according to quarterback Jared Goff.

“I don’t think we have a bullseye. We missed the playoffs, why would we have a bullseye?” Goff said in his Tuesday press conference. “I mean, we’ve played better. We played better last year and have a lot of work to do still. But yeah, we’re a better team. We’ll get teams better shots maybe. But we certainly have done a lot of things that have improved our chances and hopefully can give us a better chance this year.

“I don’t believe there are any favorites to win anything in April. But what do I know? A lot can change from now until August or whatever. We like what we’ve done in the offseason and last year, but plenty of stuff to get better at and work on.”

Goff did admit that the team has a heightened sense of urgency entering the third season of G.M. Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell’s regime. And he’s well aware of the buzz surrounding the team right now.

“You see it up top, just the moves they made in the offseason, it’s slightly more aggressive this year,” Goff said. “This is my third offseason here now, and you can see the aggressiveness in them and it trickles into us. We see everything. We know what’s going on. In a couple weeks, the draft will come and there will be more of that there.

“But the aggressiveness of taking our shot and knowing that we have a team that can compete with anybody and really try to go make some noise this year.”

[Futureshock]

Amen JG!

[whatever_gong82]

1st of 5 articles from the Freep and News today.


No talks on extension between Jared Goff and Lions, but QB open to discussions

Justin Rogers

The Detroit News


Allen Park — A day after Jalen Hurts signed the richest contract in NFL history, at least by average annual value, quarterback Jared Goff acknowledged he has yet to enter negotiations with the Lions on a possible extension.


Technically, there's no rush. Goff has two years remaining on the four-year, $134 million pact he signed with the Los Angeles Rams in 2019. But while his next deal is unlikely to enter the same stratosphere of Hurts' extension, the salary cap isn't going down anytime soon, meaning the cost of getting a new deal in place for Goff will also likely continue to go up.


So it's not unreasonable to think the Lions might explore the possibility shortly after the draft. That was the time frame for Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow, who signed an extension that made him the NFL's highest-paid center in May 2021.


Goff isn't pressing the issue, but he's all ears if the Lions want to open the conversation.


"I mean, of course you'd be open," Goff said Tuesday. "It hasn't been brought to my attention, but yeah, of course open to anything. Not up to me. I'm a player, I don't have to make those decisions. And if I did, I would have made that decision a long time ago: Give me and all my friends all the money in the world. But I just get to play, and if that comes about, that'd be great. But we'll see."


As strange as it might sound, given Goff has cap hits of $31 million and $31.7 million the next two seasons, his deal has become a relative bargain as he's played his way through it. By annual salary, it now ranks 12th among NFL quarterbacks, checking in behind new deals signed by Daniel Jones and Derek Carr this offseason.


"That's how the league goes," Goff said. "Guy gets paid, and then 10 more guys get paid, you're toward the bottom. Hopefully (you sign again), and things go like this. Yeah, hopefully I can play for a long time, play in this league, win games, win championships, and the money and the contract all comes with that. But just enjoying your time in the present, enjoying the people around you and your teammates, is the most important thing. All that will come. And congrats to Jalen."


Goff, 28, is coming off one of the best seasons of his career. In 2022, he completed 65.1% of his passes for 4,438 yards, 29 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. He closed the season riding a franchise-record streak of 329 consecutive passes without a pick.



The Lions still haven't dismissed drafting a quarterback early in the upcoming draft, but they have repeatedly committed to Goff as the team's starter. There's been a greater emphasis on improving the backup situation. Regardless of what the team does, general manager Brad Holmes said it's important to keep Goff informed of the plan, which is something the quarterback has appreciated.

"We’ve had good talks, more toward the end of last season or right after the end of last season," Goff said. "Everything has been clear and open. I’ve got all the trust in the world in Brad and (coach) Dan (Campbell) and everything they do and really excited to see what we do and where we go."


jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @Justin_Rogers

[whatever_gong82]

More money for Jared Goff? There's no hurry for Detroit Lions to make a decision

Dave Birkett

Detroit Free Press


A year ago, the thought of it seemed absurd. But that it came up on Day 2 of the Detroit Lions' formal offseason program Tuesday is a credit to quarterback Jared Goff and how well he played last season.


With the NFL draft days away, and Jalen Hurts a new bazillionaire, the Lions face the legitimate question of whether to extend Goff's current contract this summer.


Goff said Tuesday that, no, he is not aware of any negotiations currently taking place, but, yes, he is open to a new deal if the Lions want to make that type of commitment.


"I mean, of course you’d be open," Goff said. "It hasn’t been brought to my attention, but yeah, of course, open to anything. Not up to me. I’m a player, I don’t get to make those decisions, and if I did I would have made that decision a long time ago. Give me and everyone of my friends all the money in the world. I just get to play and I don’t know, if that comes about that’d be great, but we’ll see."


Goff has two years and roughly $52 million left on an extension he signed with the Los Angeles Rams just before the start of the 2019 season.


Things were going swimmingly for him then. The No. 1 pick of the 2016 draft, Goff was coming off a Super Bowl appearance and considered one of the top young quarterbacks in the game. He soon fell out of favor with Rams coach Sean McVay and 17 months later was shipped to Detroit as part of the Matthew Stafford trade.


With his star considerably dimmed, Goff seemed more like a vehicle for the Lions to acquire two first-round picks at the time of the trade than he did any long-term answer at quarterback. The Rams needed to jettison his massive salary to fit Stafford onto their books, and the Lions had four first-round picks in 2022-23 to find themselves a replacement.


But two years later, after he followed a rough first season in Detroit with a Pro Bowl-worthy Year 2, the narrative around Goff and his now-bargain of a contract have changed. Almost no one expects the Lions to take a quarterback with the sixth pick of the first round next week, though they should have options there when they're on the clock. And if they don't, questions about how permanent their relationship with Goff is will persist into the future.


At the risk of playing both sides of the fence, I would absolutely seek a new contract if I was Goff and his representatives, and I would politely postpone paying my quarterback $45 million or so a year until 2024 if I was the Lions.



Goff had one of the best seasons of his career last year, competing 65.1% of his passes with 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He played close to mistake-free football down the stretch as the Lions won eight of their final 10 games to get into the playoff hunt. In doing so, he solidified himself as a member of the Guys You Can Win With tier of quarterbacks.



continued..

[whatever_gong82]

For both sides of the extension debate, that is the rub.


Goff is a notch below the Guys You Can Win Because Of tier of quarterbacks — reserved for special talents such as Josh Allen, Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes. That means he’s always at risk of regression. Paying players in that group seems necessary; the goal in the NFL is to win, after all, and many of those quarterbacks have had more than a modicum of success. But paying them too early or too much has historically left teams in the worst spot to be in — too competitive to acquire the draft capital necessary to sustain winning, but not quite good enough to win Super Bowls.


Goff could ease some of the fears of a backslide with another strong season this fall, though his detractors probably will need to see how he performs without Ben Johnson calling plays before they come around on his worth.


But waiting a year buys the Lions time and provides them insurance — one tenet of general manager Brad Holmes’ philosophy is not to make a decision until a decision is necessary — though there is the risk of Goff’s price spiking in the next 12 months.


Hurts agreed to a five-year contract reportedly worth $255 million Monday, joining Aaron Rodgers in the exclusive $50-million-a-season club. Burrow, Justin Herbert and perhaps Lamar Jackson will be in that stratosphere soon, and Mahomes, whenever he gets a new deal, will be there, too.


Goff seems unlikely to play contractual leapfrog and become the NFL's highest-paid quarterback no matter how well he plays — a contract in the Kyler Murray range (five years, $230 million) seems more likely — though most thought the same about Hurts 12 months ago.


The Eagles gave Hurts a massive payday a year after trying to trade for his replacement, he earned it by leading the team to the Super Bowl.


“That’s how the league goes,” Goff said Tuesday when asked about Hurts’ contract. “Guys get paid and then 10 more guys will get paid, and then you’re towards the bottom, and then hopefully it happens again and things go like this. And yeah, hopefully I can play for a long time, and play in this league and win games and win championships and do all that stuff, and the money and the contracts all comes with that.”


If Goff can pull a Hurts in Detroit, the Lions won’t care how high his price climbs or what it does to impact their future. They’re flush with young talent now and made moves this offseason that Goff said contribute to the “overwhelming feeling of optimism and excitement for what we think we can do” as a team.


Unless they stun the NFL and draft a quarterback at No. 6 or miserably underperform expectations in 2023, there’s a good chance the Lions will have to pony up for Goff. But until those two outcomes are off the table, it’s in their best interests to wait.



Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

[whatever_gong82]

Lions notes: With appetite 'to be great,' Alim McNeill alters offseason approach

Justin Rogers

The Detroit News


Allen Park — As Lions defensive tackle Alim McNeill looked around the league at the best players at his position, he couldn't help but wonder what was holding him back from being in that conversation.


In his first two years, McNeill has been solid, but not spectacular. A third-round pick out of North Carolina State in 2021, he started 17 games last season, but the resume lacks splash plays. He saw a nice jump in quarterback pressures with his increased playing time, but he had just one sack and six tackles for loss. That's a far cry from the elite defensive tackles such as Aaron Donald, Chris Jones or Dexter Lawrence — a bigger-framed lineman like McNeill who had a breakout campaign last season, racking up 70 pressures, 7½ sacks and two forced fumbles.


"I had a couple games where I liked a couple things that I did, or coach might have liked it, but I just want to be more consistent," McNeill said Tuesday. "I want to make those plays almost every play. I'm seeing some guys around the league able to do it and I'm just watching them and I'm like, 'I can do the same thing.' That's what it was for me, just consistency. So I just took a more professional approach to this offseason, diet-wise and things I was doing."


McNeill has changed the way he eats since the end of last season, from simple things like cutting out candy, drinking more water and focusing on better portion control to completely stopping the consumption of red meat. And while he hasn't done an annual body composition test with the team yet, he says he can absolutely feel a difference.


"As far as how I'm feeling and stuff, I feel so much better, a lot more lean, a lot more flexible, can bend a lot better now," McNeill said. "I was talking to one of my guys about it and he was asking me how I felt too. I was like, 'I feel lean, I feel faster, I just feel a lot better.'"



McNeill played at 325 pounds last season and anticipates being in that ballpark again this year, but with better overhaul conditioning and body composition. In addition to his diet, he's also put an emphasis on taking care of his muscles by increasing his stretching routine at home from once to three times daily, while adding in a weekly yoga session into his schedule.


What will likely excite the Lions most about McNeill's approach is he's doing it on his own accord, not because he was asked.


"Yeah, it's just me," he said. "That's just me wanting to be great. Got to do what I got to do to be the best I can for the team."



Growing excitement for Jamo



At this time last year, receiver Jameson Williams was just three months removed from tearing his ACL, waiting to learn how much the injury and ongoing rehab would impact his draft stock. Now fully healthy, he joined quarterback Jared Goff and several other Lions receivers for a throwing session in California earlier this month.


As one might expect, there's as much buzz for the speedy second-year talent with his teammates as there is outside of the building.


"We all linked up like two weeks ago back in California, a lot of receivers there just running routes, catching balls," Amon-Ra St. Brown said. "He looked good. I'm excited to see what he does. Obviously him being healthy, having a year to prepare and train, versus last year, when he was rehabbing and then we threw him in at the end of the season. So I'm excited to see what he does with a full offseason under his belt."


Williams was active the final six games last season, but he was on the field for just 78 offensive snaps. Still, his game-changing speed showed up on multiple occasions, including his first catch, a 41-yard touchdown from Goff.


"He'll continue to develop, and can't wait to get on the field with him," Goff said. "I can't wait to get on the field with him and get to work with him and really dive into some stuff; get to work on plays, get to work on routes, without the consequence of in-game implications. Being able to work on things freely will be fun. He's a tremendous talent. He could do so many amazing things for our offense, and excited to see where it goes."



Big V on the mend


Offensive tackle Taylor Decker provided a positive update on another Lions player working his way back from injury, guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai.


"I don't even know if I'm supposed to say this, but I'm impressed with where he's at moving around, lifting, running," Decker said after the team reported for their first set of OTA practices this week. "I mean, having a back surgery, he looks good. I guess that's all I'll say on that. I don't know where he's at in his rehab."


Vaitai missed all of last season after suffering the back injury in the preseason. The veteran is expected to compete for the starting right guard job with the returning Graham Glasgow. Decker is thrilled to have both back in Detroit this year.


"He's the personality in the room that, he kinda keeps things light," Decker said about Vaitai. "I say this lovingly about Big V — I think he's about to turn 30 — he's like a 30-year-old kid. He's just a big kid. And he's literally just having fun and he likes hanging out with his friends. He just keeps it light because, obviously, in-season things can get tense and stuff like that. So, I mean, we're just excited to have him back. He's like a big golden retriever, you know? And I have a golden retriever. And I love him."


jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @Justin_Rogers

[whatever_gong82]

As lofty expectations swirl, Lions know 'we haven't done it yet'

Justin Rogers

The Detroit News


Allen Park — If pride comes before the fall, the Detroit Lions are doing everything to their power to make sure their pride doesn't stumble in the face of growing expectations.


A perpetual underdog, the Lions find themselves in the unusual role of favorites this offseason. National pundits and oddsmakers are head over heels for the long-suffering franchise after the team won eight of its final 10 games last season, positioning them as the frontrunners for the NFC North. It's a wild sentiment when you consider the team hasn't won a division title in three decades.


The optimism surrounding the Lions isn't lost on the players. But, to their credit, they seem to understand those positive feelings don't equate to future success. Quarterback Jared Goff scoffed at the notion the Lions are favored to win anything.


“Of course you have a sense of it," Goff said. "You finished 9-8 and had a good finish to our year. We finished 8-2 in our last 10 games, but that doesn't mean anything for us now. It really doesn’t. We’ve got new players in here. We’ve lost some guys, we’ve gained some guys and (we’ll see) what that will sum out to and then at the end of the season is yet to be seen. And there’s a lot of work to do in order to decide that answer. It’s certainly more aggressive, it’s certainly slightly more urgent and excited and all that stuff. But there’s still tons of things to be done before you can start being able to say who’s a favorite here or there."


That's the theme as the Lions players returned to the practice facility this week for the first set of organized team activities, with a focus on strength training and conditioning. Of course, these sessions are voluntary, but like most teams around the league, attendance is high. The players understand this where any successful season begins.


"We can't just put ourselves in the playoffs or the Super Bowl," defensive tackle Alim McNeill said. "Like we got to still get there, still make it there. So, you know, it's just one day at a time, just getting better, 1% better every day. I guess that's how I'm taking it right now, just one day at a time. I'm not even thinking about it, to be honest. I'm just thinking about, 'What's the next workout and how can we get better?'"


Still, players can admit it's nice to come into the offseason program with genuine positivity surrounding the program, even if there's an understanding there's plenty of work to be done to accomplish the upcoming season's goals.


"It's nice to come into the building with expectations," offensive tackle Taylor Decker, the roster's longest-tenured player said. "It's an enjoyable thing to look forward to next year knowing we laid a foundation the prior year, and that's something we did together, as a group. There's excitement for what the future can hold, but ultimately, it's a dead-horse statement, like beating a dead horse, you have to come in and your first day of OTAs, you've got to do your testing. Then you got to do your stretching, your soft tissue, your lifting, your running. That's what's important today. That's the thing about this league: Are you going to come to work every single day? If you don't come to work now, if you didn't start working out until just now, well you're not going to have the results you want this season."


Decker spent the end of last season railing against the "Same Old Lions" moniker, insisting this group, this culture is breaking from that mold of constant disappointment. But he's just as cautious as his quarterback when it comes to thinking the road ahead is any smoother because of anything that happened last season.


"I'm not going to sit here and say that we're the team to chase," Decker said. "Do I think we have a good football team? Yeah. But that statement is coming from what we did last year. You see it with teams all the time; they have a great year and then they don't the following year. It's like what have you done for me lately? What have you done today? I don't care what you did last year. I don't care what you did two years ago. But I do think we have the foundation for a good football team. I do think we've added good pieces and good staff, but can we get that to all come together?


"...I see what people's expectations are for the Lions," Decker said. "But that is all in theory to me right now. And I said it last year toward the end of the season, we were getting all this love and everything, and I'm like, 'It's great, but I remember when we got s--- on, because we won three games and people thought we were a joke.' That's what I remember. And I don't want to go back to that, so I'm not going to look forward and kind of like rest on my laurels, because I don't want to go back to that. It's fun when there is excitement and there's something to look forward to and something to chase. And people can say that we're going to whatever — first round of the playoffs or win the division — but we haven't done it yet. It's great in theory. But we got to do it still."


One thing is clear, there's a different aura around the building. Last season's finish created an unmistakable confidence the Lions are ready to contend. And the moves the team has made this offseason, pointedly addressing weaknesses through free agency, to be followed with a fresh influx of talent from upcoming draft, only amplifies the sentiment it's Detroit's time.


"This is my third offseason here now and you can see the aggressiveness in (the front office) and it trickles into us," Goff said. "We see everything. We know what’s going on. In a couple weeks the draft will come and there will be more of that there, but the aggressiveness of taking our shot and knowing that we have a team that can compete with anybody and really try to go make some noise this year.


"There’s a vibe, there’s a feeling that you have," Goff said. "Nothing truly tangible. ... But there is an overwhelming feeling of optimism and excitement for what we think we can do, for sure."


jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @Justin_Rogers

[whatever_gong82]

How good are Detroit Lions' defensive upgrades? 'It's almost like we're playing Madden'

Dave Birkett

Detroit Free Press


Alim McNeill likes what the Detroit Lions did in free agency, adding three new starters to their secondary and re-signing key depth pieces in the front seven in Isaiah Buggs, John Cominsky and Alex Anzalone.

“Yeah, 100%,” the defensive lineman said Tuesday after the Lions’ second voluntary workout of the offseason. “It’s almost like we’re playing Madden, we adding some pieces for sure. I’m excited to see what we can do.”

The Lions finished last in the NFL in total defense last season but project to have at least four new starters there: Free agent additions C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Cam Sutton and Emmanuel Moseley and second-year linebacker James Houston, who had 8½ sacks last season as a rookie backup.


Add in the return of safety Tracy Walker from a torn Achilles tendon, with more help sure to come in the draft, and McNeill said it’s “exciting” to think of how improved the unit can be.


“Oh, I think we can be a ton better,” McNeill said. “Just getting another year under A.G. (defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn) as well and adding pieces, adding dogs like that, that have been through other places and already know what’s going on, they’ve got experience, they’ve seen it all. And just to be able to add them to the fire, I think it’ll be pretty good.”

Along with the new additions, McNeill said he expects improvements from returning starters such as himself.



The third-year defensive tackle had 41 tackles and a sack in 17 games last season while splitting his time between three technique and nose tackle.

While his exact role this season could hinge on who the Lions add in the draft, McNeill, a third-round pick out of North Carolina State in 2021, said he has taken steps to ensure the most productive season of his career.

This offseason, McNeill changed his diet, drinking more water and eliminating red meat and candy, and added a three-times-a-day stretching routine to his regiment to improve hip flexibility. As part of his stretching, McNeill does yoga every Friday.


He still plans to play this fall at about 325 pounds, but said he will be “added more muscle on and kind of took off a lot of the fat” and will be able “to move a lot faster” now.

“As far as how I’m feeling and stuff, I feel so much better,” he said. “I’m a lot more lean, I’m a lot more flexible, can bend and stuff a lot better now. I was just talking to one of my guys about it, and he was asking me how I felt, too. I was like, ‘I just feel lean, I just feel faster, I just feel a lot better.’ ”


Puppy love


Taylor Decker has been a mainstay on the Lions’ offensive line since 2016, when he entered the league as a draft classmate of Graham Glasgow’s. But Decker said Tuesday he wasn’t the only one excited the Lions re-signed Glasgow as a free agent this spring.

“He’s one of my best friends and at my wedding, Jonah (Jackson) came up to me after talking to Graham, cause Graham, he’s got an interesting sense of humor,” Decker said. “He was like, ‘Man, I would love it if that guy came to Detroit.’ … And fast forward, here we are. He’s coming to Detroit, and he’s going to fit in great. It’s going to be great.”


Glasgow, who left the Lions in 2020 to spend the past three seasons with the Denver Broncos, is expected to compete with Halapoulivaati Vaitai for the starting job at right guard and serve as the Lions’ do-everything interior backup.


Vaitai missed all of last season with a back injury and took a pay cut to stay in Detroit this offseason.

“I don’t even know if I’m supposed to say this, I’m impressed with where he is at moving, lifting, running,” Decker said. “I mean, having a back surgery, he looks good. I guess that’s all I’ll say on that.”

Just as important as his play on the field, Decker said, is what having Vaitai around means to the Lions locker room.

“He’s the personality in the room that he kind of keeps things light,” Decker said. “I say this lovingly about Big V, I think he’s about to turn 30, he’s like a 30-year-old kid. He’s just a big kid and he’s literally just having fun and he likes hanging out with his friends. Like, it’s — he just keeps it light, cause obviously in season things can get tense and stuff like that. So we’re just excited to have him back. I just, I think he’s like a big golden retriever — and I have a golden retriever.



Carpool craziness


Decker had an interesting experience returning to Detroit for the start of the Lions’ offseason program. He said he ordered an Uber after he landed at Detroit Metro Airport and got to the ride-share lane just as the car was taking off — with someone else inside.

“So I text the lady and she was like, ‘What do you mean? You’re in the car.’ ” Decker said. “I was like, ‘No I’m not.’ Somebody tried to take my Uber and was about to come to the Lions facility. She had to loop back around. I guess the guy got in the car, she rolled the window down, said, ‘Are you Taylor?’ The guy had headphones on, he was just like, ‘Yeah,’ and just got in the car. So I was like, ‘All right, we’re back.’ ”


Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

[edindetroit]

We could have had Justin Herbert as our quarterback instead of having to trade for Jared Goff a year later. However, you could say it did work out for us in the long run since we did get Two First Round Draft picks (including #6 overall in this year's draft) and a 3rd round pick along with Goff.

Nothing wrong with that trade or Goff.

[whatever_gong82]

Nothing wrong with that trade or Goff.

I didn't say that there was.

In my statement, I said that it sort of worked out for the best in the long run.

[Futureshock]

Lions notes: With appetite 'to be great,' Alim McNeill alters offseason approach

...

Big V on the mend


Offensive tackle Taylor Decker provided a positive update on another Lions player working his way back from injury, guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai.


"I don't even know if I'm supposed to say this, but I'm impressed with where he's at moving around, lifting, running," Decker said after the team reported for their first set of OTA practices this week. "I mean, having a back surgery, he looks good. I guess that's all I'll say on that. I don't know where he's at in his rehab."


Vaitai missed all of last season after suffering the back injury in the preseason. The veteran is expected to compete for the starting right guard job with the returning Graham Glasgow. Decker is thrilled to have both back in Detroit this year.


"He's the personality in the room that, he kinda keeps things light," Decker said about Vaitai. "I say this lovingly about Big V — I think he's about to turn 30 — he's like a 30-year-old kid. He's just a big kid. And he's literally just having fun and he likes hanging out with his friends. He just keeps it light because, obviously, in-season things can get tense and stuff like that. So, I mean, we're just excited to have him back. He's like a big golden retriever, you know? And I have a golden retriever. And I love him."


jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @Justin_Rogers

I really hope it works out for Big V. But it reminds me of last off season when we got all the reports out of AP that Levi O was doing really well and looking really good. I'll take it with a grain of salt.