In March of last year, free agency got underway with Jim Schwartz waiting outside the house of Kyle Vanden Bosch with stuffed animals for Vanden Bosch's kids and a bottle of wine for him and his wife. Schwartz, of course, was waiting until free agency officially began to court one of the Lions' top free agent targets. Schwartz put a premium on making sure Vanden Bosch ended up in a Lions uniform, both for his leadership and his talent.
Schwartz's plan to court Vanden Bosch worked, as he quickly signed a four-year deal with the Lions. A couple weeks back he discussed the decision to come to Detroit in an interview on Sirius NFL Radio.
"Obviously it was a situation I was comfortable with coach (Jim) Schwartz and I knew some of the coaches in Detroit. And it became pretty obvious in Tennessee that it was just time for me to move on and time for them to move on without me. I was excited. I felt like everything that had happened to me in my career was built toward going to a new place and helping turn it around. I’d kind of been a part of a turnaround in Tennessee and I knew I could bring some things as far as leadership and helping change a culture in the locker room. I couldn’t have been happier with the group of guys in our locker room last year. I think everything was positive at the end of the season and we got things going in the right direction."
The Free Press has more from Vanden Bosch's interview.