Notes: Lions with ties to Nigeria celebrate Independence Day

Did you know the African nation of Nigeria is the most populous country on that continent by far? Part of young and dynamic West Africa, it’s no surprise that such a huge talent pool turned out some of the best athletes in the world, including a number of players on the 2021 Detroit Lions.

Today was the 61st anniversary of Nigerian independence, and the special occasion was celebrated by the Lions and their players with Nigerian roots in some fun and cool ways.

What better way to celebrate than with great food? The Okwara family had teammates Jashon Cornell, Ifeatu Melifonwu, Amani Oruwariye, Da’shawn Hand, and Levi Onwuzurike over for a traditional Nigerian meal. In a fantastic video narrated by Melda Okwara (mother to the pass-rushing brothers), we get to see some great bonding between the guys and jokes from dad:

I feel kind of bad for Nigerian-born Jeff Okudah, who doesn’t appear in the video and presumably missed out on what looks like an amazing dinner. Now, on to the rest of today’s Notes:

• Lions-related content on the NFL Network tonight:

• The Athletic’s Nick Baumgardner and Chris Burke dove into the tape to see how the Lions are trying to unlock D’Andre Swift’s potential (subscription required).

• Justin Rogers at the Detroit News wrote about the guy who currently holds Don Muhlbach’s old job, Scott Daly. Although the story is behind a paywall, Rogers tweeted out some really cool tidbits from the article:

• Over at the official team site, video went up for Dannie Rogers’ week 4 episode of her ongoing series The Sideline.

• Our fearless leader pointed out that Romeo Okwara is currently the Lions’ highest-rated defender by PFF in his On Paper preview of Sunday’s game, but the man was a beast as far back as his high school days. The team posted highlights from WAY back on their official YouTube channel, so check that out.

• We know nobody needs more reasons to love Frank Ragnow, but here’s another one anyway. In case you missed this segment from the broadcast of last week’s game, it has relevance today: