Detroit Lions – ProFootballTalk

29 May 2023

• Halapoulivaati Vaitai considered retirement after back surgery
  Earlier this year, the Lions apparently considered moving on from offensive lineman Halapoulivaati Vaitai after he missed all of the 2022 regular season after undergoing back surgery. Vaitai apparently considered moving on from football. “After surgery, I was like, ‘Let me just rest. Let me just enjoy this time,'” Vaitai said recently, via Justin Rogers [more]
• Report: NFL is investigating another Lions player under the gambling policy
  Last mouth, the NFL suspended four Lions players for violating the gambling policy. There could eventually be a fifth. According to Kalyn Kahler of TheAthletic.com, the NFL is investigating a fifth player for violating the gambling policy. TheAthletic.com declined to name the player because the investigation is ongoing. That’s a sharp turn from the various [more]
• Hendon Hooker is taking mental reps and learning by watching Jared Goff
  Hendon Hooker will take a “redshirt year” this season. The Lions rookie quarterback injured his left knee in a Nov. 19 game against South Carolina while playing for the University of Tennessee. He underwent reconstructive surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament soon after. Hooker’s rehab has continued since the Lions drafted him in the third [more]
• Jameson Williams claims he didn’t know about the gambling policy
  When last month’s five-player wave of gambling suspensions included four Lions players, the message was obvious — whatever the Lions are doing to tell their players about the NFL’s gambling policy, the Lions aren’t doing enough. Receiver Jameson Williams underscored that point on Thursday, when he told reporters he didn’t even know about the gambling [more]
• Dan Campbell on new kickoff rule: I hate that we continue to take away from the game
  The Lions were one of the teams to vote against this week’s proposal to place the ball at the 25-yard-line if there’s a fair catch called for inside the 25-yard-line on kickoffs, but they didn’t have enough company to keep the league from adopting the rule on a one-year basis. Given the Lions’ vote, it [more]
• Lions agree to trade for Riley Patterson
  The Jaguars announced that they were waiving kicker Riley Patterson on Thursday morning, but his departure from Jacksonville will come under different terms. The Lions announced that they have agreed to a trade that will send Patterson back to one of his former teams. An undisclosed draft pick will be going back to the Jaguars [more]
• Jameson Williams: I’m not a gambler; I’m a football player
  Jameson Williams learned of his six-game suspension for violating the league’s gambling policy a day before the league announced it. The Lions receiver met with reporters for the first time since and said he has no recollection of when the violation occurred. “It hit me out the blue,” Williams said Thursday, via video from Eric [more]
• Dan Campbell: We’re already miles ahead with Jameson Williams
  Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams didn’t get a chance to do on-field work with the team last spring because he was recovering from a torn ACL, so he’s getting his first taste of their offseason program this year. The work appears to be paying off. Lions head coach Dan Campbell said on Thursday that the [more]
• Calvin Johnson attends Lions’ OTAs, says he’s a fan of Dan Campbell
  For many years after he retired, Hall of Fame wide receiver Calvin Johnson had a frosty relationship with the Lions. That is no longer the case. In fact, Johnson was on the practice field today at the Lions’ Organized Team Activities and hugged head coach Dan Campbell, and Johnson told Ryan Ermanni of Fox 2 [more]
• David Montgomery: Bears’ losing “sucked the fun out of the game for me”
  After four seasons with the Bears, running back David Montgomery signed with the Lions this offseason. And he thinks he’s going to win a whole lot more in Detroit than he did in Chicago. Montgomery said in a video posted by the Lions that playing for the Bears last year, when they went 3-14 and [more]