Lions News

[DanO]

Anybody here planning to go to the draft?

NO. Why would I want to go to the draft and stand around for hrs. until the Lions are on the clock.

[El Axe]

Anybody here planning to go to the draft?

Just discussing this with my wife yesterday.

Currently thinking about going Friday afternoon, guessing that it'll be the least crowded. Just want to get the free tickets and check everything out.

Maybe eat lunch downtown and visit afterwards

[kayrone]

"I asked if he prayed for better officiating" - niiiice!!

[Mainevent]

NO. Why would I want to go to the draft and stand around for hrs. until the Lions are on the clock.

Yeah, have a friend that booked a couple of hotel rooms over a year ago who wants me to go, but standing around in a big crowd all night/day doesn’t sound fun. If I lived in town I’d probably swing by for a bit, but a whole day or night sounds brutal.

[whatever_gong82]

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2024/03/26/detroit-lions-thrilled-flex-special-teams-prowess-nfl-votes-revamp-kickoffs/73103769007/

[whatever_gong82]

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2024/03/26/detroit-lions-dan-campbell-fired-up-about-new-kickoff-rule/73105540007/

[Whitley]

Yeah, have a friend that booked a couple of hotel rooms over a year ago who wants me to go, but standing around in a big crowd all night/day doesn’t sound fun. If I lived in town I’d probably swing by for a bit, but a whole day or night sounds brutal.

I thought it would be fun as a forum get together.

[froot loops]

It's going to be a special April in the D! The Tigers are also going to be playing days 2 and 3.

[whatever_gong82]

Paywall article from today's Freep.

Detroit Lions to unveil new uniforms before the draft; new practice facility years away


Dave Birkett
Detroit Free Press



ORLANDO — Detroit Lions president Rod Wood spoke with reporters for nearly 30 minutes at the NFL's annual meeting Monday. He covered topics ranging from the Lions' new uniform release to the decision to cut Cam Sutton.

Here are some highlights of Wood's media session:

Changing outfits

The Lions plan to unveil new uniforms that have been years in the making "just before" next month's draft, Wood said, though he declined to provide many details about the new look.


"I think everybody will be excited about it," Wood said. "I’m not going to tease it too much but I’m really happy with the way it turned out. It was a multi-year process that (chief communications and brand officer) Brian (Facchini) and (chief operating officer) Mike Disner really led and worked with Nike and the league. I think fans are going to be really excited about it."

Wood said the uniforms honor the Lions' traditional Honolulu Blue and silver color scheme "with a little updating and twists." The Lions plan to introduce "a couple of different pant options that can go with jerseys, so it’ll give us different options to wear during the season," Wood said, and will honor former owner William Clay Ford in a different way than by having the initials "WCF" on their jersey sleeves.

"We’re going to treat that in a little different way," Wood said. "I’m not going to tease exactly how it is but it’s going to be honored, but not in the same way it was on the current uniforms."


HQ on the move?

Wood said the Lions are weighing options to move their Allen Park practice facility to locations ranging from Detroit to the Ann Arbor area, though a move is still years from happening.


"We’re still evaluating it," he said. "I know there’s a lot of rumors out there and every time I talk about it, it leads to more people reaching out to me with ideas on where we should be. I would say it’s in the early stage of evaluating it. We’re focused on potentially that. Obviously, downtown with the 375 project and the impact that’s going to have on the stadium and traffic flow, so we have a real estate consultant who’s working on all those things, but very, very early stages of any announcement on the practice facility."

For now, the Lions continue to invest in updates for their current facility and have a project underway to double the size of their training room.

Calvin Johnson 1-21-2024.jpg

Megatron mega-back

Hall-of-Fame receiver Calvin Johnson is "completely in the fold," Wood said, after years of having an estranged relationship with the team.

Johnson was a regular at Lions home games last season and Ford Field recently announced a partnership with Primitiv, the cannabis company he owns with another ex-Lion, Rob Sims.


According to a release last week, Primitiv's products "will be highlighted at various Ford Field concerts, competitions and other non-Lions events." Wood said the deal did not have to be approved by the NFL since it does not include football games.


Johnson took umbrage with the Lions' decision to make him repay $1.6 million in bonus prorations after his 2016 retirement. The NFL evaluates and OKs all marketing agreements involving ex-NFL players and their former teams to ensure they do not circumvent the salary cap.

"If the league were to loosen up on what you can do with that type of product, we would probably go back and reinvent the partnership to include Lions games," Wood said. "Right now, it’s exclusively for like concerts and other things."


Heading overseas

The Lions were awarded marketing rights in Canada, Germany, Austria and Switzerland on Monday, the team's first true foray into international waters. (Previously, the Lions had natural marketing rights in parts of Canada because of its proximity to Detroit.)


Wood said the Lions bid on marketing rights in Germany in part to capitalize on receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown's popularity in the country. St. Brown's mother is German, and he speaks the language fluently.

“Germany, with the number of games that are being played there, and in particular with St. Brown’s popularity, was kind of a natural thing to draft off of his popularity and vice versa, 'cause I know he wants to do some things over there," Wood said. "So that’s the two that we bid on now. We may look at a few others in the future, but we’re excited to have been awarded 'cause Germany is getting pretty full."


Wood said he expects the Lions to play an international game "in the next year or two," and that having marketing rights in Germany likely "would increase our opportunity to have a game there" in 2026, the next time the Lions have nine home games on their schedule.


The Lions have not played internationally since making back-to-back trips to London in 2014-15.

"We’re kind of overdue," Wood said. "I suppose we could still play one this year because Chicago and Minnesota are in London. We could be a road team."


That's the ticket

Wood said the Lions had a 96% renewal rate on season tickets for 2024, despite a significant increase in price after last year's 12-5 season.

"Nobody’s really abandoned their tickets," Wood said. "We still have, I think it’s approaching 20,000 people on a wait list, and we’ve been very cautious over the years recently in not increasing the prices and have really fallen quite a bit behind the league average, and this barely catches us up to just below league average."


The Lions offered season-ticket holders the chance to opt-in for playoff tickets for the 2024 season at the time of renewal. Those who passed will be given another chance to opt in later this year, Wood said.


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

[whatever_gong82]

Paywall article from the News.

Lions' Campbell shares what he learned reviewing NFC Championship loss last week


Justin Rogers
The Detroit News




Orlando, Fla. — The Detroit Lions still haven't put last season's NFC Championship loss to bed.

The emotional toll of the loss has waned, although maybe not as quickly as coach Dan Campbell initially thought. A few days after the game, he believed he had cleared that hurdle, only to get hit by another wave a month or so later.



Beyond sentiment, there's a lingering, practical component of learning from the defeat that also remains on the coach's agenda. During the season, teams review the previous game tape the night of and day after the matchup. But when the contest is a season-ender, there's a departure from the process, as players spend their final Monday cleaning out their lockers instead of watching film.

For a non-playoff team, maybe a Week 18 regular-season game only gets a cursory revisit. But when you fall a step short of the Super Bowl, it's a bigger deal. Still, it wasn't until last week, nearly two months after the loss, that Campbell and his staff finally sat together and processed the film from the loss to San Francisco. And they didn't focus on the first half, when Detroit took a 24-7 lead into the locker room.


"It was good," Campbell said. "Talk about ripping the Band-Aid off."

Campbell said they dissected everything that went wrong in the second half, from the scheme to the personnel decisions to player execution of their assignments. But what stood out more than what the Lions did wrong was how the 49ers forcefully flipped the script.



"I tell you what you realize when you really watch it, and you just give general thoughts is, man, San Francisco willed that to happen," Campbell said. "They had players that, man, in critical moments, that quarterback made big plays. (Running back Christian) McCaffrey made big plays, made a big catch. (Wide receiver Brandon) Aiyuk made a big catch, 15 (wide receiver Jauan Jennings) over the middle for a first down. They willed those things to happen and that’s the next step for us."

How does Campbell get the Lions to take that step? First, they're going to review the tape together, as a roster.



"I think you got to swallow that pill, like you got to watch it," Campbell said. "We got to watch it together, which we will. That’s the one game you don’t get to watch together, so we’re going to watch that; we’re going to digest the whole thing."

From there, Campbell is going to ratchet up the intensity of expectations, beginning with the offseason program. Watching the film together will be the fuel and he'll be the match to relight the franchise's fire in 2024.



"I think we’ve got to put a tremendous amount of stress on our players before the season gets here, starting in OTAs, but then certainly in training camp, a lot more than we have and just mold them and shape them and get them there," Campbell said. "That experience (losing the NFC Championship) is going to, that’ll play well to us. Because look, you’re either going to get better from it or you’ll just get worse because you’re broken.

"We’re not going to break. We’re just not. We've got too good of guys, so it’s exciting."



jdrogers@detroitnews.com

@Justin_Rogers

[Trickalicious]

Anybody here planning to go to the draft?

Probably will just go with the Vietnam template. Act gay and hide in Canada. Then slip back in and run for President when it all settles.

[jaadam4]

Yeah, have a friend that booked a couple of hotel rooms over a year ago who wants me to go, but standing around in a big crowd all night/day doesn’t sound fun. If I lived in town I’d probably swing by for a bit, but a whole day or night sounds brutal.

Is it your mom or a family member? I can’t imagine you’d have friends with your personality. Hell I’d have lost the farm in that bet

[El Axe]

I took notes if you don't have time to listen to all 30min:

- Excited for new kickoff rule. It will favor innovative coaches
- Is concerned about the new hip drop rule, would've preferred a different approach than banning.
- They will add CBs, but no timetable atm.
- They look at Branch as safety depth, but prioritize his nickel play, and are cautious about dividing his attention. They are looking at adding more safeties.
- Excited about FA/Trade pickups. Very familiar with Davis and think he's a huge pickup, confident in leaving him on an island. Loves Reader. Sounds like Davenport is the front-runner to start. Amik really wanted to come to Detroit. Couldn't believe they got Zeitler late
- ARSB is special because he relentlessly pursues being the best
- Roster is in the best shape in 4 years. No real holes
- Is looking forward to rookies who will have to compete to get playing time
- Likes that Fields is no longer in division
- Felt 49ers out-willed them in 2nd half
- Still looking to re-sign J-Rey, but it's not guaranteed

[jaadam4]

Nice write up

Can’t wait to see who else they add in the secondary

[DanO]

Mike Disner involved with the new Lions jersey design. I’ve heard enough: It won’t disappoint.
Give me my new LaPorta jersey next month!

I heard the same thing on Woodward Sports.