Speaker 0: As soccer takes center stage this summer, Comcast helps bring the experience home to America. As the exclusive Spanish language home of the tournament in The US, Telemundo is set to present its most expensive coverage ever. Seven hundred hours of programming, live on-site presence at all 104 matches. And with multi view and real time four k, Xfinity will deliver the most innovative and immersive sports viewing experience for fans watching on Telemundo, Peacock, Fox, and FS one. Learn more at comcastcorporation.com.

Speaker 1: USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day, like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at usaa.com/bundle. Restrictions apply.

Speaker 2: At The Home Depot, get up to 15 off all installed carpet projects for a limited time. Featuring brands like LifeProof, Life Proof with PetProof Technology, Home Decorators Collection, and Traffic Master. Take your pick of carpet built for real life and designed for real comfort.

Speaker 3: Plus,

Speaker 2: with installation starting as low as 49¢ per square foot and a free measure to get you started, we'll handle the hard parts for you. Offer valid 07/16/2026 through 08/02/2026. Exclusions apply. For licenses, see homedepot.com/ license numbers.

Speaker 3: Hey. Howdy, the whole Lions fans. Welcome to the Detroit Lions podcast. This is episode 613, and you've been around for all of them. Quick shout out to Justin Faulds, who has been quietly there forever. He's my guy has been there and just quietly supporting us over and over. I just wanted to give him a shout out because, he deserves it. Thank you, Justin. You're you're the man. You're a good guy.

Speaker 4: He is the man.

Speaker 3: This is all about getting ready, prepping for training camp, so we'll get into that. Is the official Detroit Lions podcast for Reddit. I am your dashing host, Chris. And with me is my good friend and sexily coifed cohost, Jeff The Riz Rizden. How you doing, buddy?

Speaker 4: I am doing good. I'm glad we able to make this. I got in by the, skin of my teeth, but, it's all good. It's all good.

Speaker 3: I have a senior citizen

Speaker 4: cat and, the cat had to go to the vet on unfortunately. Everything's good for the most part with the senior citizen cat. Yeah. So fun.

Speaker 3: More than one way to skin your teeth. So there we go. We got this going on. We're gonna talk about camp storylines. Is mister Joseph Kirby okay? Is Pacheco enough? Is he running back too? We've got we've made some pretty bold moves in that, position this year. Replacing and an overall kind of view of our confidence in the team and all that whole lot more. Mister Risen, are you ready to go?

Speaker 4: Let's do it.

Speaker 3: Alright. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's great. Yeah. Alright. So, we will get into a camp story lines first. It's about ten days to camp ish. Right? What is it?

Speaker 4: Takes on fifteenth?

Speaker 3: Twelve.

Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah. I think so. The rookies get there ten days from now.

Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it is okay. We're we're we're getting there. Rookie support on the twenty fifth. There we go. Veterans on the twenty eighth. It's back together weekend on August 2. Gonna be 10 practices for fans, five to the general public. The other five for the the Ryan's Royal.

Speaker 4: Loyalty. Those, by the way, went on, say well, they were not they're not on sale. They were distributed today, and they went very quickly from my understanding for the Lions loyalty folks. The general public ones go on they get handed out digitally, I believe it's next Tuesday, or Wednesday. Whatever day the the the twenty first is. Got it. Today today is Wednesday. Right? Yeah.

Speaker 3: Yeah. Today is Wednesday, man.

Speaker 4: It's a blur, man. It's a blur.

Speaker 3: It it it is. And there's there's a lot going on. So we got, let's see what else. No joint practices this summer. First time in a while. Preseason is August 13 at Cincinnati, twenty second versus Washington, and twenty ninth at ND. I wanna talk about one thing on this really quick, Chris, because I wanna get your your thoughts. This no joint practices thing, I think it's a bigger deal than most people are treating it. We're in a situation where we've got a a a rookie right tackle who's supposedly in a a little battle for the position. You got a new center, a new left guard, two safeties who may not practice, and a cornerback room that's held together with cellophane and bailing wire. Joint joint practices are probably the best evaluation tool available, and we just opted out. Is that confidence? Is it coaching staff that doesn't want anyone getting hurt because they can't afford it? Is it what's hap are they playing scared? Is that that's that doesn't sound like a Dan Campbell thing. What do you think,

Speaker 4: Rick? So the way it was explained to us was that Dan and the coaching staff, I don't wanna put it all on Dan, felt like they weren't getting enough out of it compared to what they could else be doing. I don't necessarily agree with that, but I'm not coaching the team. And I will say that when the Dolphins showed up last year, they sort of wasted the Lions' time. Now the Texans, the the one day with the Texans, I thought was fantastic for both teams. But Miami, it it it's very difficult to describe how poorly organized and coached that Miami Dolphins team was. And I do think that left somewhat of an impression, that was that the year before when the Giants were in town, and that got a little unnecessarily physical, and it felt like they got a little bit away from the script that they were trying to do. And maybe that's why they did I I I still like I still like having the direct practices. I like to I like to see the ones against the ones. Yeah. They have said that they they did say that that maybe maybe we're gonna see some of the starters in preseason, which we have never seen under Dan Campbell, and maybe that will make up for it. I do expect to see Blake Miller in the preseason. I expect to see at least one series of Cade Mays snapping to Jared Goff with a nose tackle over his face. Like, but I I Chris, you know me. I'm a sucker for joy practice. I love them. I I go to other teams joy practices.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Speaker 4: In fact, I am going to some joint practices this year that are not with the Lions. I'm I'm spending three days in Cincinnati with the Bengals, to watch them. So I'm because I happen to be down there for a a a friend's wedding anyways. I'm like, I can tie this together.

Speaker 3: Just for the smack talk alone. Just that on its own is worth the price of admission. You know what I mean? And then beyond that, there's so much more. But when you see a team come up with the Hutchinson rules. Right? Mhmm. Again, poorly coached, poorly practiced it. Let's let's let's protect ourselves, and and they put up the Hutch rule because we we don't want our people getting hurt because he's just murdering people. And we'll talk about those those those, corner road, those rushers, those, edges there a little bit here. But, that it tells you a little something about what you have. It helps remind you about, you know, the amazing players you have in that spot. But I feel like getting these guys live fire live ish fire, as close to live fire reps as you can. It's you know, your Blake Millers and all that is so crucially important, but I don't know. I don't know, man.

Speaker 4: And and Chris, I like to see them go against guys that they don't see every day in practice.

Speaker 3: Yes.

Speaker 4: I want them I want Amun Ra burning somebody besides the new slot corners, Roger McCurry and Keith Abbie. I want I wanna see T'Sla against other teams. I wanna see Pene Sewell stonewall somebody besides Derek Moore, you know? But that and we're not gonna get that. And I do think that just having the variety of opponents, you know, the fact that the last year, Will Anderson against Taylor Decker, like, that was worth the price of admission even even though training camp's free. It like, and and he's I also because I do still cover the league at as at large for real GM, like, I'd like to get a better feel for other teams. I love I love it when opposing media is in town. Yeah. And you get to and and like I knew all the Houston guys, most of them anyways. So I got a lot of really good insight from that team, and I had a very good feel for that team. I've had a very good feel I've had a pretty good feel for the Dolphins. You know, the teams that come in, like, I like that. You know, it it it's a good way to see somebody like like Trevor Nowaski, as an example. Two summers ago, when he was a rookie, and the Giants were playing and enjoy practices. And he looked ready. Yeah. Readier than I think the coaching staff thought he did. And that's one of the reasons why he's still around, and why he could actually have a bigger role this year. And you don't get that if you're going against the same people all the time. So I love having the variety. So I do have misgivings about the fact that they're not doing it. I wish they did.

Speaker 3: One of the things I like about this, and we'll talk about these positions a little bit, but having, Derek Moore lining up against Pena and then against Blake. Same thing with Hutch Right. As you can rotate them. Those are really, really opportunistic growth. The great opportunities for growth for the rookies, for both rookies. You know what I mean? To play against someone is absolutely solid and massive as a Pena Sewell and a, a a a Hutch on the other side. And then get to play against somebody who's not who's a rookie. Right? You get a little bit get a little bit of taste of both ends of the spectrum and say, this is what great is versus this is what's coming up is, and now I can find ways to play in the middle of that space a little bit and kinda iron sharpens iron and all that kind of stuff. So I I love the idea. We'll talk about some of those, positions more in a bit, but it seems like a miss. Though this team and this coaching staff tends to seem to know what they're doing. So just wanna say hey to big Dom. Thank you for the super chat, my friend. Yes. Hope you're better from your, your takedown in Chicago, the salad.

Speaker 4: So the, yeah, the I I was hit by the the bad lettuce. So I was in Ohio over the weekend for family stuff. And Sunday evening, the drive home was long because we had to stop several times, unfortunately. And, Monday, Tuesday, and especially yesterday was really bad. Today seems to be better. I've only been to the bathroom, like, four times today, which is good.

Speaker 3: So it's funny because when it first came like, the first announcement was Taco Bell is getting rid of the lettuce and all that the the the risky stuff from the menu. And I was, like, sitting here thinking, here's Taco Bell leading the fight against diarrhea. Yeah. Taco Bell. Like, what? What world is what's this timeline? Right? Then he come to find out, well, it was actually in response to that maybe they had some of the bad stuff, and they were at least publicly going to it. But I'm like, great. Now how do you tell the difference between regular Taco Bell diarrhea and and the whole parasite diarrhea? Like, what in the world? Like, how am I gonna do this?

Speaker 4: Yeah. And I I I'm pretty sure that I got it. It it didn't happen over the weekend. Like, I apparently, the parasite takes a little bit of time to kick in, because I ate a massive honking salad, like, a week ago, and it was it was really good. And, it probably wasn't so good in retrospect.

Speaker 3: I was traveling, and I made I I was like, I basically went carnivore diet. I'm like, I'm not eating any lettuce because in the Northeast, that's where a lot of the cases are. Right? The whole thing. I went, nope.

Speaker 4: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3: So I'm at work one day, and I'm like, oh, yeah. Yeah. And I go in and I make myself this beautiful salad because we have the salad bar that's just freaking amazing at work, man. It is so awesome. Make it. I eat that thing. It was so awesome. So then after work that night, I go out for dinner and I go to sit and order and look and I go as I think what I have for lunch. I was like, oh my god. What did I do? Like, the one thing I wasn't gonna do, I had the biggest freaking deal. So stupid. Anyway. Alright. We'll go on to the next lion's thing. We'll quit talking about our butts. You talk about our butts. Let's, get into the Kirby Joseph, or no, the Terry and Arnold thing a little bit. Right?

Speaker 4: Yeah.

Speaker 3: I wanna ask some questions about this. But let me

Speaker 4: Alright. Let

Speaker 3: me let me set up. I wanna ask you some questions. I'm gonna let you run it down. You just take a little weight off you because you're doing all these dailies that are so damn good. Your your vocals have to be a little bit sore.

Speaker 4: Didn't have one today because we did live show. Yeah. Tomorrow's will be out around noon. It's a quick one too. It's already recorded. It's only, like, nine minutes long.

Speaker 3: So Oh, it's sexy. Sexy. So you get Arnold released on June 29. Right? Yes. The whole thing. He's accused of something potentially punishable up to life. And isn't a group proven guilty at that point. Right? He's he denied them all. You know, he's whatever. He got all this going on. And the lions at that point eat 6,600,000 dead cap in twenty six and four and a half million in '27. He goes to waivers. No one grabs him. Yeah. Now a bunch of teams have reported as interested in him. Okay? I'm gonna cut this a little different than we have before and take a little different, like, angle that I

Speaker 4: Alright. It did work out for the Texans, but they didn't sign him.

Speaker 3: Yeah. They cut a first round pick Mhmm. That they traded up for while he was still presumed innocent, like I said, and so in our contract, made a culture decision. They gave up picks twenty nine and seventy three to get him to get at 24. Two years later, 24 games, one interception, and 11,100,000 in dead money. Is this a Holmes evaluation failure or genuinely unforeseeable? And I wanna kinda push on this a little bit. K. What because it may be a little of both.

Speaker 4: I don't think I mean, Terryon, like, character was, like, not an issue whatsoever. Yep. So it did you know that he was gonna become an alleged criminal mastermind of a, you know, weird revenge scheme that apparently, like, wasn't even directed at the right people, maybe? Look, he's he's a young guy who made a very apparently made a very bad decision influenced by people around him that he probably shouldn't have been with. We've all done that, but not to that extent. You you can't you can't see this. Now, as far as football evaluation, and I'm guilty on this too because I like Terry Allen a lot. He was my number 11 player in that draft. I think his ceiling probably was lower than what I thought it was and what the Lions expected that it would be and or he just wasn't. He didn't understand how to get to his ceiling. I think he's probably more right.

Speaker 3: Okay.

Speaker 4: And the lions weren't necessarily pushing the right buttons to get him there either if those buttons could be at all pushed. Sure. I think that's that's where I'm at on the evaluation part as a football player.

Speaker 3: And I'm I'm with you. I I I worked hard to excuse the handsiness. You know what I mean? Because I thought he would come around. He really did.

Speaker 4: He did he did a little. Like, he did. Yeah.

Speaker 3: He was But he already had a a his reputation with the refs. So he wasn't he was it was I think it was gonna take a long time for him to break free of that. And the other thing is is that one interception stat that really like, when I saw that, I it kinda, like, damn it. And I don't wanna, like, dog on this guy when he's down. Right? But you now kind of you you take away the whole kind of rose colored glasses of him being aligned. You kinda say, let me really evaluate this. And it's like, man, I was missing I was look I gotta change how I look at some of this stuff and and and how my evaluations are going because they are definitely going through the tape of being a, you know, a lions fan. So, gotta figure it out. Gotta figure it out,

Speaker 4: man. You know, I I do think he he was a good pick. It just didn't work out. You know? It it turns out now, it's not a good pick. But at the time, it was a very, very popular pick both locally and nationally. Yeah. That doesn't that means anything, but

Speaker 3: Now that other teams are looking to sign him, did we is it the we did the right thing narrative, or did we just take a PR hit so somebody else could get the value?

Speaker 4: I don't think so his agent is Nicole Lynn, and I know Nicole Lynn because she's also OBJ's agent, and I have dealt with her personally when I covered OBJ with the Browns. And I will tell you

Speaker 3: Did she say anything with the Cleveland steamers? Go ahead.

Speaker 4: Oh my god. That did happen with what about that? Oh, god. Now I'm sidetracked.

Speaker 5: Hey. It's Bill from the Bill Simmons podcast. FIFA World Cup twenty six fans, listen up. As the official beer sponsor of the FIFA World Cup twenty six, Michelob Ultra is giving away $1,000,000 worth of FIFA World Cup twenty six tickets and prizes. Slash superior access slash superior access slash FIFA World Cup twenty six. Michaelob ultra FIFA World Cup twenty six. Superior access, no purchase necessary. Open US residence '21 plus begins on 12/01/2025, ends on 07/31/2026, multiple entry periods. Visit www.michaelobultra.com/superioraccess/ FIFA World Cup two six for free entry, entry deadlines, prizes, and details.

Speaker 6: You're great at protecting your data, but lots of places could still expose you to identity theft.

Speaker 3: I thought it was safe.

Speaker 6: If that happens, LifeLock gives you a US based restoration agent who will stick by your side from start to finish. Phone calls, filing documentation, preparing insurance claims, your agent handles it all. In fact, we're so confident restoration is guaranteed. Or your money back. Isn't it nice to have someone like that on your side? Save up to 30 your first year at lifelock.com/special offer. Terms apply.

Speaker 3: Whoo. Wow. That's a that's a good

Speaker 4: turn. Yeah.

Speaker 3: Good talk about we're not talking about Buzzsprout. Yeah. Big fan of Taco Bell.

Speaker 4: She likes she likes to paint everything as Rosalie as now, again, she's not alone in that. Mhmm. She's also Hugh Jackson's agent or was Hugh Jackson's agent. She deals with a lot of interesting people and has to paint them in the most sympathetic light and she's very to her credit, she's good at it. When so, when she says, you know, that multiple teams have reached out. That she doesn't have to elaborate on what that is, and I will go back to the story when I would the first time I was at the Senior Bowl, And I'm sitting with a then they were called the Redskins then scout. We're like behind Bill Belichick as he's watching practice, because he could still sit by the coaches back then in Ladd Peebles. Sean McVay comes down and says, hey. What do you want for that Brady guy? It's Belichick. And I could have correctly said, Patriots and Saints involved in Tom Brady trade talks. Would have been, like, obviously, the spirit of the conversation. It was it was an ice it was an ice breaking joke, very clearly. Right. Obviously. Bill took it that way too, but I could have run with that, but it would have been wrong. But I also would have been semantically correct, and I think that's where she's just semantically correct that other teams are reaching out. Ain't nobody gonna touch him until he's cleared. Even the Browns who signed Deshaun Watson amidst all this, like, they're they're backing off on this.

Speaker 3: So Yeah.

Speaker 4: Yeah. Now once it's once now if it's adjudicated and he's found not guilty and cleared by the NFL and everything, then, yes. The Lions did take a bit of a a hasty hit. But I don't really have a problem with that because I have seen with Watson and with other people. Ev like your teammates are always on eggshells around you, man. Because they were like, oh, that that's media guy over there. Like, he might talk to me about you. Like, I don't want that. Like, it it really is and then it's hard to describe unless you see it, but it's a very real thing. Like, there were some

Speaker 3: Back to taints, it will taint their brand and they don't want that.

Speaker 4: Yes. Yeah. And it also taints the team, the team's brand. You know, like, okay. Well, this guy, even if he's in there are Chris, there are so many, and you know this, there are so many people. There are people watching this right now who presume that he's guilty and that if he gets off, it's on a technicality that he shouldn't have gotten. Like, that's that's just how he was. Yeah. That's how yeah. That's how we are as a society.

Speaker 3: Team

Speaker 4: That's unfortunate and it's wrong, but it's real. And that's difficult for a team to navigate. So I don't fault the lions for that. I will say, and I I'm gonna trust that that Brad Holmes and Mike Disner are on top of this, that when if he gets put on the commissioner's exempt list or if he's found guilty or something like that, that they will get some salary cap relief from some of the debt money. Now, the the the bonus money get the signing bonus money, you can't you can't get that back. You can't because it's paid already. But the the guarantees that we're going forward can get waived and that will, clear some of the cap hit mess out. I'm hopeful for that night. I would be very very surprised and incredibly disappointed if the if the Lions hadn't pre planned that.

Speaker 3: Yes, sir. Anything else on Terryon? I I have another topic to to jump into if you're ready, but I wanna make sure you have your

Speaker 4: Still haven't heard when the court date is. That's, and and again, that was that happened, what, three weeks ago when he got arrested?

Speaker 3: Yeah. I

Speaker 4: was in Florida then.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Speaker 4: It's still dragging on. It's still the first question that I get asked when I do radio spots. That that's that's not what the team wants. You

Speaker 3: know? Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Talk talk talking taints with Jeff and Chris. This is another segment. Let's talk about some some tainted roster items. The updates on on Kirby. Oh. And some of the things he wants to talk about.

Speaker 4: You dance, Chris.

Speaker 3: I think what we're looking at is something that's actually worse than recovering from a knee injury because he's not gonna have surgery. Why? Because it won't improve the situation. It won't help. Yeah. Right. Yeah. The actual quote was, I don't know. I honestly don't know. I said that once in response to a question, and it was because no answer that was not gonna get me in trouble. That's that's man. That that sucks.

Speaker 4: No comment.

Speaker 3: Not on the practice field. They won't know until the thick of training camp. Right? They're not pushing it because once they do, then they'll know one way or another, which just seems weird because you just wanna know, I think. But then again, it's generative, so everything you do takes a little bit away. Right? Six games only in '20 five. Miss tackle rate was a career high 26%, while when he was hurt. And, he's got a four year $86,000,000 deal kicking in this season. There's no rehab timeline on this. No. Right? No surgery because surgery won't help us to tell. No one wants to say the words career altering out loud about an all pro. Right? Yeah. You gotta say them carefully, and I need you to talk me off the ledge on Kirby because you're looking at what? Chuck Clark and Christian Isian is our

Speaker 4: safety team? I do like Chuck Clark and Christian Isian. Like, I like them both. I I think Chuck Clark is gonna impress a lot of Lions fans, but he's not Kirby. And the defense lacked playmakers. Yesterday is daily.

Speaker 3: That was yesterday when yeah. Where I

Speaker 4: talked about how the defense in general was better than you remember it being. One of the areas where they need to get better and need to do much a better job is where Kirby thrives. And that was taking the ball away. And that's not something that they did well last year, especially after he was gone. You might remember that in 2024, he led the NFL in interceptions. First team all pro. Yeah. Like, that's they missed that. And there that Chuck Clark, as good as he might be, That's not who he is. Yeah. That's the they're gonna have to rethink and re scheme their defense and their the back end of their coverage and how they will attack the football. Because if My my thought with Kirby and

Speaker 3: and

Speaker 4: you know you know who I'm talking about. Louis Delmas. One of my favorite lions. Just a side note. Kent Platt, math bomb, has a Lewis Delmas jersey and I'm still jealous of that. He he wore the training kit the first time I ever met him. The number one

Speaker 3: cause of Detroit Detroit lions injuries when he played on the defense. He was an unguided missile, but he was he was great. He was so funny.

Speaker 4: He he was he was he was a perfect Jim Schwartz safety. And he would he would be a very good player now, but his knees just weren't made for playing football. We have not heard, like, publicly or privately, like, behind the scenes, that Kirby is to that level yet of knee knee degeneration. But we also don't know that it's not gonna be. So I'd I'd love to talk you off the ledge. I'd love to say, you know, we'll see him week one. He'll be 85 to 90% of what he used to be, and that will be all great. Like, I can't say that. I don't know.

Speaker 3: With Brian Branch out, me, you know, like, it's it's like the best safety duo in football. It's very possible they might not share a snap at all, but if they do, it won't be till Halloween. Yeah. There's a lot to do on Yeah.

Speaker 4: And and and realistically, if if branch comes back by Halloween, that's probably a win.

Speaker 3: Yeah. Oh, yeah. 100%. 100%.

Speaker 4: That that is ten months out. That's that's not the right time. And and doctor Liao has just talked about this when I had him on as guest and he's still putting out his stuff on his, Detroit Detroit morning rounds, substack, which you all should read because it's fun. Yeah. Craig he do Craig's side information, man. It's so

Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. I wanna say this I mean, you got if you put this together, you're looking at one starting quarterback. Right? No starting safeties. And this and

Speaker 4: And and, Chris, your best coverage linebacker is now in Tampa Bay. Yeah. Alex Anselloni. Yeah.

Speaker 3: He stayed close.

Speaker 4: Where's my stress ball?

Speaker 3: Yeah. They we we've our our coaching staff has their work count cut out on cut out for them on defense. And I'm I'm nervous that our guy is gonna get the short end of the stick, get a lot of blame for the defense, and not get accounted for because he's young. Had a tough year last year, and the the I don't think people will account for the the, the injuries when they do their accounting of him. And that

Speaker 4: I will say, and I've said it on the dailies, they are so much better prepared to weather the storm this year than they have been in either of the last two to three years. And they've been proactive in adding better quality replacement bodies.

Speaker 3: Fair.

Speaker 4: Now, I'm encouraged by that. But it's not it's not the same. It's it's just not. So again, my hope is that Kelvin and the coaching staff at all, understand that they can't ask lesser talents to do the same thing. Now, my caveat with that is, is that Dan Campbell and the offense last year didn't follow that lesson. When Sam Laporta and Brock Ray went down, they bring in Anthony Firkzer and Zack Horton and say, oh, you're now Sam Laporta. Go do exactly what he does. Made no accommodation for the the the decline in skill level. I'm very hopeful and pretty confident that they've learned from that mistake, and will not ask Rock Cassin to beat Terry and Arnold.

Speaker 3: Well, I think that was more of a John Morton thing than it would be a Kevin Jeffer thing. Right? I think Calvin's

Speaker 4: damn thing too though. You know, because we we Chris, you and I talked about this. The next man up. It's a great slogan. It's a terrible business plan.

Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. 100%. Alright. Really quick before we jump into the next piece here, I wanna give a big shout to Jeff. He's got a presser question. He's getting ready for these postgame pressers. Alright. Riz, this one's for you. In order of unnecessary rankings, how would you rank these? Subjective rankings, objective stat based rankings, and objectively subjective opinions.

Speaker 4: Objectively subjective opinions always go last. My own included. Objective stat based rankings is sort of what I did in the daily yesterday, where I showed, you know, the defense was in fact talented. It just didn't play particularly well for the most part. Couldn't couldn't make key plays at key times is the the biggest thing and if you rewatch some of the Lions games, you will see that like, oh. You know what? Our defense it didn't look that bad except they couldn't ever like, third and eight was like a gimme for the opposing team. Like

Speaker 3: Let me lean into this because I I know it's a fun question. It's a silly one, but let let me ask you because I can probably just still listen to a real question. Stat based evaluation versus eye test evaluation.

Speaker 4: Oh, so now this is fun because because I I I'm actually I I did a lot of quarterback work to college quarterback work today. And I'm a mess I'd I'd say, I mean, Dante Moore is the best player in the twenty twenty seven NFL draft, and it will take mountains of evidence of the contrary to move me off that. Like, he he's he's great y'all. He's great.

Speaker 3: He's he's

Speaker 4: honestly, if Jared Goff could run like Jaden Daniels, that's Dante Moore. Damn. Yeah.

Speaker 3: Please not the NFC North. Please not the NFC North.

Speaker 4: Yeah. Pray to God that Minnesota doesn't get him.

Speaker 3: Or maybe we could have a hell of a backup. I don't know.

Speaker 4: But one of the things that comes out in that is that the stats say that he might not be the best and like the stats will tell you the Drew Mestermaker at Oklahoma State who I do like after his time at North Texas. But you look at their offense like, okay. Like, he's doing this against Rice and UTEP, and everything is schemed wide open for him. And so, the eye test isn't necessarily as good as the stats there, but there are times where the stats might be better than the eye test. I think, honestly, I think Jared Goff is a little like that. Mhmm. I think his stats might he probably has more fans in the statistical analytics community than he does in the eye test community. I think that's a fair assessment of Jared Goff. Would you not say that?

Speaker 3: Yes. Yes.

Speaker 4: So but he's great. Yeah. It just doesn't always look great.

Speaker 3: Fair enough. Alright. I'm gonna roll into the next one. And and, Jeff, thanks. You actually you gave us a silly question. We actually made it into something. This is not like us. We usually take real shit and turn it into silliness, but okay. We're we're we're men of

Speaker 4: Trying something new. Hey. It's it's training camp for us too. We're learn we're all back in there.

Speaker 3: Yeah. We've been doing a lot of playing around with stuff lately on the site and what we're

Speaker 4: doing here.

Speaker 3: So we love your love your feedback

Speaker 4: and everything. We're having some fun with that. The the the the the AI generated things are they're pretty cool, I I gotta say. And, Chris, as you know, I am generally anti AI.

Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.

Speaker 4: And you know why.

Speaker 3: Yeah. 100%.

Speaker 4: But, it's,

Speaker 7: Athletic Brewing Company crafts award winning nonalcoholic beers for those who wanna be part of every round. With over 185 flavor awards. They're exceptional NA beers that fit your lifestyle and any social occasion. Summer's full of good times and athletic fits right in. Go to athleticbrewing.com to have brews delivered to your door or find them at a bar, restaurant, or store near you. Near beer, Athletic Brewing Company, fit for all times.

Speaker 4: The it it my takeaway from it, honestly, is that it's scraping good information from the right places. And most AI, especially the more commercially available stuff Mhmm. Does not does not do that in any shape or form.

Speaker 3: Yeah. This is I'm I'm I'm not gonna give it away because this is, you know, in house. It runs on, in in on local inference. But, it's bounded and and trained and built on a whole lot of very special things. And, it does it it goes it gets great sources. It does it gets validates things. It does a whole lot of work to come up with with what it does, continue to to train it and work it and get it better all the time. But it's not a replacement. Right? It's it's it's great information. It is absolutely great information, but it's still not a human being, and human beings bring more to it. It's definitely not AI slop, and it wouldn't be there if it was. I will not allow that. Right? But I think it's additive, and it's clearly labeled. Right? It's by DLP. It is. As at the end, it's AI. But I I think we've kind of found a spot where we can add value to people with our early morning constitutional brief on what's going on and what's important. I'm really excited about it. So it's fun. We're we're trying a lot of different things, but it comes down. You know, Riz is writing. We got I've seen Gray. He's working in his space. He's gonna be back really soon with some stuff. Bishop Brown are gonna be back really soon with some stuff. We're gonna have a

Speaker 4: whole

Speaker 3: bunch more stuff coming from everybody, and, I'm stoked. I'm really stoked. We have a good year here coming up.

Speaker 4: Yeah. Russ Russ is, being dad this summer, and have and really enjoying it. His his son for those who don't know, his son is a football player who is getting accurately recruited by a lot of different schools. And Russ happens to be a high school football coach as well. So he's he's in his element. That's pretty cool.

Speaker 3: I like Russ' soul as a human being. That's the thing that makes him so special. He is such a good person.

Speaker 4: He really is. He really is.

Speaker 3: And he he he loves, Steve Miller Band too, so it's good. Alright. Let's get into it. Let's talk about the old line, the the reset that really no I don't think anyone's framing in the right way. Right? Decker gone. Sewell moves. Bora and Miller split first team right tackle reps through OTA and mini camp. Cade Mays, free agency splash at center. Ratledge at right guard in year two. Mahogany, the incumbent at left guard, real competition pushing around. Borham, here's one for you, is the Dolphins tackle that created the Hutch rule.

Speaker 4: Yes, he is. Saw it

Speaker 3: with my own eyes. No. You know, now we know Hutch is great, but not Yep. Super good at building up, that confidence. Right? Now he's getting them every day. He's getting them every day in Ellen Park. Right? So maybe that'll help. He he got better over the season. Maybe this will help the end

Speaker 4: of this week.

Speaker 3: He did. Everyone's saying it's a Miller's borum. Right? But let's look at it more more holistically. The Lions are starting a new left tackle, a brand new center, a rookie right tackle, and this whole thing of we've got the best o line in the league, that's that that ship sailed in '24. Right? Three of the five spots are functionally new, and that's not a strength. It's the biggest gamble on the field right now other than the guys that are missing on defense. The biggest offensive gamble, I'll say. Yeah. We do have Hank who Hank Vraley, who's an absolutely master absolute master at what he does, in training up the o line. Tell me, Riz, make me feel better and make me feel good that we can be close to elite again even with all these new pieces.

Speaker 4: I think addition by subtraction at center, you can't get worse, honestly. Fair. Ratledge in his second year will be better. He's he's ready. He's ready.

Speaker 3: Yeah. Oh.

Speaker 4: I like the move of Dan Skipper going to the coaching staff because he's one of them, but he's still, like, he he's a perfect bridge for the young guys. And then I'm thinking specifically of Rallidge and Mahogany, and really Borom coming in too for that matter, although he doesn't know him, like, from that way. But he knows how these guys think. He knows how they tick. He knows how to push those buttons right and I I really I really like that addition. I do think that that again, you can't you can't overstate how awful center was last year. And not and it's not all Graham Glasgow's fault. Like, he was he wasn't supposed to play there. Right now, it it's weird to me that Lions fans don't hate Frank Ragnell, quite quite honestly. Because he's response he's directly responsible for a lot of what went wrong on that offensive line last year with his timing and then his abortive comeback that was never gonna work.

Speaker 3: Riz, who's on that day one?

Speaker 4: Might have seen some things.

Speaker 3: Day one. And and the fans this no. I'm guilty of this. I did it with Terry. I'm I'm admitting it. Right?

Speaker 4: Yeah.

Speaker 3: But I had info, and the people that were fans of him and still wanted, like, the the the the whole the hero to go, you know, and all that kind of stuff and give him that whole thing because about how much he gave to the team. Yeah. Now people are starting to see. And they don't even know the worst part. Like, that's the, like, the personal stuff, I'm not even ever gonna bring up on the on the air, but it's it's so much worse.

Speaker 4: It's it's and, like, it sucks because, like like, Frank's an awesome dude.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Speaker 4: But what he did, like, objectively ruined the team last year to some extent. Now they're past that now, and I think they've done as as with the secondary, they've done a very good job of I don't wanna say patchy because I think they've done a lot more than that. I think they've been very good at making it as good as it can be with the resources that they had. Bringing in Drew Scruggs, proven starter of some ability at both center and guard. He's he is certainly a good top interior offensive lineman. You know, Borom coming in. Sure. He had the rough time with Hutch last year and did not have a great stellar career with the Dolphins, but he did actually play better football last year as the time went on. Mhmm. And I will just to go back to the Dolphins and their joint practices, when you've got a guy who can't even touch the guy across from him, maybe give him a fucking tight end to help block. Maybe maybe roll protections that way. Yeah. Mike McDaniel, nope. Not doing that. Can't do that. That's a moron. Yeah. Maybe he'll be better as a a coordinator, but as a head coach, he was he's he's like bottom three that I've ever seen. And I've seen Rod Marinelli. I've I've lived through Hugh Jackson. Like, I've I've lived through Matt Patricia. Like, I yeah. He's he was when when the Lions did not hire him, I was ecstatic. Yeah. I was probably the only person in Michigan that was ecstatic. I'm like, I don't want that guy anywhere near my team.

Speaker 3: Yep. Can I can I just really there's there's there's a case here where where both things could be true, and I think Jeff and, Drifter and the Driftless are make good cases here about the Ragnos? Ragnos asked the team over and retired after the draft in free agency. Yes. The team had no idea that he was leaving. He had the conversations were not that way. And so did Barry, and still my favorite ever. The reality is Yeah. Both can be true. Ragno gave his heart and soul while I was here, but he left the lions in an absolute lurch when he left. And then his was looking for things. And then he came and then his his his fake comeback right? Because it was fake. He wasn't ready. He wasn't in shape. There was no there's no chance. So he was just trying to grab a couple bucks so he could, he you know, for what other reasons. That was it was silliness. Love the guy. When he was here and playing, he was an absolute tank. He was absolutely fantastic. It was the departure and how he did it that really, really f things over on that line and and started this accelerated requirement to, you know, build things back. If you look at o lines across the league, nobody builds elite low o lines. They were in a position where they could control turn, bring guys in, and keep that high quality play, but he just took a big chunk out when he left and left them, as I said, in a lurch.

Speaker 4: Yeah. Tainted his career at the end. That way. Yeah. Not you know, and I I hope that he gets back in the good graces of the team, and it's it feels like that's happened. He had his, charity thing, the the the shoot like, the shooting fish game thing. That the fishing. And I that's that seemed to like, I think some teammates went to that. Like,

Speaker 3: so I'm

Speaker 4: I don't know. But but on the field, they've done a very good job of of upgrading what they needed to upgrade. We still have a question at left guard. I'm a big Christian Mahogany believer. I always have been. I think the guy too many fans are focusing on how poorly he played after he was hurt and he came back and wasn't right. Now that that's a separate problem because he's gotta be healthy and get right, but if he is, I'm not that concerned about it. I think I think he will help the run blocking, more than the past blocking, but they they kinda need that. Sewell's gonna be great left tackle.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Speaker 4: He'd be great tight end if you want him to be. Like, come on. Just put his Sewell.

Speaker 3: He's he's gonna throw a touchdown. You watch.

Speaker 4: He can catch them. So we we have seen we're not allowed to talk about what we see at OTAs, but we have seen some linemen attempt some passes. Pena would be near the end of the line of the people that I would want throwing the football.

Speaker 3: Oh, weird weird weird. What about free

Speaker 4: Choose Scruggs. He's he's got some potential for a gadget play quarterback. What about Frazier? I I I god, I would love to know. It feels like that, like, it feels like and this is me talking, not the team. It feels like they don't know what they've got. Like, is he a tackle? Is he a guard? Is he a starting candidate? Is he a reserve candidate? Like, what are the what what do we have here? One of the things I really hope we learn this summer because we didn't get a chance to do it last year because he missed the summer. But I still think he's a tackle, but they're pretty good at tackle right now. I mean, if if I had to evaluate them today, he would be ahead of Giovanni Manu in terms of ability to play tackle for the Detroit Lions in 2026. That might change, but that might also be a Madu comment more than a Frazier comment.

Speaker 3: Yeah. Alright. So talk about the O line. I think we we got that covered. Anything else that we need to talk about with the O line, Riz?

Speaker 4: Don't forget Seth McLaughlin and Ben Barch because I tend to forget that. And they are on the team and they have very real shots of contributing. McLaughlin probably is too small, but he can wind up on the practice squad and be a guy that bumps Michael Neese out after two years of not really much progress on the Deese front. So

Speaker 3: There you go. Alright. Let's, let's keep rocking and rolling really quick. Just wanna talk about I'm gonna because I'm gonna grab one right now. These little caffeine pouches. Have you ever seen have you seen these things? I was I used to be hooked on these I'm not hooked, but I used to use the, energy drinks to get caffeine and and pump myself up. Coffee, you know, just dogs up my breath. Found these things. And look, I'm we're not sponsored by these guys, just so you know. But Caffeine Break, these are spicy cinnamon. They're cayenne and cinnamon in the pouch with with, caffeine. No nicotine at all. They taste like Big Red except they've got the spice of cayenne with them, so you get a little bit of a a bump. It's freaking delicious, man. These are fifty milligrams of caffeine, so it's like half a cup of coffee. Half a cup of coffee.

Speaker 4: That that'll hit you.

Speaker 3: Yeah. And and they taste delicious. It's there's they're awesome. Anyway, if you want, go to Amazon. They got them there. Amazon.detroitlionspodcast.com. I mean, like I said, they're not sponsoring us, but I love these things. I'm absolutely hooked on and then the guy I'm gonna just go and get you the the guy on the cover, he's had see if I can get it. There you go. Oh, there we go. He's he's had some real candy gloves.

Speaker 4: Alright. Yeah.

Speaker 3: Good stuff. Anyhow, there's no spitting. Like, it's I used to swallow. Like, it's great. Delicious. I can't chew tobacco at all.

Speaker 4: I've tried one. Oh, that yeah. By the way, I think a couple of Lions coaches have quit dipping, which makes me happy.

Speaker 3: Good. Good for that.

Speaker 4: Terrible for you. Yeah. It's tear it's terrible habit. Yeah. Terrible.

Speaker 3: Alright. Let's see. Let's talk about our confidence in this team. Okay? Alright. I'm gonna set this up and let you react react to this one again. We've got a we've got an optimist case. Okay? ESPN, who really did a shit job of evaluating Pena. But, anyway, ESPN

Speaker 4: That was Monday's daily. They ranked they ranked Detroit's roster six

Speaker 3: in the NFL. Right? Gothel, the best quarterback in the North by NFL execs and coaches, back to back thousand yard seasons from J Mo, Saint Brown, a consistent alls All Pro, Tesla pushing the room towards the best in the league. You got Jack Campbell who got extended on the defense to twenty thirty. 176 tackles. First team all pro. Hut Hutch, healthy, extended. That's really good. There's a there's a there's a confidence kind of optimist case. Yep. The red reality check comes in. The team went from first to last in the NFC North. Eighteenth in total defense. Twentieth against the pass. Twenty second in scoring defense, 31 games missed by the starting secondary. Okay? Second most points allowed outside of the red zone in the league. Meanwhile, Chicago made the divisional round with Ben Johnson and a breakout from Caleb. Now the big swing. This one's fresh. Bill Williamson named Campbell a surprise hot seat candidate for 2026 and was published published overnight. Yeah. The arguments if a nine and a team misses the playoffs twice running and shows aggression, he could be in trouble. Argue about this. Right? The counterpoint writes itself, the three thirteen nine eight twelve five fifteen two nine eight. That's cool. The window closing, though, while the division got better is a real argument. So I'm I'm trying to I'm I'm I'm kinda putting the optimist out there. I'm putting the reality check out there, and I would love to see what you think and how confident you think fans should be about the Detroit Lions in this 2026 season.

Speaker 4: I'm I think sixth for the roster is probably about right. Like, I haven't done all that yet. I think the Rams are higher should be higher.

Speaker 3: I don't I don't know I don't know that

Speaker 4: I would have the lines even six, like, maybe third or fourth. The top end talent spread you've listed all the six. You didn't talk about Jameer Gibbs who's the best running back in football. Like, there's Sam Laporta, Pro Bowl tight end when he's healthy. Like and he he he should be fine. Like, there's a lot of really really good talent on this team. Spread across the roster more than just about any other team. I I don't think that's I think that's pretty easy to see for anyone when we're talking about all these names that everybody knows. And they all have a pretty solid track record of producing these things. But, Penay, by the way, still also didn't get mentioned in that. Penay's good.

Speaker 3: He's alright. Real good. Yeah. I mean, it's ESPN how good he is. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 4: Goff Goff made I saw he made the top 10 and some there's so many Chris, there are so many lists right now. I can't keep them all straight, but I I saw that he made top 10. Like, I Can

Speaker 3: I just say lists this time of year are very much like the mock drafts before the draft? Yes. All over the place. Oh, yeah. I feed my people with varying quality of insight.

Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah. I tend to, and again, I I have been commissioned by my editors at Real GM to come up with a power ranking list. I haven't done it yet. I have an outline for it. I have the lions of four. They could move. I don't think they'll move up. They might move back one spot, but top like, there are way too many good, proven good players and a proven coaching staff with pretty good continuity. By the way, Drew Petzing and my Kafka coming in just blow away any of the the negative lingering John Morton effect.

Speaker 3: Yeah. I I would be That's a good one two combo. I'm I'm excited to see what they come up with. I I feel like it's gonna be closer to the surprises, and I don't mean the gadget y shit, but the surprises that we would get with, with with Ben. Like, the the some of the explosives and some of the way the plays were designed, I think we're gonna get some of that. Not the gadgety stuff like I said, but I think we're gonna be pleasantly surprised with what we get out of those.

Speaker 4: I think I think they'll be I think they'll be very fun to watch. Mhmm. Very fun to watch. And Greg Dorch is oh my god. He is so much better than any other wide receiver for that they've had in the time that golf has been here. He's he he is so different as a quicker than fast slot receiver. He's what, like, it it it it really did open things up at and it just an OTA. It's just seeing the route combinations that he's capable of contributing to. Leaf was a different type of receiver. To slide when he was number four last year, it was a different type of receiver. I think where where Dorsch wins is gonna be really, really good for Jared Goff. So I'm very confident that the offense is gonna remain good. It'd probably be better than last year.

Speaker 3: I agree.

Speaker 4: Defensively, if they're healthy, and that that's the guys that are that's not even counting Branch and Kirby. But the group that they've got around that, if they're not eve if if they're twentieth in games missed due to injury, instead of in the bottom three, which they've been in the each of the last three years, this team is gonna win a lot of football games. A lot more than they lose. Yeah. A lot more than they lose. And that's that's not having anybody else coming from the outside. That's with what they got now. So I'm yeah. I'm I'm pretty damn confident. Where are you at, Chris?

Speaker 3: I'm with Insane Lions fan. Thank you, sir, for the super chat. Football is almost back. Great show, fellas. It is. Appreciate that. Thank you very, very much. That's very kind of you. You know, I put the Optimus case and the pessimist case, the reality check case in front of you, you know, to to react to. I am feeling that kind of duality in in in my thinking. Early out of the draft, you knew how down I was on the team. Yes. I was I was really as down as I've been in a long time, which is silly because I weathered the Patricia Quinn era. You know what I mean? Yes. I I've I've weathered Matt Millen. Like, I've met with it a lot. Right? Like, why was I down then? And, I kinda came out of it after the draft and felt good. And then the Therion thing hit me kinda just a swift kick in the sack. Yeah. And I was like, as I as I kinda lead into camp, and it's it's an optimistic time, the world is your oyster. Anything can happen at this point. Right? We could have a season where no one get in gets injured. It's possible. It's possible. It's just as possible as having so many people injured like we have before, right. To your aggress to the mean and you have a perfect season of injury. That'd be great. It'd be fantastic. You imagine being a 100% healthy with all our starters in January? Super Bowl. Shit. Yes. Yep. So there's that kind of aspect to it. I feel really good about the offense. I think the offense is gonna be fantastic. We got a good question about it from Jeff. If Kaptka and Petzkein are on the field together, could their bald heads be the sun the sunlight be the a illegal distraction? Don't forget about, mister Skip out there too. So you got it you got it from down low and up high. They're gonna be they they can't look anywhere. They're gonna be having those visors on.

Speaker 4: Petting tends to wear a hat, thankfully. That's a good question.

Speaker 3: I'm feeling good about this team. The the thing that kinda pushes me over, and I know they're less meaningful at this point, but the strength of schedule that the Lions have leads me to believe that they're gonna be in relatively good shape at the end of the season. Very much so top of the NFC North. Can they return to the bye week in the playoffs? That would be wild. That would be wild. I know you don't. I know you hate that. But could they? Because it means something. When when you finish that well, it means something. Right? It sucks. But I understand I understand where you're at, but it does mean something about a team that finishes number one in the conference. Right? Can they get to that? Boy, I hope so, but I I don't know. I think this is absolutely a solid football team that will play every week in the playoffs, and will get their crack at that conference game again. As and it it's all and the reason I say that is even with the problems at secondary or, in the safety areas, We've got two solid characters coming in. We got Rakya Sin, who I I I I I've you know, I've liked him since, the Senior Bowl. Right? Yep. Early, it was because of his mouth, but his play has really elevated over time. And I I I I've really begun to enjoy him as a football player more than even just a character. Right? Reid, I think I think the team can rebound. I think we can have solid corners, solid safeties, just good hardy play and a defensive line, a front seven that just might be able to kick some serious ass and give the space that the secondary needs where they're not covering for five, six, seven seconds. And that's where I think the magic can really happen for this team, and I think that's that's actually the crutch for my confidence in where they're gonna go this year.

Speaker 4: Yeah. I will say to the point where Dan would be on the hot seat, He does have things that he's got to improve on. I know. I know. I think we all know that Dan is gonna be aware of what he needs to do better, and is gonna work hard to make it better. It might not be a smooth thing all the time. But, like I talked about in the daily, like, if it's if it's third and eight from your own 48, Try to get it on third down and don't count on the fourth down because you might not get that. I think that was one of the big issues that I had with last year's offense. Was that they were playing it as there were two downs remaining and that got them into trouble sometimes when, okay, you miss it on third down. It's now fourth and six. You've got the third best punter in NFL history by statistics on your team. Use him. Flip the field. Give your defense a chance to maybe go get a safety. Let let him get let him get a three and out. Let what shift some pressure. I don't think that he's done a good job at that. I I am very hopeful and pretty confident pretty confident that he is aware of that from his self scouting. Yeah. And I think that's gonna help the team too.

Speaker 3: Yeah. Anthony Berardi. Jeff, I just finished the Honolulu Honolulu Blues, and it was wonderful. Oh, good. So much for having him on the show. His book made me even more proud to be a Lions fan. Truly.

Speaker 4: Joel Joel Joel's great. We're gonna get him on again just because we had a lot of fun talking. But Yeah. But, the the book is now out. I believe it actually came out today. So, yeah. Check that out. It it it and go go watch the daily again that he was on because it was a great show. Yeah. Very cool.

Speaker 3: Very cool. A couple a couple questions out of the chat before we call our show. You okay with that, Riz? Yeah. Yeah. Let's go. Will Shep learn how to put pressure on quarterbacks like AG did with a depleted secondary? Yeah.

Speaker 4: I hope so. I I hope. So this goes back to the consistency issue. Alkadeem Mohammed in the four or five good games that he had last year made a massive impact on the entire defense because he could do that. But you might recall, he went six straight weeks without touching or pressuring the quarterback. And that was when the defense looked like dog crap. I'm hopeful that Derek Moore on his own will be able to be more consistent. He might not be as high end as what AQM's high end was, but his low end will be better. And DJ Wadham will give you something. And to your point, let's blitz Derek Barnes more. Let's let's put Trevor Nowaski in. Let him he he's fantastic at it. Yeah. Every joint practice, every pre season, he knows how to not get blocked on the way to the quarterback. He's just good at it. I I think we are gonna see more of that. I feel pretty strongly about that.

Speaker 3: There you go. Alright. Well, you know, we are at the one hour mark here, my friend. I, we just, we just go with that, I think, as a show. So don't forget, free camp tickets drop the twenty first at 10AM. Max for a person. They go fast. Tell people to grab them. Go ahead and get your, friends, neighbors, and everybody else. And then as long as one of you goes, whoever owns the ticket is the one that can go to the game, they can bring anyone they want. So that's usually a really good way to do it, and you get some good times out there. I'm not sure I'm even gonna be able to make it this year. If I do, it'll be later in the in training camp. Yeah.

Speaker 4: So Well, that's good because I will not be there later in training camp.

Speaker 3: I will be there in

Speaker 4: the early portions as much as I can be. There's a lot going on in the world around me that will prevent me from being there as much as

Speaker 3: I wanna be, but I will be there

Speaker 4: as much as I can.

Speaker 3: Yeah. That's awesome. That's awesome. Training camp party this year, because of the the scheduling stuff, just not gonna be able to do it. But stay tuned because we're gonna do something during the season live that, folks can go and join us for. So got some good fun coming up for that. What else? I think that's really it. I think we're in good shape.

Speaker 4: I think

Speaker 3: so. We did it. We did we did a show and everything. It's like the height of the nothing's going on a week before camp, like, survived the whole off season looking good, smarter, better, faster.

Speaker 4: Yeah. It's good.

Speaker 3: And your new office is fantastic, by the way.

Speaker 4: Oh, thank you. This is, my wife's old office. I've converted it. So it's still transitioning. Like, some of the pictures back there are still her related, but we're working on things.

Speaker 3: No. It looks really good, man. You you look you look like an absolute professional.

Speaker 4: I try.

Speaker 3: But once in a while, I'll throw a blanket on the wall so we can remember the old riz. Okay?

Speaker 4: Oh, you oh, it's not even like, if if it's normally, I got this chair over here. It's not even there right now. I don't know where it is. I was in a weird mood. I've been cleaning the house lately and it's kinda fun.

Speaker 3: Yeah. If you can if you get into it and get rolling, you can find a good groove. It's a lot of lot of stuff, man.

Speaker 4: You feel so much better when you're done. Yeah.

Speaker 3: You really

Speaker 4: do. Y'all go clean your toilets. Go clean your showers. It's worth it.

Speaker 3: Alright. Easy. Easy does it. You got the, let's get back to football. God dang right, man. It is time.

Speaker 4: That's so nice. I'm ready. I, I I I get to watch, an insane amount of football, but I've been watching a lot of the college football to get ready for the twenty twenty seven draft, like I'm doing summer scouting stuff. Sure. Yeah. And it's just, like, god, I miss watching live football. Like, it's nice to see some of these things. Oh, by the way, so I will drop

Speaker 3: it

Speaker 4: here. My projection for the Lions first round pick in 2027, right now, 07/15/2026, Taye Johnson, safety, Notre Dame. Alright. He's a good one. And I know him personally because he played AAU hoops with my son for a year.

Speaker 3: So are you projecting him at 32?

Speaker 4: That he might not last

Speaker 3: to 32.

Speaker 4: That's the that's the issue. He and he he in fairness, if he has the year that that he's capable of having, he could be this year's oh my god. I'm blanking on the Ohio State. I Caleb Downs. Yeah. He's actually more Emmanuel McNeil Warren, who also went before 30. So, yeah. The the the '32, like, we'll see. Yeah. We'll

Speaker 3: see. Yeah. Alright. Don't forget about us on the old Patreon. It's a great place to hang out is that Slack. And if you do $5 a month in Patreon or more, you'll get access to the Slack chat and some of the best clients conversation on the Internet. Most intelligent for sure. Patreon.com/detroitlionspodcast. It'll get you in. You'll get an email to the account you sign up with, and, you follow that. That'll get you into Slack, and you'll be good to go. Also, follow us follow us on the Twitter machine, the x Xbox, I guess, at Jeff Rysdon. At Jeff Rysdon, as you see there, and

Speaker 4: at I hope it is mirrored. I could never figure out that the camera is mirrored.

Speaker 3: One of these

Speaker 4: one of these years, I will learn.

Speaker 3: Also, at d e t lions podcast, d e t lions podcast, that's where you're gonna get all the announcements about the shows, what's coming, who's coming, when we're going live, all that stuff, as well as all the great stuff that shows up on the website and all the writing and when Riz pulls his things together. They just did throw a button. Celebrate. Thank you for tuning in. Oh, wait. We gotta tell people to go to detroitlionspodcast.com, Riz.

Speaker 4: Do it. Why? Go to detroitlionspodcast.com, especially if you're shopping on Amazon because you go there first and you when I drop a little token in there, doesn't do anything that you'll notice. It just it helps us.

Speaker 3: Woah. You're a pro. What happens when they subscribe?

Speaker 4: When you subscribe, first off, you learn when we're gonna do these things, then I can come into your ear holes automatically. I like that.

Speaker 3: You can ring your YouTube bell. Oh, man. Thank you for tuning in. We'll see you next time on the Detroit Lions podcast. Remember, no pants, no toasters, no hot tubs, and no problems because football is almost here, and we are your Detroit Lions at Reddit Connection. Thank you all. All.