We’re less than 24 hours away from the Detroit Lions making their first pick in the 2022 NFL Draft (assuming they don’t trade out). It will be the culmination of months and months of hard work in scouting and assessing how to build a winning team. Most of that work is done behind the scenes, never to be made public.
But the Lions gave us an inside look at their process in the third installment of this year’s Inside the Den documentary series. In it, the Lions take the viewers to their local pro day, where NFL Draft prospects from nearby schools or those native to the Detroit Metro area get a private workout with the Lions. It’s a cool part of the process that rarely gets seen.
However, the highlight of the 15-minute video comes at the 12-minute mark. Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is speaking to an unknown draft prospect who is on a top-30 visit in the facility. The camera holds on Glenn for nearly two straight minutes, as the future head coach does his best job to sell the Detroit Lions to this prospect.
You’re about to get chills.
If you can’t watch it now, here’s a transcription of the entire thing:
“Here’s what I want to give you. I want to give you comfort. Just saying if we draft you. Me and the head coach, one thing that I feel very strong about was that man there, because I’ve been around him for a long time, and I trust him (with) everything I have. And I’m not just saying that because he’s a former player. I’m saying that because he’s a good person, he’s a hell of a coach.
“The other thing that intrigued me about Detroit was, man, this team, I can tell you we started something different, and that intrigues me, man. Because I want the challenge of coming here and how can we get this organization to be a championship organization?
“We said, ‘They just talk, man. How are we going to do it?’ Here’s the one thing that we always said we will end up doing—and I’m telling you this because, again, this will get you comfortable about being here—everything that we do, man, is going to be about serving the players. Everything we do from recovery to practice to teaching. Every coach that we have in this building, man, is all about teaching the players and what can we do to put the players in the best position to make plays.
“Man, I want to create a winning environment for every player that I come in contact with on this team. That’s the change that people don’t know about here in Detroit. They might feel bad or think bad about Detroit because we haven’t won in a while. Now, if you watched us play last year—3-13-1—I’m not happy about it. But I will tell you this, we competed our ass off, played hard, but that comes from the trust the players have with us. Because you don’t get that without trusting players. So now going to this year, my motto for the players is, ‘Now is time to take another step.’”
Cherish Aaron Glenn, y’all. Because I’m not sure the Lions can hide him from the rest of the league much longer.
