We’re less than 24 hours from the Detroit Lions picking their first pick in the 2022 NFL Draft (assuming they don’t trade). It will be the culmination of months and months of hard work scouting and assessing how to build a successful team. Most of this work is done behind the scenes and never made public.
But the Lions gave us a glimpse into their process in the third installment of this year’s Inside the Den documentary series. In it, the Lions take viewers to their local Pro Day, where NFL draft prospects from nearby schools or those based in the Detroit metro area have a private practice session with the Lions. It’s a cool part of the process that’s rarely seen.
However, the highlight of the 15 minute video comes at the 12 minute mark. Lions defense coordinator Aaron Glenn speaks to an unidentified candidate who is at the facility for a Top 30 visit. The camera captures Glenn for nearly two minutes as the head coach-to-be does his best to sell the Detroit Lions to this prospect.
You’re about to get chills.
(jump to 12:12 mark)
If you can’t see it now, here’s a transcript of the whole thing:
“This is what I want to give you. I want to give you comfort. I’m only saying if we call you up. Me and the head coach, one thing that’s very important to me, that man was there because I’ve been with 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 say that because he’s a good person, he’s a damn good coach.
“The other thing that fascinated me about Detroit was, man, this team, I can tell you we started something different, and that fascinates me, man. Because I want the challenge of coming here and how can we get this organization to become a championship organization?
“We said, ‘You’re just talking, man. How shall we do it?’ Here’s the one thing that we’ve always said we’re going to do in the end – and I’m telling you this because you’re going to feel comfortable here again – everything we do, man, is going to be about, the players to serve. Everything we do, from recovery to practice to teaching. Every coach we have in this building man is about teaching the players and what we can do to put the players in the best position to make games.
“Man, I want to create a winning environment for every player I come into contact with on this team. That’s the change that people here in Detroit don’t know about. They might feel bad or think bad about Detroit because we haven’t won in a while. Well, if you watched us play last year—3-13-1—I’m not happy about it. But I’m telling you, we kicked our ass off, played hard, but that comes from the trust the players have in us. Because you don’t get that without trusting the players. So my motto for the players this year is, ‘Now is the time to take another step.’”
Appreciate Aaron Glenn, y’all. Because I’m not sure the Lions can hide him from the rest of the league much longer.