Avonte Maddox returns home to play for Detroit Lions | 1-on-1 with Dannie Rogers

Avante, raised on the east side of Detroit, born here, and after seven years in Philly, you finally get to come home and play for your Lions. What pieces of Detroit did you take with you on your football journey? Uh just just really the grit, the grind, um the bluecollar uh city we are. and you know just picking up from my family and you know always hard working and you know just making sure you know do do everything within the details and you know mostly working hard. What was your family’s reaction when offseason came and the stars aligned and you signed with your hometown team? Oh they were excited. Uh my dad, I got calls from everyone, even my friends here. Um my co high school coaches, they were always was contacting me throughout my season. But you know, even when I was with Philly, I was always rooting for the Lions unless we were playing them. But now that I’m here, you know, always my favorite team and I’m happy and excited to be a part of it. You went to Kane High School. You were a standout baseball player, MVP all four years. Yeah. MLB prospect at one point. Yep. Should you be playing for the Tigers down the street? Oh, yeah. I know. No, I think I’m here where I’m supposed to be. I mean, God, you know, he always works it out and, you know, he has a plan for you and my plan was to play football and, you know, I’m grateful for that. But, you know, high school, I did play football, I mean, baseball all four years and that’s what I was really going into high school to do. Yeah. So, you stopped playing football once you got to high school and then junior year, you picked it back up. So, I’d love to show you something. Talk us through everything you’re seeing right now. No, this is junior year. First year playing high school football. Kick return to the house against East English. I remember jerseys just bigger than me. Untucked. It’s just a cool guy with untucked jersey. Yeah, your big lineman. Wait for it. Oh, he does. He picked me up. Oh, you fly into his arms like an angel. Yes, I remember. Wow. I haven’t seen this play in a long time, actually. And that’s at Ford Field. And that’s at Ford Field. So, I played at forfield a lot actually. Look at this. Oh, the slam for the touchdown. I remember this is this is my senior year. We got new jerseys. You could tell, huh? These are all offensive highlights. Yeah, right. I should have played receiver. What are we doing here? I know. Wow. That’s that that’s wonderful. Yeah. Yeah. What would you say to the high school kids right now, young kids in Detroit who might want to play for their hometown team? Just keep grinding. Uh get your grades first. I mean, that’s the first thing, first step. You know, you want to be able to make it to college and be able to play. And other than that, I just say, you know, just be detailed in your fundamentals. You never should um teach effort, you know, that should be something that you should have and something that can’t be taught. Um and then another thing is playing reckless. I mean, just playing hard, you know? So, that’s kind of what I did growing up when I was in high school. I was always on detail. If my foot was on the line, it was on the line. If if I had to be back here, I had to be back here. I was up there. Up there. That was my big thing. Week one at Lambo. Not a better way to kick off your career as a Detroit Lion. You put on the the uniform for preseason, but this is the real one. How do you think you’ll feel? Uh I’m actually I’m actually excited. Um I can feel right now the excitement already, you know, being the first, you know, real season game with the Lions. And, you know, even though it’s at Lambo, I’m really excited to, you know, just put that jersey on and be there. But and then when we get that first home game, that’ll be really special for me as well because, you know, it would be my first game as a Lion at home and not playing with King forward Field. So, that’ll be pretty cool as well. So, you know, I’m excited and ready for for this weekend.

Hear from Detroit Lions defensive back Avonte Maddox as speaks with Dannie Rogers about returning to play for his hometown Detroit Lions ahead of the 2025 season opener against the Green Bay Packers.

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