One of the reasons for the Detroit Lions recent success has been the devotion to the team’s culture. Established by GM Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell, the Lions are a team that thrives on a shared concept of hard work, high football intelligence and a commitment to players who positively represent the Lions and the city of Detroit on and off the field.
Campbell famously summed up the final point a couple of years ago with a simple mantra: No turds.
It’s not just about avoiding players with arrest records or drug issues. No turds and “no floaters” also refers to football character, being a good teammate, hard work and devotion to winning. There haven’t really been any exceptions to the rule as the Lions have risen from the bottom in 2019-2020 to the NFC’s No. 1 seed a year ago.
Don’t expect that to change as the NFL’s waiver wire approaches. Even though the Lions do have some potential needs following Tuesday’s roster cutdowns, Campbell sounds intent on not deviating from the strong “no turds” policy. Campbell was asked about the Lions’ vetting process on potential outside acquisitions.
“What was their background in college coming out? That’s always going to be big. I mean, chances are, if it was somebody that we weren’t really fired up about coming out then because of character, we’re probably not going to look at them if they’re available now,” Campbell told reporters on Monday.
On-field play certainly matters too. Campbell made that clear as he continued his answer,
“The rest is up to the tape, man. What does the tape look like? Do we feel like that’s something that fits our system? Do we feel like we can help them grow and get better? Are we excited about the player? That’s a lot of it too. It’s hard for Brad (Holmes) and I to bring in guys that we’re warm about. You want to feel like you’re hot over them, because there’s somewhere to go or they have something about them that you feel like you can develop.”
Campbell noted that the current players are part of that process, too. It might mean passing on a player that many fans perceive could really help. Campbell and the Lions aren’t worried about that.
“We’re getting to the point now where we feel like our locker room is so good, too. We’ve got a great group of guys. Said this before, they set the standard for what we do, and they know what’s acceptable. So, anybody that comes in is going to fall in line or they’re not going to be here very long.”
This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Lions won’t break their ‘no turds’ policy with any roster additions