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Last week, the Detroit Lions made their last major coaching hire, reuniting with long-time special teams coordinator John Bonamego. Per Lions tradition, we didn’t get a statement from the team or a press conference for the new coach, leaving us to speculate why the hire was made and what the team sees in him.
However, this week at the Pro Bowl provided a nice opportunity to make a couple Lions special teamers available to the media. With Don Muhlbach playing in the Pro Bowl game and Sam Martin in town, detroitlions.com reached out to the duo about the hire. The two have a unique outlook on the hire, having played under Bonamego the last time he coached for the Lions back in 2013-14.
“I’m pretty excited about it,” Martin said. “Bono drafted me in 2013, so me and Bono stayed in touch and have been close ever since he drafted me. I stayed in touch with him while he was up at Central. I was happy to hear it.”
In his rookie year under Bonamego, Martin finished sixth in yards per punt (47.2) and 10th in net yards (40.1). The following year, he stuck right around the top ten, ranking 14th in punt average (46.1) and ninth in net average (40.1).
The Lions’ long-snapper seemed pretty excited, too.
“I’ve talked to Sam and Matt about it and we’re excited,” Muhlbach said.
- Speaking of the Pro Bowl, we got ourselves one #SlayFingerWag during Sunday’s game:
#SlayFingerWag ⅹ #ProBowl pic.twitter.com/WNq6HBI6Hl
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) January 27, 2019
- Slay’s also a pretty good dude and an example that we could one day lock arm with our Bears brethren:
Most Valuable Teammate goes to @Lions @_bigplayslay23 - Shared his jacket w/division foe @ChicagoBears Kyle Fuller until Fuller ran onto the field. @MikeEvans13_ sat down next & Darius immediately shared it with him. Said Slay, “I just want to make sure everyone is warm” #MVT pic.twitter.com/m4lqJQ8LVv
— Laura Okmin (@LauraOkmin) January 28, 2019
- You can vote on the best radio call from Lions announcer Dan Miller. Just by voting, you’re entered into a raffle. Winners get two tickets to the Lions’ official draft party and a meet-and-greet with Miller.
- Former Lions tight end Joseph Fauria is preparing for start of the Allegiance of American Football league as a player for the Arizona Hotshots. This weekend, he met up with a familiar face in the media:
Any lions fans recognize this guy pestering me with questions?! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/fCf3pJw5A9
— Joseph Fauria (@BigJoeFauria) January 27, 2019
- The Detroit Free Press’ Dave Birkett argues that paying a quarterback big money no longer works in today’s NFL—or at least makes things significantly harder.
- ESPN’s Bill Barnwell projected the over/under win totals for all 32 teams in 2019. Barnwell thinks Vegas will set the Lions number at seven wins for next year.