Passing Time: Lions Stars Align! - Training Camp! Devin White, Gibbs & Super Bowl? - S2E56 - 8/3/26

🦁 The Detroit Lions are back on the practice field, and we were at training camp to break down everything we saw! In Episode 56 of Passing Time: Detroit Lions Talk, we're diving into the biggest stories surrounding the Lions as they prepare for the 2026 NFL season.

🏈 This episode includes:

Our live observations from Detroit Lions Training Camp
Devin White's arrival and what it means for the defense
The latest on Jahmyr Gibbs' contract situation
Camp standouts and players who are fading from the spotlight
Why the Lions' defense has dominated camp
Drew Petzing's new offense
Kelvin Sheppard's second season as defensive coordinator
Injury updates on Brian Branch, Derrick Moore, Jimmy Rolder, and more
Bill's Bullet Points
Tigers trade deadline recap
Our biggest under-the-radar key to winning the Super Bowl

Question of the Day:
👉 What's one thing the Detroit Lions MUST have happen to win the Super Bowl that nobody is talking about?

Drop your answer in the comments!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

You're listening to Passing Time, a Detroit Lions podcast, where one pride and all grit with a passion for Detroit Lions football. Whether you're between meetings, between classes, sitting in traffic, or just relaxing at home, if you have time to pass, pass it with Passing Time. Detroit Lions Talk.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Welcome back. This is Passing Time, a Detroit Lions Talk. This is episode number 56. Let's get it. And we're on the clock, and you're passing time with us, a Detroit Lions podcast. That's Brian. That's Rob. And tonight we got a good one. Today, tonight, whenever you're you're listening to this, it's tonight for us. But we had eyes today at Lions Practice, Brian. Yes, yes. We had a few scouts down there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

We had four of them.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Four scouts down there. You want to tell it now or you want to tease it for later?

SPEAKER_02 1:06

Ah, we can tell it now. So uh I and my three boys made it all over to Allen Park and were able to hang out and practice this morning. Um, as a fan. Obviously, I'm I'm still working on the uh the media rights to get backstage. Um, but it was great, it was a lot of fun. My boys had a good time. We face painted and got the the balloon animals and swords and uh uh Khalil Dorsey, thanks for stopping by. Appreciate you. My boys love that you came by and and signed their football.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

So yeah, that autograph's gonna be worth a lot of money. Never so hey, we're gonna talk today about biggest storylines from camp, right, Brian? We got we got eyes there, we've been reading, we've been following things. Um we're gonna have some Devin White reaction.

SPEAKER_03 1:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Uh we're gonna talk about Jameer Gibbs, contract holdout. What's he doing? Little update. I don't know how how that's going, our projections on is that good, bad? When does it get over the the tipping point on that one? Um Camp Risers, and a few guys that are disappearing into the Homer Simpson hedge. You know, you might not see him again, right? Uh and a special uh Rob update. We're gonna do a little Tigers deadline recap here. Trade deadline happened today. Um over the last few days, the Tigers have made some significant moves, and you're gonna hear this old man's jaded opinion on that.

SPEAKER_03 2:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Um, Brian, Bill's got some bullet points. Got a few bullet points still. You want to talk about jaded old man opinions? He's got them. And then plus, we're gonna close with our Super Bowl questions, and we got some fun ones today. Okay. All right, so with all that being said, I think you know the most interesting part, and this is fresh, so we're recording this Monday night. Uh Brian was down at practice on Monday with his own two eyes, and and his own, you know, a lot of Michael eyes, eight Michael eyes down there. Um, and so we get we got a lot of kind of new perspective here in our own perspective, which doesn't always happen. So uh first we want to talk about are the stars aligning this year for a really special 2026 season, Brian.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

We well, we talked about last week with um this are we in a the best era of the Detroit Lions football? And we kind of came to the conclusion that yeah, this this right now, uh all of us have been it have been blessed to see success for the Detroit Lions. But you know, we were 30 minutes close, uh 30 minutes away from a Super Bowl um a couple years ago, and I'm coming back to seeing what we did then and now looking at what we're doing now and asking ourselves, asking myself, is this the year?

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Okay, so let's break this down into kind of two parts on are the stars aligned. And and first would be Brian, can you tell me a little bit on what is working in the Detroit Lions' favor this year for the stars to be aligned?

SPEAKER_02 4:04

Sure. I mean, you look at a fourth place schedule, that's that's that's gonna be huge. I mean, if you walk yourself through the Lions schedule, which we've done, um, you'll see that you know it's favorable. And uh yeah, the Lions should be able to pull out um 12-ish wins, you know, one up, one below that, and that should be good enough to make the what or to the make the playoffs.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

There are three teams that are legitimately kind of already in the tank-a-thon sweep states that the Lions get to play this year. So, Brian, real quick, can you just tell the audience in case you don't know, if you're listening to our podcast, you probably do, but what's the difference? Like, how do you get the fourth place schedule versus a third place versus a first place? And can you break that down a little bit?

SPEAKER_02 4:49

So last year, obviously, the Lions did not have the best season uh finishing nine and eight, um, but they also finished fourth in the the NFC North. So because they finished fourth in the NFC North, we get the fourth place schedule out of the teams that we are gonna play. So when you look at what the Minnesota Vikings, they're gonna get the third place schedule and play all the third place teams from the divisions that we're playing as well. Um, the Green Bay Packers getting the second place and the and the Bears getting the first place.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

So okay. All right. So what else has to work in Detroit's favor this year?

SPEAKER_02 5:24

So we're also looking at we've revamped an O-line. We re we recognized that our O-line this past year needed work, and we addressed that. And and we went into that with some vigor and and drafted a first round uh right tackle. We brought in one of the top prospects or top free agents at the center position. Um, we addressed the right guard uh a year ago, and he's coming back in year two. Um, we moved the best tackle in the game to left tackle, and right now the question mark lies at left guard. So we we right now are in a better spot this year than we were in years past in the in last year.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

And you'll get into this, I think, more later on, but like the depth as well, right? Is that is that coming later on the podcast, or do you want to talk about that? We can talk about that.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

I mean, if you look at depth across not just the old line, but you know, specifically in this case, the O-line is better on in that roster. So you look at um Larry Borum going to be able to be that six-o-lineman and just an upgrade from Dan Skipper. I love Dan. We all love Dan. Dan was a fan favorite, but it was time for him to move into coaching. And I I saw him on the field today. It's pretty hilarious and awesome to see him towering over some of the guys that he's coaching. Hard not to see him, right? Yeah, it was it was great. Um, but Larry is is going to be able to be that that 6-0 lineman, that swing tackle, and then be able to fill in if if necessary. Uh, Miles Frazier, he has been working in left tackle, right tackle, left guard, right guard. He has been able to fill that backup role as well.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

And you know, and guys, that's a name, that's a name to earmark here. You are you're gonna hear this name, and you're gonna hear it this year, you're gonna hear it next year. And this is gonna be a name that this guy potentially carves out a role for himself in his future NFL career, right?

SPEAKER_02 7:18

I I think that they drafted him for a reason, and I and he's showing some promise right now. Um, you you brought in some competition, uh, Juice Scrugs for for mahogany. And so, right now, mahogany has to play well. He recognizes that last year wasn't good enough, and he recognizes that he's got to be better. And so far, he's been better. We just got to make sure that he reaches the standard that we are setting for the Detroit Lions O line.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

And also, Juice Scrugs comes over here. He's got a new look, he's getting a new chance, so he's going out, he's going a little harder. He wants to carve out a roll, so it's like that, you know, it's the old adage you know, iron sharpens iron, and and competition breeds, you know, a betterment for the team. So that's pretty exciting.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

So O-line was one of our biggest concerns last year. It's been addressed, and and hopefully, if stars are aligned, there is a meshing of personalities and understanding of traits and an ability to play together because uh an O-lineman isn't just about the individual parts, it's about them playing as a whole.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Yeah, yeah, all right. So, what else is working in the Detroit Lions fan?

SPEAKER_02 8:26

I mean, you look at this roster, and it is we we've raised the floor and extended the ceiling right now. We continue to look at depth, we look at as Michael Jordan once said, the the ceiling is the roof.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

The ceiling is the roof, yeah. All right, sorry. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Yeah, we're so we have a roster that has is it's full of talent. You know, I mean, you look at that wide receiver room, you look at Sam Laporta being healthy, you look at um Jameer Gibbs as soon as he signs at that dotted line, you know, we got one of the best running backs in the game, you know. So the talent on this team on the offensive side, and then you go back to the defensive side, and again, bringing in competition, bringing in depth, bringing in youth, you know, these are guys that are like they can play football.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Yeah, all right. So what else is working in the Leo's favor?

SPEAKER_02 9:18

I I think, and I was skeptical from day one with Drew Pet Singh as the O-coordinator, and if he was the right guy, only because he wasn't the shiny thing that I thought we needed, the Mike Mike McDaniels and the mad scientists. But you know, if you look at what what we want to do as Detroit Lions is get back to our roots, be gritty, be nasty, feed off our talents. Drew Petzing is gonna be the guy. I I really do truthfully believe that. And you you pair him up with a Mike Kafka um in that passing game coordinator, you allow Dan to get away from the offensive side of the football and just be the manager of this football team, the CEO, the the guy that runs the whole ship and steers the whole ship, not just one side or the other. Um, and it allows us to be a better, a better football team.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

All right, and then what about uh on the defensive side of the game?

SPEAKER_02 10:11

And then you look at Kelvin Shepard and you need him to take steps in in year two. I you hope that he doesn't get stuck in in what he thinks is the only way. You want him to be flexible to to what is that what is a team trying to do to me and be able to to combat that with different schemes. It can't be just base, it can't be just nickel, it can't be just man, it can't be just zone, it has to be a plethora of all of these things at the right times.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Yeah, I mean I think you know the thing that the Lions what what we want to see this year is um the Lions go in the locker room at halftime, right? And they the defense makes some second half adjustments and they figure out hey, what curve balls have they thrown at us this game, and they're able to adjust it. We didn't see that last year.

SPEAKER_02 10:58

You know, the team the team just kept doing the same things over and over to us, and we we weren't able to adjust the whole you kept pounding your head against that brick wall, thinking that something would be different if you just stuck your guns. That's not the case, you know, teams are gonna make adjustments, and we have to be able to be flexible as well.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

So those are things where like the stars are aligning, those are they're not certainties, but they look to be kind of true at this point, right now, as we kind of project forward. But Brian, what are some things that still have to happen um for this to be a special season?

SPEAKER_02 11:33

I mean, you look at the obvious right now, Jameer Gibbs not being on the field, not being not practicing, being there, but not being, you know, padded up part of his team, running through reps. That's a that's a huge hit. You know, and and this offense is going to look drastically different with him on the field versus him off the field. It's Signora Bianchi is not gonna be a Jameer Gibbs. I I'm sorry, Isaiah Pacheco is not a Jameer Gibbs. You know, he is a game changer, he's not a running back, he's a weapon. And without him, you know, you're losing a big part of your offense.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

So, you know, devil's advocate here is you know, if this contract situation was really bitter, okay, Gibbs wouldn't be there. He wouldn't be at practice, he wouldn't be jiving with his boys there, like listening to his coaches.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

No, I I truthfully believe that Gibbs wants to be on the field. Like it's probably his agent saying, Listen, we're trying to get this thing figured out, don't get yourself hurt. You can't practice until we sign on the dotted line. And Gibbs is dying because he wants to be part of this team. He loves this team, he wants to help support this team. But the the reality is, is he also understands that financially he's gotta do it the right way. Yeah, he's gotta do it not maybe not the right way, but he's gotta do it the the the agent's way. It's a business decision, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Yeah, and yeah, it's hurting him a little bit not to be out there, but also um you wanna take the toll off your running back a little bit, right? Like it's okay. Like the the the guy is lightning in the bottle, and he's gonna pick up quickly, and he's hanging around, listening to the coaches talk, listen to the concepts from the new old coordinator. So, like, I it's not quite as good as him being on the field, not getting hurt, but like this is okay. And we're still talking about day one of pads.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

We still got I mean, this is not last year, which there's a lot of things stacked up against the lines last year. I mean, if you think about last year, we were going into the Hall of Fame game this week last year, but not the just the first week of pads, it was like we're ready to play a preseason game.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

Yeah, yeah. So what else, Brian? Uh, because there's a few things that have to happen in your in your opinion.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

I mean, you it's and this is not just I think this is number one, right? Right, this is not specifically to the Lions, this is to every team in the NFL. You gotta stay healthy. I mean, you look at the past of the Detroit Lions that this you know, this bug that's hit them is this health bug where we've just lost guy after guy after guy, and we're scraping, you know, the free agency, you know, barrel, and you you look at you know the guys on our practice squad and you're just bringing next guy up. I mean, but you can only go next guy up so many times.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

Yeah, yeah. So specifically, are there a couple guys that you're kind of like, hey man, like these are these are some key cogs of like if they're healthy.

SPEAKER_02 14:33

You I mean, the obvious the obvious two are Brian Branch and Kirby Joseph, you know, are the best safety tandem in all in the NFL when they're healthy. Um, and and Brian Branch, you know, we we've heard good news about his rehab. He was off the side working out at Lions training camp today. He wasn't on the field, but he's going through drills, he's backpedaling, he's making cuts. You know, those are all good things looking fluid. Um, and Kirby's off there working too, but I just think that there's I don't know if Kirby has a disconnect in the reality or if the Lions look at him and are just protecting him. Um, but it just seems like there's a there's a frustration from Kirby that he wants to be on the field and the lions want to protect him all the way and then just don't see him being ready.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

I I don't I don't know. Kirby's on another planet as far as like guys that you're trying to interpret. I I I I don't quite have a parallel to like Kirby on like what what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

He's an interesting cat.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Yeah, so I it's gonna be a story we're gonna have to follow, right? And um, we've paid him, right? And you know, he's come out of a shell, you know, after signing that contract a little bit more. And uh can we stuff him back in that shell a little bit?

SPEAKER_02 15:45

I don't know, but just hey, be your sideline to sideline guy and go make some interceptions, but you gotta be on the field to do it, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

So quickly, give me a couple more uh things that really have to happen for this to be that successful.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

There's still some question marks out there, right? You look at linebacker three and and whether we go into that base package. Well, I know we don't have Anzalone anymore, and we just signed Devin Wright um White in order to help fill a roller role who got banged up um and is gonna miss some time. Um we'll have more on that in a little bit. And we'll talk more about that, but he he's a question mark. Is is Malcolm Rodriguez gonna win that spot? He's a question mark. Is Ennis Rakstraw gonna win a spot? You know, we have this whole Terrian Arnold craziness where you know he's no longer part of the of the of the Detroit Lions. Um you know, or is it gonna be Whiteside, or is it gonna be Dorsey, or is it gonna be uh Maddox? You know, who who's gonna win that that CB2 spot? So there's some question marks out there, and then you look at the tight end room, which there was another um another injury today with with Ferrari um and having him go down. So you just you look at some of these guys like when are we gonna catch a break?

SPEAKER_00 17:02

So there's the injuries are gonna happen, right? Like it's just gonna happen. Um, you know, the the if you know the parallel to me is like if you're gonna bring your kid out and teach him how to ride a bike the first time, like there's gonna be some crashes, right? And like uh can you keep these injuries to a level of sustainability? Can you make sure there's no broken bones on the bike? Can you make sure that key players aren't getting hurt out there? Um that that'll go a long way.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

But you I mean, every time you hear a guy leave the field, you're kind of freaking out a little bit, right? Ali McNeil left the left the practice field earlier with a with a head or neck, and then it turns out he's good. He's he's back out. It's overly cost. Oh, sure. Blake Miller left for a little bit, you know, and as Baki left today and got poked in the eye. So all of these pieces, you know, you look at every time that somebody loses uh a rep or or two because of injury, you're you're freaking out a little bit. It's a little PTSD going on.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

Yeah, yeah. You're you're freaking out a little bit. Like you like, it's the equivalent of like you have your first kid and like and uh they they cry in bed and you run upstairs, you're like you're patting them on the butt and you're and you're rocking them, and you're you're freaking out a little bit when your first kid falls, when he tries to walk. Fair. But what what this is day one, right? When it comes down to it, like second kid, you're like, ah man, I'm not putting gates up anymore. Like that kid, he'll fall down the stairs, he won't do it again, right? He'll learn his lesson by the fourth or fifth kid.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

So yeah, like we're on like six kids right now going on with the Detroit Lions and the Brett Holmes and the and the Dan Campbell. But the problem is, is last year, you know, we had options. We we had aspirations. We the year before we had options, we had aspirations. This year, back to that that idea that we can't lose these guys in order to make it, and that the stars have to align. You know, that's that's that's the big concern. So are we going back to first kid problems here?

SPEAKER_00 18:54

Oh, are you gonna bubble wrap your first kid and have him walk around the world with a in a padded room, or are you gonna let those guys go out and see what happens?

SPEAKER_02 19:01

I will tell you, first day of pads, I expected a Dan Campbell practice coming out, and we're popping and going after and going to the ground, and I did not see that.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

So let's roll right in there because segment two is is is the the Michael family training camp report.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Well, we talked about a little bit. I mean, it was it was this I mean it was an awesome experience looking on it. You know, I saw guys like Devin White warming up, and you know, you had special teams going on across the across the field, and he's doing sprint after sprint after sprint after sprint, and you know, getting loose, and you know, he he looks fast. I just hope that he can you know play to the 2021 Devin White, not necessarily the the PFF grades of the last four years.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

So well one thing about Devin White is you remember, you know, like okay, he's been in the league. He was a uh Phil reminded me of this today. He was a the fifth overall pick in the first round of I thought it was the 2018 draft. I can't remember 2019? 2019, one of those drafts, yeah. And uh he's only 28 years old. Yeah, he's only 28 years old, Brian. He's got like geez, what would I give to be only 28 years old? Man, uh so like he's not an old guy.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

No, like he's in the you know, he's in the prime of his NFL career, but he's also played for several teams over the last four or five years, and it's it's not really finding a home yet. So there's a there's a reason for that.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

You're not making a home and uh with the Raiders, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:35

Right now, they're no, but you he also was a with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You you can find a home there, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:40

Could find a home there. They do like old linebackers, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Yeah, well, he's not you just said he's not old.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Yeah, well, maybe that's why he didn't work out there. Yeah, it wasn't quite old enough.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

But um you got any injury updates on kind of I mean you look at Jimmy Rolder and it's it's it's sad to hear a hamstring, and that's gonna take him out for maybe even uh upwards to eight weeks. Um, and it reminds me a lot of the the DJ Reed last year where he was kind of nursing that and then came back early. I hope that they don't bring him back too early. Um, I hope we can find um some guys that can play. The Malcolm Rodriguez can come in. But it sounded like Jimmy was finding his way on the field, finding meaningful reps, finding a way to be impactful on that defense, and uh, you know, that's this does set him back. You know, missing in training camp is is those are huge reps.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

I mean, nobody was saying his horn louder than me. Yeah, that's a bummer. I still think he's gonna be a guy. Sure. Uh Derek Moore.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Derek Moore also banged up right now, and looks like his is gonna be more like a a seven to ten day, you know, stint. He'll be back. No big deal. You know, which is you know, they'll probably be very cautious with him in order to bring him back because he's he is gonna be again a meaningful piece to this defense.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

So yeah, all right. Um then um any Brian Michael Camp observations. Oh man, I went out.

SPEAKER_02 22:07

I don't know, the the the peasant section of not the VIP section.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

Right behind Justin Rogers.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

No, we were we were in the stands and we're like my boys and we're we're watching um you know the practice continue to go through and wide receivers are right there and I have to tell you man Amin Ross St. Brown just looks smooth, you know, those people who may diminish or belittle him, he is so quick with his feet, not fast, big long steps, short, choppy steps, in and out of cuts, catches the ball with his hands. He just looks he looks above and beyond. But then in addition to that, J-Mo looked great, you know, and and his abilities to get down the field, catching the ball with his hands, contested catches. He just he's starting to come into his own, and it's cool to see those two. And then I'll say, and then I know Tesla may have had like some some maybe not the best early part of camp, but he looked good today. He looked he separated himself and he very much looked like the wide receiver three today.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Okay, all right. That that I mean that's exciting, right there. That that's exciting. Yeah, um, yep.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

So um then you add in there like Hasanin, who was just fun to watch. Fun to fun to see him compete in and out of each and every rep. Energy, excitement. You hear him yelling. You know, he is he is he is somebody that I really love to and I identify as like I want to I want to watch number 99. So it was cool. Bike Miller had a good day. He took a ton of first uh first team reps and you know held his own. I I don't think he's perfect, but he's continuing to grow. Um, you know, you look at uh the Sewell Hutch battles, um, and I think they both got each other at least once today, and that was that was again cool to see. We talk about iron sharpening iron. Um, I was also very excited to see Laporta out there again, looking smooth, looking healthy, catching the ball. You know, again, yeah, he's gonna be a weapon for the Detroit Lions too.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

So let's pause and just think about the fact that like at one point the Lions are gonna trot out there. Laporta, Gibbs, J-Mo, Tesla, and I'm on Ross St. Brown. And Goff's gonna stand back there and have the experience to know what routes they're running, what optionality they have out there, and and defenses are gonna be forced to be put in a in a in a situation where they gotta figure out how they're gonna defend against that. What do you do?

SPEAKER_02 24:40

Like you you see that that lineup across um you know that offensive uh offensive line, and you you gotta make choices, right? You gotta you gotta decide. And Goff is intelligent enough to identify those those one-on-one matchups and get the the right play in for the right situation. So that's that's why I I love Goff. Not because he's mobile, not because he's a superstar, it's because he is intelligent enough to get the Detroit Lions in the right play at the right time.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

Yeah, I mean, man, it's gonna be exciting. If those guys stay healthy, uh behind that line, man, behind that new offensive line, um, we're gonna be looking at a a really fun season. And we're gonna talk soon here about you know, kind of a little bit of the flip side of that coin, but um it's very exciting.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Yeah, it was it was a cool experience. I would love to go back again. Um, you know, it's you if you've tried, you know it's hard to get those tickets, especially on that website, whether it's crashing or not. Um, I I thought I had them, I then I thought I didn't have them. Turns out I had them and it worked out, so it was cool.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

Yeah, yeah. Uh so some of the biggest talking points kind of transitioning. Um, I I think right now, you know, Devin White signing, um, it's very rare. And if you can look back to Brad Holmes' tenure with the Lions, that he signs a big name veteran right at this stage of the season. It doesn't happen very often.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

Not this stage, it's usually earlier in free agency that he goes out and gets a couple of those guys that you know are gonna make an impact. Um, but rarely that you get that name recognition, big name signing at this point of you know, going into the first day of pad.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

So I think the the upside here is worth discussing. The problem is is like from uh third or fourth linebacker, you need them to play teams. And is Devin White a guy that's gonna go out there and play teams?

SPEAKER_02 26:46

I don't know. I I I don't know. I I I'd have to go back and look at him as a raider, and where did he go? Was he was he uh was he a special teams guy? He was out in every down linebacker. He was a Mike every day every down linebacker, and now we know we know we're gonna probably push him more into that Sam role. He was a green dot every down linebacker, yeah. You know, and so um we don't need that. We're gonna have to put him a little bit outside that comfort zone. Um, we also know that we've seen him in coverage last year. He's not a great coverage linebacker, he's fast, he's athletic. I mean, the the guy is a specimen when it comes to like mobility, but it just doesn't seem like he has the nose for the ball like a guy like Jack Campbell. Um, you know, and and we're hoping to see Derek Barnes continue to grow um in that role, too.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

So yeah, and I'm I don't think the Lions are asking him to be uh Jack Campbell, right? I think what they're asking him to be is a veteran that can take the playbook in, understand where to be, understand if he's got a spell guys, or even go out there and and play in that spot that they envisioned Jimmy Roller to play to start the season.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

Yeah, and and you looked at him what some of the things that he said. So Devin was was talking to me, yeah, and and talking about like it's not about me anymore, it's about like winning and wanting to win and being a part of a winning culture, and and you know, he's he's had that. Let's bring it here to Detroit.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

Yeah, I I like that. Um, I like that a lot. So um any other deadline moves that you see with with the lines adding something else, uh a veteran.

SPEAKER_02 28:27

Uh I think it's gonna be very dependent on injuries going deeper into camp. Um, you look at sometime we get down to that 53-man cut down, and then you'll see like last year we we brought in the the Lacies, who I've heard had a really, really good camp already. Um, you know, you you look at some of the the needs at that point, and um how hopefully we can address some of those things. But again, this roster is getting better and better each and every year, and it's gonna get harder and harder to to make uh the 53 man, and we're gonna see some of the guys that we fall in love with in those preseason games um go play for other teams, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

Yeah, so um reading through you know the unpadded practices and the padded practice, one thing that's kind of stood out to me is um on the flip side of like, hey, we we just we teased you with like how exciting would it be to have Laporta, Gibbs, Tesla, Jmo, Aman Ra with Goff standing back there with a great offensive line. That sounds great, right? The flip side of that is so far everything I'm reading, everything that's I'm going through is the defenses consistently won red zone drills, uh defenses won D line over O line, um linebackers are making splash plays, cornerbacks are looking pretty good. That nobody's listening is is that not the best dang sign we can see right now?

SPEAKER_02 29:59

We gotta pump the brakes a little bit. All right, we're we're talking about the the entire entirety of our practices up until today were unpadded, you know. So we we have to put ourselves in those places. We have to understand that our our center is still learning and and developing into that playbook. You know, we moved our right tackle to left tackle this year. We have a rookie at right tackle. There's there's some movement. Jameer Gibbs has not seen the field yet. You know, so there's there's these pieces that you have to consider and looking at that. Now, am I excited that our defense is starting to make plays? Yes. Do I want it to be around the ball all the time? Absolutely. Um but you know, we're also talking about an offense that last year, even under Dan Campbell and Jen Morton, one of the most potent offenses in all of the NFL. So this is this is not something I'm even remotely worried about when it comes to the offensive's capability. It's more, you like you said, exciting about how our defense is stepping up. Well ultimately, I I want to see our our defense give our offensive fits because I know how good our offense is.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

So we don't want to like give Shepard his contract extension. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

Hey, let's pump the brakes here. Let's let's see how this plays out a little bit. Alright, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

I feel that. So um with that, I'm gonna we're gonna plug a little bit of an early transition on a off topic uh here before we get into Bill's bullet points and a couple other line segments. So stay with us here if you're not interested in Tiger stuff, but uh kind of a big day out of uh out of the out of the D, right?

SPEAKER_02 31:42

Yeah, it's been a couple days of trade deadlines and what are the tigers gonna do? Are they gonna continue to to buy? Are they gonna are they gonna sell?

SPEAKER_00 31:52

Yeah, yeah. So I mean they they decided early that uh Scooba was traded a couple days ago. Um and then today at you know 5.58 in 32 seconds, uh Casey Myers and Gage Workman uh were also traded. So um the Tigers two years ago tried to finesse the same strategy where they traded Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers for prospects, Tyron Lorenzo, um, I don't know who else, and they still made the playoffs.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

And in one uh one around, right? So this time the Tigers take their they're essentially their preseason number one and number two starters, and they ship them off. Um, and so I just kind of want to highlight a little bit of like the new faces here. So Zaire Hope, um the new number two prospect for a for a loaded tigers farm system. If you look at fan graphs right now, um the tigers have the second most valuable farm system in all of Major League Baseball, only behind the Dodgers. Okay. Um, so there's a lot there. Those are it's like having the second most amount of lotto tickets. Like that doesn't mean you're gonna win, but you have the highest second highest chance to win versus the teams. But is that your hope? Probably your future right fielder for the tigers. Uh five-tool player hits left, crushes lefties at a higher clip than he crushes righty. So a guy that can be in the lineup every day, every day. Um, expected to arrive in one to two years. If if the tigers like really like what they see, they can bring him up next year. Um, he's gonna report to Erie right now, but a very, very exciting young player, 21 years old. Um, so he's right there with that McGonagall uh timeline, Dylan Dingler timeline. And uh by the way, have you watched any games recently? I have. We have a new center fielder in the Max Clark is not doing terrible, let me tell you. No, him and his 13 gold necklaces look pretty good, but that's an exciting, and then then you throw in you got you know, Jackson Job, you got Melton, you got Kyder Montero. Uh this is a very, very exciting nucleus, and uh how you lee's looking good. Yes, um, I mean Max Anderson's tearing up the triple A right now, so like all right, so you know we're kind of sunsetting this year, but um, I'm I'm here to kind of pour some uh sugar on on future years. Uh we also got a guy, River Ryan, not a young minor leaguer. Uh River Ryan is 27, turning 28 soon. He's gonna make his major league debut probably in the next two weeks with the Tigers. He throws a mid to upper 90s fastball. He has six pitch arsenal that he's gonna feature. Um those are all six, all six of those pitches are major league quality pitches. When healthy, he projects as a MISE to MIS plus. Um, he was a uh fangrafts number two prospect for the Dodgers. Um former draft pick of the Padres. Um the Dodgers traded for him, gave up a lot to get him. Um very exciting guy. The last piece of that trade was Brady Smith. Was Brady Smith. So uh right-handed starter, signed to West Michigan. Um his future projection is kind of a number three starter in Major League Baseball. It it that's just a pie in the sky projection. Um but young guy, and um uh you could tell that the Tigers coveted arms.

SPEAKER_02 35:30

So he's a guy that um could also transition into that bullpen type type arm too.

SPEAKER_00 35:36

Certainly could, but he's gonna go to West Michigan. He he has um he's got a high strikeout ratio right now. Um his Ks per nine right now are 11.3 um in the Dodgers farm system. So um he's averaging over a strikeout in inning, which the I think that's one thing the Tigers, one of the metrics that they got away from, especially in the bullpen, Brian, where we we just like we really struggled to get strikeouts when you need strikeouts. So um Cash Mayfield, interesting one, man. So the Tigers, you know, obviously traded my today, and uh this is a this guy's got a cult following with the Padres. If you go to the Padres message boards, um they are just devastated. Not excited about that. So he's a fringe top 100 prospect. He checks in now at Detroit's number six prospect, mid to high 90s fastball already. Um, his best pitch, he features a changeup that they say it's major league baseball ready right now, grades out at a at a 70, which is a very high grade. Um very, very big upside. Um, he's probably a couple years away. He's also um gonna report to West Michigan. Okay, so uh living in West Michigan, be a good time to go out and check out Whitecap's game.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 36:56

Um also picked up Jackson Wolf from the Padres. Um, interesting pickup. ERA in the miners is is north of five. Um lot of tools, throws hard, a lot of stuff out there, just has not put everything together.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

Um but from these prospects and the trades that we made, you know, you lose Scoobyl, who is possibly the best pitcher in the game right now, and you lose Casey Mys, who, you know, for the the the Tigers was our our number two, maybe number three um you know pitcher in the in the rotation. Um, but you bring in prospects, you know, to a like you said, an already potent um you know farm system. You know, you you said this earlier before we we got on, is like we had we had some great prospects already, and we brought in three of our top what six prospects in our farm league just from these two trades.

SPEAKER_00 37:51

So so and if you're watching this and you're jaded on prospects, which I don't blame you. You know, these prospects, there's a lot of names that don't work out, but one thing you could do with prospects is you could trade your prospects over for a proven veteran. So if these guys are are highly rated, they're in the system. That this is you're you're trading in the currency that teams will buy when they're sellers, right? So, like we're trading in US dollars here, right? Like, you know, that this is a very, very nice thing to have your farm system stocked. You got to capitalize when when the time is right, and and maybe these guys will come up and be tigers, or maybe they use them to get the one or two missing pieces to kind of fill out the the team for the next year.

SPEAKER_02 38:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 38:35

Still here? Gliber Torres, yeah, interesting, right?

SPEAKER_02 38:38

Yeah, I I thought that you were gonna ship them out. Flarity.

SPEAKER_00 38:42

Flaherty's still here, yeah. Uh, and then Kenley Jansen, man. Like, uh, I guess they couldn't.

SPEAKER_02 38:48

I mean, there was I I'm guessing those three guys, the market wasn't as potent um for uh for a you know uh it's still expensive second baseman, um, but you know, it had had that solid bat.

SPEAKER_00 39:02

So yeah, and you know there's a lot of Scott Harris haters out there. Um I don't want to be an apologist either, but Scott Harris inherited a 66-win team. Um back-to-back playoff appearances off of that. Um the second best farm system in all of Major League Baseball. This is off the backs of like Dave Dombrowski's philosophy, and Dave Dombrowski did great things for the Tigers, but his philosophy was trade every piece of that farm to get proven veterans. So the Tigers were, you know, Avila inherited that.

SPEAKER_03 39:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 39:37

Um, and the Tigers were were like they didn't have anything in the in the system. Also, we're the second best farm system in baseball, and that's without McGonagall. He's no longer counted towards that. A guy that we pulled early up, you know, you put McGonagall in there, it's probably the you know the best farm out there. Yeah, we're competitive today, we're built for sustained success. So um, just to give you a quick rundown, Max Clark is our number one farm guy. He hasn't graduated. I know he's playing with the Tigers. Side of your hope, number two, Bryce Rayner playing in West Michigan. Man, West Michigan's just absolutely loaded. So Rayner's hitting like 350, doubles home runs. Just, I mean, he's barreling the ball. Like that, the he's your shortstop of the future. Shows range. Uh Jose Prasinho, former White Cap. Uh, he's probably our future first baseman if Torque doesn't put it all together. River Ryan is going to be up there quick. Cash Mayfield going to West Michigan, left-handed pitcher, hopefully dominates. Jordan Yost, 2025, first round draft pick, shortstop, playing in Lakeland right now. Uh Stud, Ben Jacobs, uh, another 2025 draft pick, left-handed pitcher. Max Anderson, you'll see him very, very soon. Max Anderson's last 13 at bats, he's been on at least first base every single time. That's crazy. Um, not counting today's games. I don't know if they played today. Uh, Malachi Weatherspoon, um, stud Chris Rodriguez, top guy signed out of Dominican Republic. Um, Lions spent more money on him than any other time on an international signing in the history. He signed them at 16 years old. Uh toolsy player, guy projects to be kind of 6'3, 220, 5 tool player. Um, just a lot to be excited about uh for the tigers. So I'll I'll jump off a soapbox, but that was kind of a fun. Hey, we're at the end of the trade deadline. It's depressing. We traded away the best pitcher in baseball. Um, maybe our third or fourth best pitcher, but there's a lot to look forward to.

SPEAKER_02 41:42

Yep, yep. And and they're still competitive this year, so they're still trying to make a run and you know, sweeping the uh athletics at their place-ish. Um at Sacramento, and uh, you know, on to the Mariners where they can really gain some ground.

SPEAKER_00 41:58

So if you love off-topic stuff, let us know. If you hate it, let us know. Yeah, if you're like everybody else, don't let us know anything, and we'll just keep doing what we think is okay for the Packets. It's fun.

SPEAKER_02 42:09

Yeah, it's fun. We'll do what we we want to do. Yeah, that's fun. Yeah, that's fun. So um, on to Bill's bullet points. Uh, Bill, you know, I'm still texting back and forth with him about you know the upcoming season. He's got nothing but very exciting things to say about guys like Devin White. He's he's excited to bring him in. He thinks that this might be one of the most aggressive free agent signings that Brad Holmes has had um at this point of the season. Um, and I can't disagree. I mean, you know, he is a guy that has some name recognition, he has some guy that has some prowess, you know. Everybody kind of rolling back to the 2021 where Devin White was uh an all-pro, right? You know, so you know, or or Pro Bowl.

SPEAKER_00 42:47

You know, he was well, he was a second team all pro second team all pro and a pro bowl.

SPEAKER_02 42:50

Okay, so so I mean he he, you know, this is a guy that you know has has some resume put together in order to support the Detroit Lions. Um the big question mark though is that we brought in Devin White in order to help replace uh Jimmy Roller who got banged up and now has some hamstring issues, and we're not not sure how quickly he can return, right? You know, and so does Brett Holmes bring in, you know, these guys that have some injury tendencies um because you get uh you know a good bang for your buck on that, you know. You look at Anna Strike straws, you look at, you know, I don't know, you brought in Davenport in hopes that he would be so not maybe not all draft picks, but guys that he brings into our system that that do have that injury, you know, they're injury prone because you can get the the best value for them.

SPEAKER_00 43:47

So yeah, I mean you you don't know and you're and you're trying to catch a little light in the bottle, and you're doing it on a budget because you got guys like Jameer Gibbs that you gotta sign.

SPEAKER_02 43:58

You got guys. You play within those margins, right?

SPEAKER_00 44:01

Yeah. So Laporta wants money, right? Brian Branch wants money. So like it's here we are.

SPEAKER_02 44:06

Here we go. Um you you look at guys like um that white that that pile up tackles that that play well, but what are the analytics saying and and are they going to help support him, you know, help supporting this team.

SPEAKER_00 44:20

So are you a PF pe PFF guy or are you like a yeah in moderation?

SPEAKER_02 44:25

In moderation, you know. I mean you you look at PFF and there's some of their scores, and you look at they love Hutch. They love them some Hutch. He gets some really good scores. They love them some Sewell. Yeah, really, they get some really good scores, but there may be some guys that they're a little bit more down on.

SPEAKER_00 44:41

So we like PFF when they like our guys, but we don't like PFF when they don't like our guys.

SPEAKER_02 44:47

You know it. You know it. So Bill also talks about how Tesla had had a rough camp. I I was texting today. Hey, he's looking smooth today. Um, I think he's still got some work to do. I mean, the guy, again, is in year two um of his NFL, and he again was young in regards to the wide receiver position. He was a quarterback through high school, he went to Hillsdale for two years, he went to Arkansas for another couple years that didn't feature him all that much. So he's got some growing to do, but he looked, again, to me today, he looked like that wide receiver three. Yeah, all right, yeah. All right. Um, and then you know, I you can't get Bill off of the Montgomery. Like he he still thinks that that was a mistake to let him walk and and to rely on guys like Isaiah Pacheco or even Vaki. Vaki like getting poked in the eye. You talk about you know whether not having that running back two, that feature, that next guy that can help support this team gives Gibbs this leverage in order to say, hey, you know, you don't have any best to lean on, you know, you gotta rely on me and so therefore give me the bag. So and that's not not he's not wrong.

SPEAKER_00 46:00

Well, we signed a guy, Pacheco, that brought his team uh into multiple playoff runs, right? So there's there's guys there, sure.

SPEAKER_02 46:08

And I like Pacheco. I think that Pacheco can give the this team a spark when gives us it on the field.

SPEAKER_00 46:15

Also, speaking of a guy that the analytics don't love, Pacheco. Analytics don't love Pacheco.

SPEAKER_02 46:20

No, and so um I I like the way he plays, I like that he is reckless abandoned. I I just I'm worried about his durability, and I mean he this guy plays like so hard without the body to be able to play so hard. So um, you know, that that that worries me a little bit. Anyway, um DJ Reed, loving that he is back to form, looking like he is somebody that's um pre-injury DJ Reed versus post coming back too early DJ Reed, and that's a huge piece for this Lions defense.

SPEAKER_00 46:53

Dear seven pounds, seven ounce baby Jesus. We need DJ Reed to be a number one corner. Let's go. Amen. Yeah, so amen.

SPEAKER_02 47:04

Yeah, um, and uh whatever. Cosm? Is that is that am I saying that right? I Brian, I don't know, man. I don't know. Yeah, so he's texting me this this virtual, intervirtual like bar and grill that is coming to Detroit that we're all excited. Like he sent me some videos. Thing looks sweet, like you're immersed, like you can be in a bar and a restaurant while still feeling like you're in the game in the front row. That I'm in. That seems awesome.

SPEAKER_00 47:34

Bring it to Grand Rapids, I'll be more in. Yeah, more in.

SPEAKER_02 47:37

Yeah, absolutely. So thanks, Bill, for your bullets.

SPEAKER_00 47:40

Yeah, as always, Bill. Uh we'd love to have you right between the little love circle right here. Yeah, bring it right in.

SPEAKER_02 47:45

I text him again, hey, what you doing tonight?

SPEAKER_00 47:47

He's like, packed, it's packed night. It's a pack night.

SPEAKER_02 47:50

Yeah, so like a packed Monday night, Bill.

SPEAKER_00 47:53

Oh man. Uh, you want to close with a quick question and then get out of here? Let's do it. I told I told the audience 47 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 47:59

And we're at 4833.

SPEAKER_00 48:01

Yeah. Yeah. So some of those minutes didn't count at the end. Yeah, yeah. So, what's one thing that's happened for Detroit? It's gotta happen for Detroit. Um, to win the Super Bowl that nobody out there is talking about right now, and it can't be golf going crazy, hush going crazy, or injuries, the blatant, like, oh, like people gotta be healthy, or people can't be injured, right? Like, what's that one thing that it's gotta be just I don't know, something under the radar?

SPEAKER_02 48:40

Um one, I I I think it looks at the defensive side of the ball. Um, I think that you need to have production from guys like Tyleek Williams and Alien McNeil. Okay. Um I think that you need to have uh Stellar Year from Derek Barnes. Um, you know, especially if we're not gonna go into a base package and see a ton of uh three line worker sets. We're gonna we're gonna rely on Derek Barnes to play a huge role. What about we just say both Dereks?

SPEAKER_00 49:09

Derek's?

SPEAKER_02 49:10

Yeah, Derek Moore? Yeah, Derek Barnes.

SPEAKER_00 49:13

You ever watch the uh show Shrinking?

SPEAKER_02 49:16

Yes, I've seen. Yeah, it's a great show, it's not single.

SPEAKER_00 49:19

Yeah, it's an Apple, but there's yeah, there's the two Dereks. Right? There's the the black Derek and the white Derek, and they're both handsome guys, like hair farmers, but like maybe our version of the two Derek show up and uh they they have really good season. I love it. Yeah, I would love that.

SPEAKER_02 49:35

Um, so I would say the defensive one, they have to produce pressure and they have to produce turnovers. If those two things happen on our defensive side of the ball, I think that our season is going to be successful.

SPEAKER_00 49:48

Yeah, I'd I would absolutely be along for the ride and be recording every other week or so on passing time podcast as it goes. So um we're starting to, you know, like put the Honolulu Kool-Aid in the in the glass, right?

SPEAKER_02 50:08

Like after today, it's one of those things that it warms it back up, football becomes real again, you know, and and I I love being able to share that with my boys, and now bringing it back here and sharing it with Rob. Oh, I'm one of your boys, yeah. Alright, that's not what I meant. But anyway, so no, it was it just gets me re-invigorated and excited for for the Lions and what they have to offer because I'm I'm not I'm not joking when I say we're so close to those stars aligning. One or two things that are in our favor, whether it's health, whether it's like these turnovers, whether it's Derek Moore having eight sacks, whether it's Hutch having a record season for himself, whether it's whatever it might be, some of these things have to align, but when they do, it's going to be special.

SPEAKER_00 51:00

And and you you can never predict what's gonna happen. It could be Devin White coming in here and having 115 tackles, being you know, like that that sounds far fetched. It could be Isaac Tesla catching 14 touchdown passes this year. Like you just don't know. Don't know the roster is there to have a lot of possibilities. The unknown isn't known now, but the end of the year, it could we could look back on it and be like, it was so obvious. Like we should have known that. And last year's so obvious was the offensive line was weak. And we have a statue quarterback that like needs a good line, and the we had a you know, a first year defensive coordinator that like he lost his head coach because he was coaching the offense and he was kind of out on his own island, you know, like it was so obvious, but like you have to live through the the life to to be that way, and what Brian's saying is like, hey, like there's a lot of possibilities um for something to be so obvious right now to turn out good, and and we need a little bit of that mo.

SPEAKER_02 52:03

Yep, we need it, and as Lions fans, we go, we we live in the hopium, and we we are we're striving for that success, where we're just hoping for that that one thing to go right versus go wrong. And if you're like me, it it doesn't matter if you're up by 14 or if you're up by three, your your breath is not easy until that last snap is is is taken and that knee is is on the ground and the time kicks zero zero zero, right? Because we've seen crazier things happen.

SPEAKER_00 52:38

And Brian's gonna rip his shirt off if we go on any longer. So we're gonna kill it right there, fellas. Uh, thanks for passing time with us. Um, this is episode number 56. And we will be back for episode number 57 very soon.