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Speaker 5: Hey, everyone. Jeff Risen here with your daily DLP. It is Friday, June 12. I will just tell you it's been quite the arduous chore getting this thing going, but we are actually, getting a show going today. For those of you who don't know, I live in West Michigan, Holland, Zealand area. And we had some storms come through last night, and, it knocked our Internet out. Had a lot of damage to a lot of places around here. And, first off, everybody, I hope, is is safe and okay. There's a lot of cleanup going on around. I actually participated a little bit of that earlier this morning. So this is getting out later than we wanted, but fingers crossed, the Internet is actually back at my house, so we're we're trying to record this. I do wanna thank, some people who did graciously volunteer, to allow me to use their home to record this. It looks like we don't need that. Fingers crossed. But, yeah, it's, it was an interesting night. And just one thing before we get into the football, and we're gonna talk about the OTAs, that the Lions had, and the final thing, The the the final day of OTAs was yesterday. We watched the press conferences, and, had some takeaways from that that we will go over. But, last night, as the storms were rolling in, I live in a community where the the houses are very close to one another, and we don't tend to interact a lot with our neighbors. Like, we see them some, you know, friendly high. But, last night, it was really cool. Everybody, like, in in our little plot here, there's still, like, eight houses, that are all, like, right next to each other. And all of us were out on our front porches last night. And my kids my my son and daughter were happened to be home, and they were with me. And we were just, like, hanging out all watching the clouds, watching the storms roll in, interacting with one another. Like, nobody had their phones out or anything. It was really, really cool. It's fun that that sometimes you can get that bonding. Obviously, it's, you know, in the advance of something that you know, the the storm wound up blowing largely over us, but, yeah, I thought that was cool, and I think that's something that, you know, we don't do enough as a community and as a country. You know, just getting out and getting to know your neighbors a little bit. It was it was it was it was a lot of fun. Onto the lions. Had their final OTA session. Dan talked. Calvin Shepherd talked. A few of the players talked. DJ Reed, Talik Williams talked. It took a lot from from what they had to say. And I did write write out the things yesterday, at the Detroit Lions podcast. Quick takeaways from the final OTA session. You can look that up. And we're gonna expand upon a couple of those things. But, you know, there were there were a few points that Dan talked about the that I wanted to hit, and that that I didn't necessarily cover in that. And one of them, and it's it's a a situation that we get asked about a lot, and we haven't had a lot of clarity on. And that is what's going on with Giovanni Manu. And they're trying him at guard. They're also trying him at tackle. And Dan's talk let me find where he's at here. I'm going off the, the transcripts that the line sent out. Appreciate them doing that. He was asked about Giovanni Manu, and, and he answered, let's experiment a little bit. We've had a couple of injuries or the bugs that, you know, maybe a guy normally would play guard. We don't, so let's just put him in there. It's actually worked out kinda good just to see what he looks like at guard. So he's still getting tackle reps we're seeing. We're trying to give him the best opportunity to showcase what he has, and who knows? Maybe he is better at guard. We still think tackle, but if he can prove something, then that's good. So we'll see. He's been here. He's been working, and we don't won't know until camp. I'm gonna interpret that. We're praying to God he's good at at guard because he doesn't get any done at tackle. That's the unfortunate reality of where we're at. Look. It's year three. The the injury last year really stymied him because he was gonna get he's gonna get the opportunity to be o t three, o t four, You know, with, you know, with Decker not practicing much, there's a golden opportunity for him to get reps in practice, at least second team. But, unfortunately, he didn't get that, and he needed reps. He still needs reps more than anything. Hopeful that he finds a position. Hopeful that he can prove good enough at one or, in fact, both positions, guard and tackle, to merit getting a backup spot. But he's got a lot of competition for that this year. Among others, Miles Frasier, same kind of situation. Is he a guard? Is he a tackle? We're trying to figure that out just based on where they were at. At the times they were drafted, Miles Frasier's miles ahead, no pun intended, of Giovanni Manu technically and football background wise. Like, it's tough to learn to play football when you're 20 years old. That's where Manu was at, unfortunately. You know, playing in the Canadian College League, which is like like, I live right by Hope College. Hope College would probably beat the college team that he was on, just to be straight. Like, that's the d three level. That that's that's what you're looking at with the the I believe it's the UCC is what they call it in Canada. Just not it's not a high level. And he didn't play football until he got there. A Tongan basketball player, who went there to the University of BC to to play basketball, switched up.

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Speaker 5: So it was not a great ringing endorsement of Giovanni Mandu and his chances to make the team this year. He's gonna have to earn it. Now sticking with the earn it theme, several observers, noted that Larry Borom was getting first team right tackle reps. The lions drafted Blake Miller, of course, in the first round with the expressed intent that he's going to be your starting right tackle for the next few years. But Borom and I I like this. Borom has enough, you know, pelts on the wall experience in the NFL that Miller isn't just gonna get handed the job, and I think that's a good thing. Wanna see him earn it. I I do expect that he will earn it, but, with no pads on, tough to tough to gauge line play first off. But just getting the reps and understanding that, you know, there is a bit of a security blanket there. There is somebody also there who's gonna fight him for it and make him push push him to earn it, and I like that for Blake Miller. I like that that he's gonna it's not just gonna be given to him. Similarly, on the defensive side with Derrick Moore coming in. Look. We all have a lot of expectations for Derek Moore that he's gonna play a significant role as a rookie. I think he will. But the fact that Peyton Turner is out there, former first round pick, he's showing he showed something. Again, noncontact notepads, like, it's it's football. But, yeah, we will see much more once training camp comes. But I like the fact that Moore isn't just being handed the job. Remember back back when this team was bad? Or remember I remember Amari Spivey being drafted. And, like, immediately like, I I believe he was a fourth he might have been a third round, might have been a fourth round pick, somewhere in that range coming out of Iowa as a safety. And he immediately was inserted into the starting lineup, like, no questions asked, like, because that's how bad the team was. We are so far removed from that, and that's such a good thing. I'm appreciative of that. One of the things that that came up in Kelvin Shepherd's press conference was about the length of the players. And, he was asked his first impressions on the edge rushing room and what he likes about it. You know, he's he said, it has changed over there. And that corner, you you took you look during individuals, it's a lot big, long, tall. The biggest thing that stands out to me is length. That is something we kind of attacked and we saw that we needed. And like always, we mentioned it. The front office did a great job trying to go out and attain and attract some. Barring what we could do, some of the guys top what we're looking for. And I thought they did a great job. It's a good mix and blend. You have some long and some more shorter powerful, so to say, type players. He brought up undrafted rookie Anthony Lucas as a guy, who tore up l his his beloved LSU team as well. Anthony Lucas probably we haven't talked about him enough on this show as an undrafted rookie. He was a guy that I did have a draftable grade on. We will revisit that in the coming weeks, as we get into the period of look. We get we get mandatory mini camp next Wednesday and Thursday. I'll be there for that one. And then they're off for five weeks. We actually don't have a a defined schedule yet for when training camp starts. I expect it will be either the the penultimate week or the final week of July going into August. But yeah. So we get four or five weeks off where there's no Lions football content being generated, and, I will tell you from having to write. Produce a minimum of three things a day, content wise, during all that time. Get some ideas of what we're gonna do, but, I'm grateful that I don't have to crank out crap like that consistently all the time. I promise you we will not have derivative crap like that. We'll we'll have a little of it because some of it's fun. Some of it is worth talking about, but, you know, we'll we'll do more more UDFA profiles. I did one earlier this week. You can check it out in the archives on Luke Altmaier, and it he got he got a lot of good buzz this week. I'm excited to see him in person next week and see what he's what he looks like, offering. I have seen him play in person before, but that was at Illinois, and college football is very different from the pros, which is something that Ty Lake Williams talked about.

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Speaker 5: Ty Leek looked good. First off, after practice, you know, he's been out there for two hours running around. Like, I know I know they're not hitting one another, but you're still moving. Like, you're you're it's exercises. And he's wearing a black full length, like, warm hoodie. Like, it was hot yesterday before the storms came. That's that that that's that's a choice, man. It it it's interesting when people do that. I'm one of those people, like, I I'm in tank tops as soon as the kids over, like, 75. That's just who I am. But, one of the things that he talked about, and I wanna Tylek talked about what he learned from last year. And he talked about how, how the NFL he learned how the NFL was played. It's a lot different than college. Players are way better. Schemes are way better. And then he talked about how he's going to play some zero technique. And that's one of the questions that we wanted to learn this off season. Who's playing nose tackle? Because DJ Reader and Roy Lopez, they're gone. Tylek talked about reshaping his weight, and then he's gonna play some zero technique. I'm interested to see how that looks once the pants get going. But I thought he had a his press conference like like, he's always like, he's an engaging guy, but there was a confidence to him in talking to the reporters yesterday that I really I picked up on it, and, I I like to see that. He's poised for a a big year. More than fingers crossed on that one, I'd I'm pretty confident that Dalek is going to be a different player in year two and a better player, a superior talent than what we saw in year one where he didn't statistically make much of an impact. Thought he played okay, but it looked like a rookie. And Pete Rallidge was sort of the same way. Oh, this is Talik here. Picture of him in his dark hoodie. Got a lot of hair too. I like that. One guy, another guy who showed up was Brian Branch. Didn't work out, wasn't working with trainers or anything, according to reports, but he was there. Dan Campbell offered a non non update on his timeline, and that's something that he actually expanded it out. Dan was I don't wanna say annoyed, but he clearly is tired of being asked all the time about it. And he actually acknowledged, like, I understand that you have to ask this as the media, but, like so he actually opened the timeline up on Brian Branch to December. And we talked about this with doctor Liao, on yesterday's show and with George Kittle threatening to come back early even though he tore his Achilles five weeks later. I thought doctor Liao did a good job of talking about the difference between playing offense and defense and what that means athletically and what it means for the stress that's on your Achilles as you rehab it. It's different. I hadn't really thought about that. I thought it was a good point. I'm still not changing my timeline on him. I don't expect him before Halloween at the earliest. Now if he can practice before then, that's great. But I, you know, it's great seeing him out there. We haven't heard anything that he's ahead of schedule. We haven't heard anything that he's behind schedule. So but still, it's nice to see that he was out there. Other one I wanna bring up, this picture. I love this picture. This is the offensive lineman, Pena Sewell, Tate Ratledge, Cade Mays, Christian Mahogany. Just walking out smiling, guys being dudes, man, to steal from a friend's podcast. What's better than that? You see the bonding. You see the camaraderie there. You like to see that. No. Again, they're they're they're not getting to hit anybody, so, you know, they're probably freaking pretty good about themselves right now. I love that. Just just seeing the guys having a hang out and having fun, you know, the newcomers coming in, getting right in, had the picture of Maize and Rallidge going turkey hunting. You love to see that kind of stuff, man. Offensive line is one of those things where they need to be better. Really hopeful that 7073 and '64 in that picture can provide a lift from last year. And one of the things that we are gonna talk about in the upcoming bedtime is Christian Mahogany and his outlook for the year. Because it feels like a lot of Lions fans have given up on him already, and I would caution you not to do that. Like, I get I I I understand it, but he's still young. There's still things going on that I think that can make him a good player. Other things that that we picked up on, DJ Reed talked about going to Panama to get stem cell treatments. I hope he's shared that with no. Obviously, it's a very different injury. He had a hamstring. Went to Panama to get treatment that isn't available in The United States. Obviously, the elephant in the room is Kirby Joseph. Is he being able to do some of those things? We don't know.

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Speaker 5: I don't know, man. Talk a lot about Kirby, but DJ Reed coming back, being healthy would be a great thing. Because for the first four games before he got hurt, he was pretty good. Won't say that he was, like, locked down, but he was he was he was good enough that you understood why the lion signed him to the contract that they did as a free agent. And then he came back, and he talked about it. He's like, same technique, wasn't working. Guys were running past me. It's not who he is. There were some reports out there that he was getting toasted in in coverage again yesterday, like, in OTAs. I was gonna tell you, he's a press corner. If you're not allowed to press, it's not gonna look great, so I'm not gonna worry too much about that. The other way to look at that is the receiving room looks really good. They're getting open reliably down the field. It's the plus and the minus, the yin and the yang. That's something you always have to keep in mind. Like, when when Isaac Tyslala is making a fantastic catch, you know, leaping over somebody, well, that somebody on defense also is part of your team. You know? So you have to find the balance there between the good and the bad. One other thing, that that Dan talked about, or, actually, Kelvin talked about, and that was Thomas Harper. And Dan is hinted at at Harper as well. With the ongoing questions about Kirby Joseph, Thomas Harper is a smart, strong reacquisition, And we'll, again, we'll break him down in the in the coming weeks as well and what he offered. But and I've talked about this before, but I wanna reiterate it because I do think it's important. I think the lions were much better this offseason in addressing the secondary and potential injuries proactively. Dean talked about how NS Rakeshrough has added some bulk. Thank god. It can't hurt. Can only help him get back on the field. But having bringing in a Roger McCreery this offseason who Reid sort of slipped as our new nickel. I don't wanna read too much into that, and I might have done that when I was on first on first blush and and writing it. But McCreery with Keith Abney coming in as well, There's they've addressed things well. Chuck Clark coming in. I'm I'm consistently surprised at how many lions faithful have no idea that Chuck Clark's on the football team. He now, again, he is much like Dan Jackson was a year ago. He makes his money as a safety hitting people, tackling, being physical, and you can't do that in OTAs. So maybe he's not attracting that much attention yet. But, yeah, they're they're they're better on the back end this year even with the questions surrounding Kirby and with the injury with with Branch, his timeline being not improved. So wanted to give a little little shout out to that that, you know, Reid is is working on it and at least has done everything that he can do to try to get back to the way he was early last season and the way he finished with the jets where he was a very good cornerback. Guys, that's a show. My Internet held up through it. Hopefully, that it will upload and everything. I gotta go do some things, but, appreciate you sitting through this. Welcome to the weekend. We should have a show Saturday. There probably will not be one Sunday. We'll see on that. I had to reschedule a guest to Monday. We will have a couple of guests next week, but then, also, we'll be live in in Allen Park, for Wednesday and Thursday next week, which is great. Quick programming note. I will be hosting the huge show on Tuesday. You wanna tune into that. We will, spend a lot of time on the lions on that, but also a little bit probably on World Cup. Talk about the tigers if they're winning. Talk about the Red Wings disintegrating maybe. And what's been a very fun NBA and NHL finals. Y'all, thank you so much. Really appreciate y'all joining me on the daily DLP. Jeff Risen signing out. Be good to one another, everybody. Please? Please?