Speaker 0: Lots of places can expose you to identity theft. Oh, no. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats to your identity, which is way more than anyone can do on their own. If we find anything suspicious, like new loans or changes to your financial accounts, we alert you right away, all through text, phone, email, or the LifeLock app. Get the alerts that could make all the difference. Save up to 30% your first year year at lifelock.com/specialoffer. Terms apply.

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: This summer, serve up the cookout classics, craft mayo and dressing. Toss green salads with delicious ranch dressing or zesty Italian. Serve smooth, craveably creamy potato salads with mayo. We all know it's not a cookout without craft.

Speaker 3: Close your eyes, exhale, feel your body relax, and let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go

Speaker 4: of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class.

Speaker 5: I got them delivered free from one

Speaker 4: eight hundred contacts. Oh my gosh. They're so fast.

Speaker 3: And breathe. Oh, sorry.

Speaker 4: I almost couldn't breathe when

Speaker 3: I saw the discount they gave me on

Speaker 4: my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste. Visit 1800contacts.com today to save on your first order.

Speaker 5: One eight hundred contacts.

Speaker 6: Hey, everyone. Happy Tuesday. It is the March 2026. Means the draft month is basically upon us. I'm excited for that. We will get to the prospect of the day at the end of this show, but thank you for joining me this morning or afternoon. However you wanna whenever you listen, wherever you're listening, thank you. Shout out to all of you watching it on YouTube, liking and subscribing to the Detroit Lions podcast. We definitely appreciate that. I personally appreciate that. Thank you very much. Had a lot of fun with yesterday's, day where I did a mock draft with some trades. I explained the way through the trades and my mindset trying to put on my Brad Holmes ad a little bit yesterday. And that was fun. And the comments, I think, understood where I was going with it. And I I I definitely, I feel y'all on that. That's good. Today, we need to talk about something that Dan Campbell said. Actually, a lot of things that Dan Campbell said because Dan Campbell spoke at the NFL owners meetings out in Arizona. It's it's right of passage. Everybody you know, all the all the GMs, all the head coaches, although Brad wasn't there, at least not on the first day. We'll see if he shows up later, but I don't don't know what's going on with that. But Dan was there, and he met with the local media that's out there. Not everybody goes. Obviously, I didn't go. I have never been to the the owners meetings, in general, although Dan Dan sort of contradicted this with his comments, on Monday, was that, there's generally not a lot that really comes out of it that I can get from that I can't get from being at home. And it's expensive as well to travel out to Phoenix. I don't know if you've flown there. The last time I flew there, was, what, thirteen years ago. And it was more than what I will make in the month of March, flying to and from there with the hotel. So that ain't gonna happen for me. But there were a lot of folks out there. I know Ben Raven's out there. Tim Twentyman's out there. Burkett's out there. Justin Rogers, I believe, is out there. I think Noah Bianchi is there. They're wines are well covered there, and I thought that they got some good conversation with Dan when they met in the media session. They were. He said a lot of things about a lot of different topics. I wanna focus on two or three that really struck me as important for, moving forward in this off season and also for the draft. And we'll start with the first one. This was the headline grabber for me personally. Dan talked about a willingness and preference to move Pena Sewell from right tackle to left tackle. We've talked about this a lot on this show. In our roundtables, when Chris and I have done a lot of shows, I know Gray has talked about it in in the gray area. Hopefully, beginning another one of those soon. He's had some some, housing issues on his end. Nothing's nothing nefarious or anything, but, he'll he's been a little busy to, to get with us, but, we're trying to get it back in the fold. But, anyhow, my long stated statement on this is that I prefer that stays at right tackle where he's the best in the world. And but I don't have an issue with moving him to the left side where he will certainly still be one of the two or three best in the world. I don't have any doubt about that. I like the idea of continuity on the line when you're already shifting. We might be having a new left guard this year. We might be having a new we do have a new setter in Cade Mays this year. I would prefer less moving parts, but Dan doesn't see it that way, and that's that's fine. Pena will be great at left tackle. Zero zero worries about that. But my concern from this is when you piggyback it with what Brad talked about last week in the the Lions Collective sit down that he did, where he basically, without saying it, anointed Larry Borom as a starting right tackle. And I am not there with Larry Borom. Lord, I'm trying. I really am. I wanna see what they see, but I haven't seen it. I haven't watched a lot of the Miami tape from last year. So and that that is on my list to do. I believe I think Justin did do that. I haven't read that yet. I should probably get on that. But I just know the guy from last summer and the guy who in four years with the Bears, they kept trying and trying and trying to get him in the starting lineup, and he kept playing his way out of it. And I'm not gonna ignore that. And I am more concerned now that the lions are going to issue taking a tackle high because they believe in Larry Borom is their answer for at least 2026. I mean, obviously, he's only under one year contract. But right now, honestly, it's difficult to see anybody but Larry Borom as you're starting right tackle in week one. That might change by week four, week eight, who knows, whatever the bi week is. But this does change the draft calculus. Now they they really don't have to take a tackle at 17. They can wait a little bit. Whether it's trading around, whether it's, you know, in the second round, if somebody starts falling, explored that yesterday when getting Blake Miller down there. The other thing that does, it kinda rules out the left tackle only guys. There aren't many of them. Caleb Lomu was one, though. And Caleb Lomu was my preferred target if they were taking an offensive lineman at 17. That doesn't seem to be in the cards anymore. Blake Miller again, he's a natural right tackle. I think he's as ready to start as he will ever be. He is not necessarily developmental type of player, and you can take that at 17 still. But, later seems more preferential now. And just the way that Brad also talked about the edge position, specifically with DJ Wonnum, I think they're I think my instincts about them really liking Kendrick Faulk at 17 are proving more spot on. If it's not Falk, brought up TJ Parker as the first round pick in the mock draft. He certainly makes a lot of sense there. Can't rule out some other guys. Akeem Mesador, although I I don't think the NFL sees him in the light that a lot of y'all do. And I don't either. I see him being drafted in the 28 to 45 range. I don't think he's gonna I don't think just because of his age, because of his limited athleticism strength, he's kinda stiff, kinda tight, hell of a football player. But when you're being a first round pick, you need to have that athletic upside. Otherwise, you're Lucas Van Ness in Green Bay, and nobody wants that, including Green Bay.

Speaker 5: Chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting four hours or more, can make me feel like a spectator in my own life.

Speaker 7: Botox, onabotulinum toxin a, prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine. It's not for those with 14 or fewer headache days a month. It's the number one prescribed branded chronic migraine preventive treatment.

Speaker 8: Prescription Botox is injected by your doctor. Effects of Botox may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a life threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue, and headache. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms, and dizziness. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, including ALS Lou Gehrig's disease, myasthenia gravis, or Lambert Eaton syndrome, and medications, including botulinum toxins as these may increase the risk of serious side effects.

Speaker 5: Why wait? Ask your doctor. Visit botoxchronicmigraine.com or call 18044 to learn more.

Speaker 6: They're bad. I warned them. I warned them. Yeah. So that does change the way that I'm looking at the draft. I think that edge is much more likely now at 17, and they might punt on right tackle. And I'm by the way, I'm not I don't think this is necessarily a terrible idea either. And take a guy in day late day two, early day three, whether it's Travis Burke from Memphis or Markel Bell from from, from Miami, a develop a more developmental type of right tackle. Borom buys you that time now where you can bring a guy in, and if he's not ready, you don't have to throw him to the wolves right away. So in that sense, I do like that if that's their plan. We still don't know what their plan is. We'll find out in a little over three weeks. But, moving, it sounds like it's certain now. And certainly what Dan wants to do. And Dan tends to he's the head coach. He kinda gets his way as he should. If you don't get your way as head coach, you aren't gonna be head coach there very long. Yeah. You can ask a couple of Packers coaches about that, but I digress. The other thing that struck me, and this is more for over the summer, big one anyways, is that they're not gonna do joint practices this year. And this is a stark sea change from Dan Campbell who has talked effusively about the benefit of joint practices and testing yourselves against another squad instead of just beating the hell out of each other all summer. That's almost an exact quote. I'm I'm paraphrasing very closely to something that he said, back ahead of when the, Giants were in town in 2024. Oh, I think that was. Yeah. It was 2024. Last year, we had the Dolphins and Texans in. Dolphins for two days, Texans for one. The day the first day against the, the Dolphins was it was a lot more illuminative about the the Dolphins than it was the Lions. We knew that they were gonna be poorly coached and we knew that they weren't gonna be very good and both of those things turned out to be true. Now they have a different coach and now their right tackle is here As our projected starting right tackle, their quarterback is no longer a starting quarterback, nor should he be. But Dan basically said that they're not getting out of it what they want. One of the and I'll I have a quote here. Here it is. I wanna keep this I wanna kinda keep this about us. Let's go to work, set the schedule up, and we can hit everything. We don't have to get ready for the next opponent in the joint practice. We go right through it. We've got first down. We got third down. We've got red zone. We've got backup. We got four minute. We got two minute. We've got situation work. We got special teams involved, mock games, and let's just go. That, by the way, is a typical Lions practice, for those of you who aren't at training camp. They do run a lot of the same sorts of things, during the season as well. We as media are only privy to the first fifteen or twenty minutes of practice. We don't actually get to see them do much, but that's what practices are like in the NFL. And they're breaking up the monotony, with joint practices. But, as Dan said, it felt counterproductive. It didn't feel like we were getting what I thought we would get out of it. So that will mean, well, first off, it means less outside media coming to, to Allen Park. And on a personal level, that disappoints me because I like seeing my friends who cover other teams, and I also get very good information from them. But the other part of that, I like to pick their brains about what they see from Detroit because I'm I can be too close to it sometimes, and not see the forest from the trees. And I I like having that outside perspective sometimes. I happen to know a couple of Giants guys very well, and they gave me some excellent and correct feedback about the team in 2024. They said this was the best team in football. They were pretty damn close to being right. Didn't happen in the playoffs, but they were they were a machine, juggernaut. Last year, again, I I used to cover the Texans. I know their media very well. Got got along very well and and spent, several hours after the practice talking with a couple of them, and, I appreciate them. And they brought up that our interior offensive line might be an issue. And I, at the time like, I always had concerns, but I wasn't stressing about it. But but they were they were pretty insistent that that's something that can get picked apart. And it was certainly a downgrade from the year before. They also, by the way, heaped praise on Jameson Williams, which I found and unprompted, which I thought was illuminative, and he he wound up, you know, by and large proving that right. He had a fantastic year. I think he's gonna have another fantastic year. But now I won't be able to get that from the fresh eyes of an outside perspective. And so from just a media standpoint, you know, it's an l. But I applaud Dan Campbell for mixing things up and for not doing things just because they've done it before. If he doesn't feel like they're getting enough out of it, good for you, coach. Make changes. Do it. I absolutely support that. I think most Lions fans will support that. If it means playing your starters in game situations in the preseason, even if it's just a quarter, you know, two drives for your starting offense each in each game, two two drives for your starting defense in each game, I do think that that's gonna help, because it does feel and week one last year was a great example of it. Green Bay Packers were ready to play the lions. Lions were kinda not really ready to play football yet. And I don't know how much of that you can chalk up to the starters not playing at all in preseason, But it's worth investigating the change because as we saw last year, every frigging win is precious. You can't lay an egg in week one. You can't. So if that's if that's one of the things that they've discovered in self scouting and Dan Campbell believes in it, I'm all for that. That's that's that's good news. So we will see come August when the preseason kicks off if they actually do it. But until then, I feel I feel pretty good about this, honestly, because I do think that joint practices there was a lot of fisticuffs in there. There's a lot of guys, you know, trying to make a name for themselves, trying to, you know especially and, honestly, it was roster bubble guys. And it was for the Lions and for the all really, really, all the other teams. Like, when we went to Indianapolis, that was 2022, I think. And there were fights every day. And it wasn't like your star players. It was like the guys who are trying to assert themselves into a spot on the roster. Or if they weren't gonna make the Colts roster, let's let's maybe try to make an impression and and try to make this Lions roster here or vice versa. And I think there's a lot of that that does go on in the joint practices. And,

Speaker 9: right now, get up to 15% off select storage solutions. Put heavy duty HDX totes to good use, protecting what's important to you. The solid impact resistant design prevents cracking, and the clear base and sides make items easy to find even when the totes are stacked. Find select shelving and tote storage up to 15% off at the Home Depot to organize every room in your home, from your garage to your attic. Visit homedepot.com, how doers get more done.

Speaker 10: Tomorrow morning is knocking. Stock your fridge now. How about a creamy mocha frappuccino drink or a sweet vanilla? Smooth caramel maybe or white chocolate mocha. Whichever you choose, delicious coffee awaits. Find Starbucks frappuccino drinks wherever you buy your groceries.

Speaker 6: You know, I have been to other teams' joint practices as well. I've been to several with, the the Texans. I've been to a handful with the Browns. I've actually been to a Bears, training camp where they had joint practices. That was a fun one. Mitchell Trubisky era. That was real fun. Yeah. Oh, Dan did talk about his relationship with Ben Johnson and how they, you know, are still friendly with one another. They are still friends off the field. But on the field, they obviously wanna I don't know the exact quote, but basically, like, beat the hell out of each other. And and, you know, obviously, they're in a competitive environment there. I I have a great appreciation for that because people who know me, like, outside of the Detroit Lions podcast know that one of my favorite things that I say when I am whether it's playing beach volleyball, playing tennis, playing basketball, you are my opponent, not my enemy. It's how I was brought up. I believe very strongly in that with very, very limited exceptions. And those of you on the West Michigan Beach volleyball circuit, you know who I'm talking about. You know who you know who my enemy is. He does too. He doesn't hide it, and we don't like each other. We sure when I played competitively, it tended to bring out the best in me. Unfortunately, it also brought out the best in him, and he's better than me. So but I am a big believer in that. Like, you can you can have the intensity on the court, on the field, and it doesn't have to carry over. You know? If if I run into this guy if I run into somebody that just beat me in a in a in a in a Beach Volleyball circuit, I'm I'm retired now. I don't play anymore, but I did for a very long time. If I ran into them at the at the deck in Muskegon after the tournament, we sit down and have a beer together. Even even if even if we got, you know, squirrely in our game. That's the way I am. So I like that Dan is also like that. Because no one's ever gonna accuse Dan Campbell of being soft or being noncompetitive, but he understands when to turn that off. And I have a great appreciation for that. And, I also I will give Ben Johnson a little bit of credit there too because he is one intense mofo when the games are going on, when practices are going on. He leaves that on the field, and I do think that that is playing well for him in Chicago. I know. I I don't like saying nice things about the Bears, but sometimes it's merited. The other one, he did talk about Levi Anzarike, and this relates into DJ Wannam and his addition into the team. Because Dan was asked what's gonna happen with Levi if there was a plan. And he had a plan, and I I was glad that he, like, span out the plan right away. He's gonna be the four I five technique, which is playing, especially in an odd man front, like, guard tackle gap or or heads up in there. And he brought up the fact that DJ Wonnum isn't as big as the guys who have preceded him at that at that outside spot, whether it is, Marcus Davenport, AQM, although he's much different than AQM. But he is not a guy that you can, like, line up as your heavy edge and have Derek Barnes lined up outside specifically. And Levi is that guy, but that's it's playing more in. And he did mention that when they go to, like, a nickel front, or if they're in a, you know, a a base format front against an obvious run, maybe, like, you know, you know, 22 personnel or something like that on the other side. The Levi can slide outside and play end, but it it sounds much more like he is a defensive interior player, which would mean that he would be and I like this, and I hope that Kelvin Shepherd likes this. And Dan talked a lot about how, he didn't use the word multiple, but I will use it for him because he talked about how the scheme for defense is still up in the air, and there are a lot of options. And one of the options that I do like and I hope we see it more this year is a de facto five two front where you've got Tylik Williams in the middle, Ali McNeil to one side, Levi Anzuriki to the other, Hutch, improvising whichever side he wants to be on, and either one of them or your first round pick for top pick pass rusher as the other side. And with either Derek Barnes flanking Jack Campbell or Rodrigo or maybe a a later round linebacker or something like that. But I wish they would run with that more, because I will go back to the joint practices. Those looks weren't super effective against the Lions, but man, they destroyed the they annihilated the Dolphins. They did pretty well against the Texans too, and we didn't see a whole lot of that. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but we did not play that set very often. Not nearly as much as we saw proportionally in training camp last year or pre they did show it in the preseason too, and they got away from it. I hope that they get back to that. So that's where Levi would factor in assuming he's could be healthy, and let's hope he is. Wanna get to the prospect of the day. This is a guy, who I do like some. Others like him more than I do, and I will I will give him a shout out. DAFT on draft, Corey Kinnan, who also, took over Brown's Wire, down the line from when I did. I've I've I was been out for several years now, but, Corey freaking loves Josiah Trotter, linebacker Missouri Tigers. Gushes about him. I believe I haven't sorry, Corey. I haven't listened in a little bit, but I believe Corey has him as a top 35 player in this class. Corey, you can correct me, James, if you're James Foster. By the way, it's a very good podcast. I I I respect both of those guys. It it's a fun one. They have pretty good pacing to it too. So if you're looking for something that is just draft, that that's a good place to go, Daft on draft. Free plug for those guys.

Speaker 11: Evening. Buyer's remorse. Buy a new car? I'll be moving in. Let's get started.

Speaker 4: Sorry. I think there's been a mistake. I bought it from Carvana.

Speaker 11: You what?

Speaker 4: Yeah. Great price. I even have seven days to love it or return it.

Speaker 11: So there's no

Speaker 4: No. No buyer's remorse. More like buyers rejoice?

Speaker 11: I guess I'll let myself out. Congratulations. I mean it.

Speaker 4: Buyers rejoice. Buy your car today on Carvana.

Speaker 5: Limitations and exclusions may apply. See our seven day return policy at carvana.com.

Speaker 6: Anyhow, I am not as high on Josiah Trotter, but I do like what I see. He is number 61 on the consensus big board, as of when I checked it this morning. That's right around the range where I like him. Just looking at my personal big board, he is number 70. So I'm in line. I'm a little bit lower on him. And one of the reasons that I'm a little bit lower and I'm actually gonna start with the cons here first. So I was finish on a negative. I don't like to do that. I wanna finish on an uplifting positive thing. So let's start with the negatives with Josiah Trotter, who is six foot two and two hundred thirty seven pounds. He is undersized for the style he plays. If you all remember Steven Tullock, the way he played inside backer, that's Josiah Trotter in a nutshell. It's not it's not it's not the exact same, but it stylistically, it is a I'm gonna diagnose. I'm gonna I'm gonna, you know, read my key, attack downhill, heavy handed, heavy shoulder. I'm gonna drop your ass. If you try to block me, I'm gonna run through the blocker. I'm gonna throw his ass to the ground and get to the ball. But he's I mean, Pollock played, I think, at two fifty, two fifty two. Trotter is two thirty seven, and he's not gonna get much bigger. He's just not. Even though he is only 20 years old, he turns 21 the week of the draft. That's that's that's troubling for me. In that way, he plays the style that Rodrigo plays. And I don't wanna say that he would be redundant with Rodrigo because I think he's higher end than Rodrigo, and I don't mean that's a slight against Rodrigo either. But they're they're basically the same sort of player. This would not be an Alex Anzalone replacement whatsoever because he is slow footed to reacting coverage. And this one was the this was actually the first note that I wrote down, and I wound up adding things above it. Often a liability in man or coverage situations or chase coverage, like, where he's gotta, you know, run across the field with the with the tight end or, god forbid, a slot receiver, not good. He just doesn't have that speed, that acceleration, that top gear. It's just not there. That and that's by the way, that's not saying that he's slow because he's not. Although, we didn't get any athletic testing. And, generally, guys who are that size, if they can run, they will. He didn't run. And to my knowledge, Missouri has had their pro day, and I'm not sure they ran there that I'm not aware that he's hurt. If he is, my apologies. He does chase the cheese relentlessly on play action for a good, good look at this. Go actually back to so he only played two years of college football. He played one at West Virginia, and he played one at Missouri, and he was better at Missouri. But go back to West Virginia when they played Pittsburgh. I think it was Pitt. It might there there were it it was on a couple of games, though, where, like, every play fake, he's sucked in. Every pump fake, he's taken off towards the pump fake. Just not disciplined enough, which is weird because now I will get to the pros. There's a lot of pros with Josiah Trotter. Outstanding instincts in the run game. Great feel for the attack. This guy suffocates the run between the tackles, and he can do it lined up, you know, as a mic, or, you know, off center, you know, in the b gap. He either way, he's he's he is so good at dodging blocks and understanding where the blocking angles are gonna come from and, you know, mitigating them or, alternatively, also, stack and shed. He can absorb a tight end getting up to the second level, discard them, shed them, and go make the play in the run game. Love that about him. He's great at it. Fantastic. Like, I'm not even gonna say inside the box because he can also get, like, one step outside the box. You know, like, between where's where if you have two slot receivers, anywhere in between those slot receivers, he is death to your run game, especially oh my god. In Detroit, playing behind a a good offense a a good defensive line that could keep blockers off of him. Oh my god. The only issue would be that he would be fighting Jack Campbell for the same tackle. Fun problem to have. That's actually one of the reasons why I'm not sure that the lions are gonna have a lot of interest in him. He can blitz very well, does hit harder than his size would suggest. He pops you. But unlike a couple of the guys we've talked about, you know, Vijay Payne being one, A couple of the safeties, actually. AJ Halsey is another one. Trotter raps. He has teaching tape tackling form. Head up, shoulder to the navel, arms around, sink the weight. Don't jump too early. Don't jump from too far away. Fantastic tackler, both in tight spaces and in space. Love that about him. Great finisher. Will the lions like him? I don't know. He is a bit redundant, but not as talented as Jack Campbell. And he's a bit redundant and a little bit overkill with Malcolm Rodriguez. Do we need another guy like that more than we need a guy that can cover? Because that is not where Trotter's gonna win. And that's, that's the question. I don't think that the Lions are gonna have a lot of interest in him, but he he can be a very good football player. By the way, he would fit outstandingly in a Matt Patricia defense. Like, Matt Patricia's Patriot Way defense. Think of him and the Jelani Tovai role, but much more instinctive. And that's not to say that Jelani wasn't, but, much more reliably effective than Tobiah was. And he's also quicker. Not a lot faster, but faster enough that you would notice it. But that yeah. I I I think he's a better fit for that solid. I can see the Houston Texans loving him. I can see the Kansas City Chiefs loving him. They had a guy like him very much in Nick Bolton, who he does remind me of some too. That's gonna do it for the day. Enjoy your Tuesday. Thanks for joining me here on the Daily DLP. It's always good to have you in, whether you're watching on YouTube, Spotify, your favorite podcast app, wherever you are. Thank you for joining in. Thank you for liking and subscribing. This is Jeff Risen signing out. Be good to one another, please. We need it.