The Ben Johnson Comedy Tour stopping in Indy
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Apparently Ben Johnson got jokes. You are Locked On Lions, your daily Detroit Lions podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

All right, what's good, everybody? Matt Derry with you. It is Locked On Lions on the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Today is Wednesday, February 26th. And a Thursday, February 27th. Combine continuing in Indianapolis. Thanks for making us your first listen and checking us out wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you to our everydayers that watch and listen to the podcast daily. And tomorrow.

One of our everydayers will be our call of the day. Be our call of the day. Go to our voicemail system at www.speakpipe.com slash dairy podcast page and leave your entry. We've got a few that we are noodling on right now. Coming up on the program today, the latest from the combine, including, oh, Ben Johnson. Oh,

Oh, Ben Johnson, he just keeps making jokes about the Lions. He just loves taking shots at Jared Goff. Oh, Benedict, Benedict Johnson, this is a knee slapper. I mean, anybody else getting sick of Ben Johnson's jokes? Well, I'm going to play you a couple of these babies. He just keeps talking. The Bears just keep putting him in front of the camera and the microphone. Oh, my gosh, this guy's making the rounds. He just keeps talking.

And taking little swipes at the Lions. And I think it's getting tiresome. We will get into that coming up momentarily here on Locked on Lions. What else do I have today? You know, I love when I put on the rundown and I don't remember what I said. Oh, yes. ESPN says the Lions are very interested in Miles Garrett. One day after Brad Holmes yesterday said, it's probably not happening. I will tell you about the report from Kimberly Martin at ESPN.

Martin, we will do that coming up momentarily on the program as well. The NFL PA had their poll come out, their survey of the NFL players. The Lions have now cracked the top 10 as far as what the players think of the organization. We will talk about that. And Jonah Jackson could be on the move. All of that today right here on a Wednesday locked on Lions. All right, so.

I didn't want to really rev this up and do this, but if I don't do this, I'm not doing my job as host of Locked on Lions. I am not a homer. I am not a shill. When the organization does something I don't like, I'm going to point it out. When the organization does well, I'll point that out too. You guys know me. Ben Johnson was a phenomenal offensive coordinator here. He was fantastic.

It will be a big loss for the Lions going from Ben Johnson to John Morton. And I know John Morton has been very transparent. He's done a bunch of interviews down at the Combine. He told, I think, Danny Rogers at DetroitLions.com. He kind of knew he probably wasn't ready to be an OC the first time around about seven, eight years ago with the Jets. He can't wait for his other opportunity, his next opportunity this time to run the Lions offense and call plays, et cetera.

But I I'm the jury's out on Morton. I don't know if he's going to be as good as Ben Johnson, but good old Benedict is he's doing every interview outside. I mean, this guy's everywhere. When he got hired by the bears, he was talking to everybody. He was on the cow herd show. He was on the Jim Rome show. He was on ESPN. He was, he was everywhere.

And now at the Combine, same thing. I got people sending me his appearance on the Big Cat and PFT show. Pardon my take. He's being interviewed by Mike Florio on the Pro Football Talk show. He, of course, was on the podium yesterday at the Combine where all general managers and coaches do talk. If you missed yesterday's show and what Brad Holmes had to say and Nick Baumgartner from The Athletic on yesterday's show, go back and listen to it or watch it.

But here are a couple of clips for you from good old Benny boy who, who right now thinks he's really funny, really fun. And he's taking little small digs at Jared golf. The first one I don't understand. All right. He was asked about Caleb Williams and being able to coach a guy that is going to make plays with his legs. All right. Do things outside of the pocket and listen to Ben Johnson's answer from yesterday. Um,

On the podium from Indianapolis. Let me cue this up here because I think it's ridiculous. I don't think it's ridiculous, but I think he took it too far. So let me do that right now. Let's take a listen to this from yesterday. The creation, that's what stands out. The out of structure, the off schedule, the creation, that's what stands out the most because that's really the way that this league's going right now, it seems like.

As much as you want to make it pure progression one to two to three,

There's just too much variety. The pass rush is coming down. And to have an athlete like Caleb extend the play and potentially find an explosive down the field, that's what gets me going a little bit. I get excited thinking about that because I haven't really been around that since I've been in the league. But I've been on the other side, and I've experienced it. And it's demoralizing when you're on the other side and you're watching that happen to your defense. All right, so there's Ben Johnson.

taking a shot at Jared Goff and you can say oh no he wasn't and you can defend him that was a shot that was a shot all he had to do was say I'm excited about it he went into the thing about Caleb with his legs and and and and you know improvising and all this stuff and I'm excited about it but then at the end he had to say you know I haven't had that before in this league it's almost like

He never called a play that had a rollout for Jared Goff. It's almost like Jared Goff never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever ran for a first down, which he did. Is Caleb Williams more mobile than Jared Goff? Of course. Can Caleb Williams make plays with his legs more than Jared Goff? Sure. I'll take Jared Goff over Caleb Williams all day. Jared Goff knows how to manage the clock at the end of the game.

Young Buck up there in Chicago was clueless and he got lucky Caleb Williams because his coach got fired because of it. And everybody blamed Eberflues, but then it happened again later in the year where they were having issues with timeouts and clock management happened again. First time, shame on you. Second time, shame on me. So while I think Ben Johnson is going to make Caleb Williams a better quarterback than he was this season, can't argue that the guy's an excellent coach.

But a little shot, a little dig at Jared Goff, that's weak sauce. Weak sauce. This coming from the guy who was going to become the Bears head coach in November. All right? His agent, and people are saying publicly, Ben Johnson was gone in November. Thanks, Ben. Thanks. This guy was long gone from here before the season was over. Now, was he trying to win with the Lions? Yes. But shut up and keep your mouth shut.

taking shots at Jared Goff. And then he doubles down today on the Pro Football Talk Show with Mike Florio and Chris Sims. Let me cue this one up. And while he's doing it in jest, which I understand. Let me just hold on. I got to cue this up. I get it. You're in jest. You're having some fun with your hold on. Oh, my gosh. Hang on. Cueing this up.

So they were asking him, Florio and Chris Sims, about the Panay Sewell throwing the ball. Take a listen to this. This is courtesy of Pro Football Talk. I know many of you are big Mike Florio fans. Mike Florio. People do not like this guy. Take a listen.

Panay Sewell looked like he was ready to throw a pass, and it is very rare for an offensive lineman to throw a pass. The best part of that was he threw a dime every single time in practice. We probably took that for three weeks, and it was a dime. It was better than some other people. Right. Jared, he's pretty darn good throwing on the move. I like it. He's a freak. I like it.

All right, that's enough. The Lions have done nothing but be first class about their departed to the Chicago Bears offensive coordinator. Heck, he took a couple of coaches with him. Yesterday on the podium, Dan Campbell commended Ben Johnson for the staff he put together in Chicago. And yet this clown is running around in Chicago where he's coaching one of the biggest laughingstock franchises in sports, the Bears, who never win anything.

All right. And have no idea what they're doing with their stadium and constantly lose and constantly embarrass themselves. Heck, the Bears had a player this year taunting the crowd before the last while the ball was in the air on a Hail Mary. And this guy's out here making jokes. The Lions have handled this so well. And this guy's out here clowning it up like he's at Mike Ridley's. Give me a break.

I have held my tongue. I have been nothing but nice. I like Ben Johnson. I don't know him personally, but everybody raves about him and says he's a great guy. He's acting like a clown right now. Acting like. I'm not calling him names. Everybody relax. But these jokes and the constant digs, it's not funny anymore. You're with a very successful organization.

It's obvious you were leaving in November. You wanted this job for two years. Everybody's reporting it. Heck, your own agent's saying it. Your last performance as offensive coordinator in the playoffs, which ended the season for all these fans, was lousy. You got Jamison Williams throwing reverse passes down 14 in traffic. You got empty sets on third and one. Enough. Enough with the jokes. Yes, we know Jared Goff can't run. Ha ha.

I'm done with it. Seriously. I hope somebody with the bears and I doubt it because they're clueless gets with him and says, you got to tone this down. Cause the lions play you twice this year. I hope the lions kick the bear's ass. Oh my God. Even more than I've ever wanted him to before. Cause this is getting stupid in my opinion. And, uh,

This is going to be a good rivalry. This is going to be a good division. This guy is a heck of a football coach. He's going to do a good job there. No one's saying he's not going to. But, man, I mean, just every five minutes it's another joke and taking a little bit of a shot at Jared Goff. And I think it's uncalled for and silly. So that's how I feel about it. And maybe the fans, some of you fans agree. Maybe some of you fans don't agree.

Coming up next, let's talk about Miles Garrett for the 517th time. Yes, a new report we got to tell you about. We'll do that coming up next.

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It is a Wednesday edition. Let me know what day it is. Wednesday edition of Locked On Lions right here on the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Combine going on. Tomorrow I'm going to run through a bunch of names that have talked to the Lions. I promise I will do that. We'll get to some more Combine stuff tomorrow and Friday. Quarterbacks going to be throwing on Saturday. Lots of rumors out there.

you know, one and two, this is a crazy draft. Cause nobody knows what Tennessee's doing at one. No one knows what Cleveland is doing at two. We'll have to wait and see on all of that lines, of course, picking 28th in the first round today, Brown's general manager, Andrew Barry went on ESPN with reporter Kimberly Martin. And when she asked him about miles Garrett, Barry gave the same answer he's been given for the last few days. And then at the end of the interview, Martin said, unmovable, unmovable.

And he said, unmovable. We are not trading him. Martin then added on the Twitter sphere, quote, I'm also told teams expressed interest in miles Garrett ahead of last season's trade deadline. The most interested team, the lions and quote. So the lions were very, very interested in miles Garrett at the trade deadline, according to Kimberly Martin. Now, again,

That would have been interesting to say the least. And yes, Brad Holmes wanted to obviously add a edge rusher during the season. Once Aiden Hutchinson got hurt, they ended up settling for Z'Darrius Smith, who was meh in his time in Detroit and is under contract for one more year. We'll see if he comes back. All of that stuff. Z'Darrius Smith was fine, but very, very interesting that

Barry took some calls from teams and the lions were ones that were knocking down the door. The most interested team, according to Kimberly Martin last year. Now, again, if the lions would have traded for miles Garrett at the deadline last year, yes, they would have been really going for it. Yes. They would have had an incredible defensive player and pass rusher for down the stretch and the playoffs, but how would they have been paying him and Aiden Hutchinson? Because as Holmes said yesterday, when they asked him,

Could you see yourself adding another premier pass rusher at a high salary? Brad Holmes said probably not because they're working right now on an extension for Aiden Hutchinson. Very, very interesting. ESPN's Kimberly Martin says the Lions were the hottest team and the most, what was the verbiage I used again? Let me just get this right. The most interested team in Miles Garrett at the trade deadline last year, Detroit.

Lions are going to do their due diligence. We know that. And we know that about Brad Holmes as well. All right. The NFL Players Association has put out a survey. This is the third straight year that the Players Association put out a survey of the players to discuss. It's almost like a report card for all 32 franchises.

And in 2023, the Players Association made this venture public with the purpose of incentivizing teams to examine their weaknesses, improve their facilities, and challenge teams to continually work at providing better resources for their players. So this is a survey of the players. Back in 2023, the Lions came in number 15 in the NFL.

2024, last year they jumped to number 13. This is now 2025 for last season. The Lions for this year, out of 32 teams, finished number nine. Very, very good. That's a good score. They've cracked the top 10 as far as player grades for their own franchises. Let's start with the positive. The highest score that the Lions got was for head coach. They got an A-plus grade. Dan Campbell got an A-plus grade.

And that was the fifth highest score in the league. Their second best grade was team travel. They got a B plus finishing 12th in the league. The training room, by the way, finished ninth. So sorry, training room, ninth team travel 12th. So those are the top three things that the Lions players like the most head coach training room and team travel. Their worst grade and worst score was B.

In terms of ranking, nutrition and dietician was 23rd in the league. Also, their food and dining area got a B- at 19. And their locker room got a C+, also 19th. Weight room came in at a B at 22nd. So the Lions locker room went from 13th to 19th best. Team travel went from 8th to 12th.

even though the grades went up. But the lowest ranking that the Lions have was nutrition and dietician, and the food and dining area was 19th in the league. Now, just so you know, the Cincinnati Bengals food and dining area received an F, and the players all complained that they're not getting three meals a day down at the training facility. They would like to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner down there and like to have it offered.

All right. So heads up to my man, 222 Rod Wood. We got to get some improvements with the food and dining area and nutrition. Nutrition came in 23rd and food and dining 19th. But other than that, the Lions had very good scores, very good scores. Ownership, by the way, got a B plus and that was 14th. So that's in the top half of the league.

This was the second consecutive season that the Lions nutrition and dietitian program was their lowest ranking on the survey. So there you go.

So second straight year, Lions gave Dan Campbell very high marks. And look, when you have a head coach like that and a guy that you want to play for like that, it makes a big difference. It makes a big difference for culture, for want, for effort, for everything. And credit to this organization for finding this guy. He has been a godsend for this franchise. And

I have a lot of faith that Dan Campbell's new coaching staff will get the job done because Dan, you know, I think Campbell said it yesterday on the podium that they conducted like 24, 25, 26 interviews, something in that range to try to find the best candidates to replace all the assistant coaches that left. And that includes the comedian that's now the head coach of the Chicago Bears.

So pretty good stuff there from the Lions. All right, a little bit of a surprise. We've talked about the Rams trying to shed salary and everything else and even allowing Matthew Stafford to seek a trade or at least talk to other teams. I still think he's coming back to LA. But another former Lion with the Rams who's making about $18 million a year now is in that same boat. We will tell you about Jonah Jackson.

Being on the block. We'll do that coming up next. Right here on Locked on Lions.

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These players have become deemed available. All right. Yesterday, the news came out that the Tennessee Titans edge rusher, Harold Landry, good outside linebacker, a guy that I'd love to see the Lions get, can seek a trade. He had nine sacks this past year for the Titans. Also today, reports are circulating that Rams guard and former Lion, and he played a lot of center last year too, Jonah Jackson,

who was in the midst of that three-year $51.5 or $51.3 million deal with the Rams. He's entering year two of that. Jonah Jackson can seek a trade to try to get out of LA. So the Rams don't want to pay him either. Kudos to Brad Holmes.

You want to draft, you want to develop, and you want to keep. And that is what Brad has been doing for years. All right. Jonah Jackson was a good football player. Of course, he was a Bob Quinn draft pick, but regardless, he is somebody that spent and was with the Lions for the first three years of the Holmes regime. Good football player. All right. His last year with the Lions in 2023 was not his best. And the market was,

You know, it was inviting for Jonah to the point where he signed for 17, $18 million a year. I think it's about 17 and a half million dollars a year with the Rams to upgrade their old line. And the lions did not go that route, did not try to match it, did not even make an offer close to that. Instead lions went one year, six and a half million dollars with Kevin Zeitler, which

you know, a third of what Jonah Jackson got paid. And that turned out to pay very good dividends. Zeitler had a good season and now he's going to get, you know, a decent payday. And again, we were, I'm very hopeful. And I know you guys as Lions fans are too, that Zeitler is back with the Lions this coming season in some capacity, hopefully back at right guard. Maybe they get a one or two year deal with him. I know he's up there in age 35, 36, but can still play.

But there will be a market certainly for Kevin Zeitler. But what's interesting about all of this, whether it's Jonah Jackson, whether it was Harold Landry, Matthew Stafford, other players that are out there, Debo Samuel is another one that has gotten permission from his team to seek a trade. The Lions are not in this predicament. Yes, when you win,

You have a lot of good players, and then you've got to do your best to try to keep those players. And Mike Dissner and the folks in the front office that handle the cap have done a really good job of balancing the books, moving certain contracts to bonuses and all these things, stuff that's way over my head. But the Lions have not had this predicament where they've been forced to tell a player, we're probably going to try to trade you for money.

financial purposes. The Jonah Jackson thing is very interesting because right now, let's just say Zeitler signs elsewhere. Would you bring him back? But again, you're inheriting a contract. You weren't even going to touch. You want continuity. You want guys that have played together. And Jackson has played with Ragnow and Sewell and all these other guys. But, you know, you're not going to go do that. That's not something that's going to happen.

But keep an eye on this. It should be, it is something that is definitely very, very interesting. And, uh,

You know, we'll have to wait and see, by the way, one player that did confirm today that he met with the lions and a bunch of players meet with the lions at the combine is Josiah Stewart. The very active, the very twitchy, the very versatile edge rusher from Michigan. If you watch the Michigan game this past year, and a lot of you did because you're Wolverine fans against USC, Josiah Stewart was unblockable. He was phenomenal. And there's some that believe he'll be a day to pick second or third round for

And he admitted today on the podium this morning in Indianapolis that, yes, he did have a meeting and a chat at the combine with the Lions. We'll get you more of those names tomorrow. But I did want to throw out there that I'm a Josiah Stewart fan. I think he's a good player. And Michigan putting a lot of guys into this draft again, just like they did last year. So we'll have more on that tomorrow.

All right, that'll do it for today's edition, the Wednesday edition of a Lockdown Lions right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Tell your Lion fan friends, again, if you're not subscribed to our show, do not find us wherever you get your podcasts or watching us on YouTube, do please do as we continue to build our audience here and

Have a lot of fun talking Detroit Lions with you. I mean, we're going to get to Monday, March 10th, before you know it, and the free agency free for all. And I know that's not the Lions game to just make big splash free agents, but you know, there's going to be some guys, Carlton Davis, Zeitler, their own free agents, Onzerique. It'll be very interesting to see where these guys go and where the Lions decide to kind of dip the fishing pole and what they come up with. We're back again tomorrow, everybody, with a Thursday.

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