The Detroit Lions are on the clock.
The countdown began Friday in Allen Park, on the practice fields outside the team’s headquarters, where the team’s rookies, and free-agent rookie signings, slipped on their jerseys, helmets and worked through some drills.
On Saturday, the rookies were back, in front of reporters, talking a little trash — or, rather, gesturing a little trash, as Sam LaPorta, the team’s newest tight end, did when he deked Jack Campbell, the team’s newest linebacker, by pointing and waving at him.
Maybe it’s an Iowa thing, as the pair lined up across from each other as Hawkeyes. Or maybe it’s a roommate thing. Or maybe it’s a “Remember the Titans” thing, the iconic football movie that celebrates a defensive end pointing to the opposing team’s coach as if to say: “You aren’t scoring again.”
Campbell, of course, says that without pointing at all. Or even without talking. He. Is. Intense.
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You can feel it from yards away. Stand next to him for a few minutes and you can almost smell it.
His head coach, Dan Campbell, loves to coach guys who love football. His rookie linebacker clearly loves football.
Will he be any good? We’ll see. His size — 6 feet 5, 249 pounds — is noticeable even on a field of human beings who get noticed for their size.
Maybe it’s the seriousness with which he eats up space. Which is the opposite of how his former roommate eats up space.
“Somebody called me underwhelming one time,” said LaPorta when asked about his speed, which is striking in person and not so much on the television screen; he played in those black and yellow Iowa uniforms, though, so give him some slack?
LaPorta, for what it’s worth, dismissed his doubter and he chuckled when recalling it. He welcomes the haters, obviously. I mean, can you play for Campbell if you don’t?
That’s fuel, man.
Fuel Hendon Hooker gulps by the gallon (or at least by the quart, because it isn’t cheap these days). Then again, if Hooker’s on-field ability ever matches his easy charisma, he’ll never need to drive again, nor buy fuel.
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But back to the metaphorical fuel favored by the former Tennessee quarterback, who didn’t participate in drills as he continues rehab of his torn ACL, but somehow took over the practice anyway, by vibe and by presence, and by dap — as in he dapped up damn near every one of his fresh-faced teammates.
His own fresh face is 25, a little aged for a rookie quarterback, but then calling that to attention may be ageism. All I know is that the mid-20s QB has a few sparks coming off him, and if you’ve been paying attention to the manner and tenor of his coach — and of course you have or you wouldn’t be reading this — then Hooker is yet another meant-to-be Lion.
That’s the goal, anyway: Find the guys you want, the guys that fit your program, everyone else’s take be damned.
Not that taking Hooker in the third round was side-eyed by the game’s cognoscenti. No, they saved their (amusement?) disbelief for Jahmyr Gibb’s selection in the first round, along with Campbell’s selection six picks later.
A first-round linebacker? Another tight end, they moaned?
LaPorta would welcome the chatter we learned Saturday morning in Allen Park. He might find it funny, too.
Ray Agnew wasn’t laughing so much as he was smiling before practice when he met with reporters. The assistant general manager had been talking about the team’s draft and what he thought about the mixed reviews of his and Brad Holmes’ latest haul.
“We might have shocked the world, but we didn’t shock this building right here,” said Agnew, who then added: “Don’t worry about what people think.”
A staple of sleep and relative peace, don’t you think? And clearly a staple of the attitude he and the front office and Campbell want for their locker room and huddles.
Don’t worry about what people think. Unless it’s schedule-makers and television broadcasters, then worry all you want. Or maybe don’t worry as much as pay attention, because league brass and their TV partners think a fair amount of your Lions.
Which brings us back to the clock, and how the Lions are on it, and how a rookie minicamp suddenly feels like the biggest sports story in years … OK, decades.
Now now, that’s going too far.
I agree. Yet think about what’s on the other end of the ticking clock: Kansas City. As in: The Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Andy Reid, Super Bowl champs. This is where the Lions begin their regular season, at Arrowhead Stadium, on a Thursday night, the only game in town.
It has been a while since the Lions jumped on this stage. It has been longer since the buzz started before the leaves are fully out.
Here we are though, mid-May, talking about the NFL’s opening night because the Lions are actually a part of it, and it’s not silly to think they will compete with the champs.
“I think it shows that they see we’re on the come-up,” said running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who couldn’t practice Saturday because of an ankle tweak, “and we’re trying to build something special.”
On the come-up. Now that’s a tidy way to describe the blossoming anticipation and, dare I say, hype.
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He was psyched, by the way, even if he didn’t show it in tone or facial expression. Gibbs is quiet and low-key that way, at least in public. The running back version of Campbell — Jack, not Dan. Or maybe Campbell is the linebacking version of Gibbs.
Whatever the preference, both dig letting their play speak for them, and both should be starters in some way when that night in Kansas City arrives. LaPorta will compete for a starting spot, too, even if he is a bit more chatty than his teammates.
And what does he think of getting his first NFL action against the defending champs?
“Really cool,” he said. “Maybe I’m a little naïve — I think all rookies are. (But) the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I got chills when I heard we were going to Arrowhead to open up the season.”
It can’t come soon enough.
Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @shawnwindsor.