Detroit Lions players meet with the media on August 3 | 2025 Training Camp Day 9

Detroit Lions players meet with the media on August 3 | 2025 Training Camp Day 9

How would you give your how would you rate your performance from last week? A zero out of 10. You know, it wasn’t uh to my standards or to the team standards um of just being productive and uh controlling the huddle and uh making plays. How do you turn the page on something like that? Just play the next play. Uh short-term memory um and just continue to motivate my teammates. That’s what I’m here to do. Push my push my troops down the field and put the ball in the end zone. It look different, I guess, you know, in the game versus in practice. I mean, um, you know, we just got to come out and execute, point blank, period. Um, no excuses and leave it at that. How key is every opportunity that you get to prove yourself? It’s very key. Every play is important. So, just taking advantage of every play, um, every throw, uh, every decision, and just putting my best foot forward every time. Do you approach the game from a different perspective knowing you’re going to start this this next one? No. Prepare the same way. I’ll play with that same confidence and swagger and have fun. How about how tight end friendly is is this John’s offense? Oh, it’s great. I mean, um we’re getting a lot of action so far. Doing a lot of the same stuff we’ve always done, so good to get in there and um help out in the run game, make plays in the past game like always. Your early thoughts on having Tyler as your coach now? Oh, it’s great. We love working with him. Um he cares so much about helping us get better and um just improving and competing every day. So, he’s been really good for the group. A lot of the dirty work on this roster, you know, been referred to as kind. Um just curious, what was your focus this off season? Where was the part? I mean, as a tight end, you got to focus on every part, getting better in both the um run game and pass game like we always talk about. So, uh just hammering down technique, trying to get as good as I can um with the basics. Just trying to master the basics every day. So, whether it’s footwork, pad level, hand placement, all the same stuff for me. And then, um figuring out ways to get open in the pass game. stands out of one of the new guys. What’s that? What stands out about one of the new guys, Kenny tomorrow? Uh, he’s a great teammate. We love having him. Um, he actually just had his first child yesterday, so you might have noticed he wasn’t with us today. So, be looking forward to get him back tonight or tomorrow night. Um, but he’s just, you know, the same as the rest of the group, just hard workers come to uh try and get better every day and compete for the group. have any thoughts on like how the team responds to obviously Thursday night was disappointment just because it’s an exhibition. Is it easy to put it behind you or does it kind of gnaw at you a little bit? I mean it always stings uh when you get beat especially um in a way like that but I think it’s um just a another reminder that uh you have to have a sense of urgency even though it’s early in training camp. It’s a sense of urgency to get better every day and um uh you know it’s a it’s a race to try and improve and get to where we want to be cuz um we got a long way to go this season. Where do you see Sam better in his third year and can you think back to your third year and just the comfort level that you felt and where he’s at? Yeah, I think the more experience you get, the game kind of slows down for you and I think you’re seeing that with him. um a lot less thinking, a lot more just playing fast and going out there being the athlete that he is. Um so I think it’s just the knowledge of the game. Um being able to slow things down for him has helped out a ton and um you can see it. I mean he’s he’s having a great camp so far. He looks great out there. Do you think we have to talk to some of the younger guys? No, I don’t think you I don’t think you want to overcorrect. It’s just like I said earlier, going back to the basics, hammering down on the basics. you you say you master those things and that’s how you um I mean that’s how you get to the next level and keep improving. So it all comes down to technique and fundamentals at the end of the day especially for a group like ours when um I mean you take care of those things and everything else will follow. Do you sense any of that urgency you mentioned as you guys got back here have back Oh yeah definitely yeah for sure and uh I mean that that had just to be the focus every day like I said it’s a race to improve every single day. You guys get a night practice tomorrow night. You looking forward to that something break it up a little bit. Yeah it’s great. Great. I mean, it’s also good because um I mean, you know, we played at 8:00 the other night and we’re used to, you know, I’m almost in bed at that time. So, it’s good to uh change up the schedule a little bit, get out here in the evening and um you know, get ramped up at that time of night. So, it’ll be good for us. When’s the last time you saw work at safety? Uh probably high school. Probably high school. I mean, just all the different places they’re they’re trying you out and what it says maybe about the camp you’ve had for them. Yeah, I mean just being multiple, you know, being a versatile guy, just trying to show them what I can do, show my teammates what I can do, you know, being an asset to the team in any way that I can help this team win, I want to I want to do it. What is that conversation like when they approach you? Just, hey, will I put you back there and see what it looks like or? Yeah. um kind of in the uh spring, JLo told me he was like, you know, take a look at some of the safety stuff, you know, over the over over the uh summer, over the break. And um you know, we’re going to try to we’re going to put you back there during camp and see how you how you look. And um I’m just taking it in stride. I mean, I’m really I’m excited about the opportunity to play anywhere. You know, if it’s safety, if it’s corner, wherever it is, just to get out on the field and help this team win, I’m excited about it. Can you just speak to the the versatility of this? You got guys like Brian Branch, your safety one. You know, Alvante can do it both, too. Now we see you do it. Just what an asset that is to a sector to have so many different guys that can play a lot of different spots and be pretty versatile. Yeah. Um the last time I saw it like this was when I was in Baltimore in 23. Um guy Kyle Hamilton, he played a lot of play nickel, play safety, down safety, middle safety. Um play nickel. He was playing manto man. He was blitzing, you know, playing zone. He was doing everything. And that was the first time I saw a guy do it. Like I play with a guy that done it. And now, you know, seeing BB do it, obviously. Um, seeing uh Vonte do it, you know, it’s really cool because it it it um opens up the playbook, you know, you can you can call a lot more defenses. You can blitz, you can you can do a lot of different things. It makes you very multiple and it makes it hard on offense. So, I understand the the idea behind it and um I think it’ll work really well for us here. How much does defense fit your skill set? I mean, given I think I think I fit it well. I mean, it’s aggressive defense. play a lot of man. We do a lot of different things. Um, it’s aggressive as hell, you know. I love that part about it. Um, it’s a it’s a technically sound defense. It’s I mean, it’s a really good defense. Chap’s calling it well. It’s a good system here. Safety. Talked to other guys that play different corner. You could worry about yourself. You’re on the right. Same worry about everybody in a sense. Like what what’s the mental switch that you have when you’re, you know, in that different alignment? It’s just, you know, the farther you are away from the ball, the less mentally challenged it is. Like playing corner, you’re far away from the ball. So, it’s just more physical. But playing safety, you know, it’s mental and physical. You know, you it’s more communication. You’re communicating with the corners, communicating back and forth with the linebacker. Obviously, communicating with other safety, it’s a lot more communication and um but it’s it’s it’s I mean, I’m excited about it. Going back to the screen, how much is that a factor in, you know, choosing this place? plays. I mean, even the value of playing run defense and, you know, they at least stress tackling with the defensive backs. I mean, how much was that kind of the thought process that come? Anytime. I feel like um any, you know, player, any defensive player with the right mindset, they want to play in aggressive defense. They want to play in a defense that’s swarming. I mean, we turn the film on, guys flying around, hitting people, covering well, you know, taking the ball away. you know, anybody that’s uh uh uh has the right mentality playing defense would would love to play here in this defense. What’s your basic, I guess, level of understanding of the defense at this point? Because obviously in order to play safety, you kind of have to know what everyone’s doing. So, how comfortable are you in this new scheme? I’m comfortable. I mean, I’m comfortable. I mean, um Jo, I’m meeting with Jo. I’m meeting with DT, watching film extra after after uh after we leave. Um I’m in the virtual reality room. I mean, I’m just taking, you know, every opportunity I can to to learn this defense and to go out there and compete and put good things on film. Does it remind you of any of the other defenses you’ve been in? Uh, the the mentality the mentality is similar to what I played in in Baltimore. Just the aggressive mentality, man. I just Good defenses. They mar they marry up though, you know, that that’s fundamentals of defense is aggressiveness, tackling, taking the ball away, you know, being technically sound. So, good defenses marry up. Where does that virtual reality, we hear about that sometimes. Where does that help you? What do you get out of that? Well, I call it virtual reality, but it’s not really virtual. It’s just like a big screen, you know, being able to watch film on a big screen. It’s like you can stand in there and and and move around as if you’re in the game. So, it’s like getting those extra mental reps without, you know, actually taking a physical toll on your body.

Hear from Detroit Lions quarterback Hendon Hooker, tight end Brock Wright and defensive back Rock Ya-Sin. As they speak to the media on August 3, 2025 at Detroit Lions Training Camp presented by Rocket.

0:00 – 0:56: Hendon Hooker
0:57 – 4:17: Brock Wright
4:18 – 8:38: Rock Ya-Sin

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