Notes: Detroit Lions staying engaged with the community in the offseason

Although the draft is coming up on us quickly and everyone is excited to hear about the talent the Detroit Lions will add on the field, let’s take a look at the great things the organization is doing off the field. The team’s official site recently posted a photo gallery of pictures taken during the 2023 DEA Maltz Challenge hosted at their Allen Park practice facility.

Each year, the Maltz Challenge folks at the DEA partner with NFL teams and local businesses (like Crossfit in the D and American Home Fitness in Detroit) to hold these events to honor fallen veterans. This year’s event with the Detroit Lions was held on March 31 to honor Marine Lance Corporal Jeremy Shock. As noted by the coordinators on Facebook, these events are not fundraising events and do not charge a registration fee; they are simply held for awareness and remembrance.

The Maltz Challenge is coordinated with the local DEA office (in this case the Detroit Division office) to invite law enforcement personnel or friends/family of the honoree to complete a course of tough physical fitness events in succession on a course winding around the facility. To get an idea of the sequence of events, there is a course overview in a picture from the 2019 event (photo 2 of that year’s gallery):

Maltz Challenge
Mandatory Order:

1. 400 meter run
2. 50 Pull-ups
3. 100 yard Firemen’s Carry or 200 yard Farmer’s Walk with 50-lb (men) or 25-lb (women) dumbbells
4. 50 Dips
5. 100 Push-ups
6. 50 Knees to elbows
7. 100 Sit-ups
8. 400 meter run

Also going up on social media this week was a quick video about a wonderful Hometown Huddle project completed this year in partnership with Comerica and the United Way. The video features Micah from the Detroit Lions Cheerleaders squad narrating:

Comerica and United Way have been longtime partners in the NFL’s Hometown Huddle program in the Detroit area, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. The refurbishment project was at the Boys and Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan’s Dick and Sandy Dauch Campus on Tireman Avenue, which is home to an NFL Youth Education Town (YET). The YET facility, which was announced during the week leading up to Super Bowl XL in 2006 in Detroit, was the largest such YET facility at the time.

Big thanks to Comerica, the United Way, and the Detroit Lions for their support for youth activities. Now, back to the draft speculation circus and the rest of your weekend Notes:

• Dave Birkett from the Detroit Free Press wrote an article back in December 2021 about why Teddy Bridgewater is an amazing culture fit with the current Detroit Lions.

• Our own Erik Schlitt and Joe Kania have another hour of offseason mailbag analysis posted in their latest Detroit Lions Breakdown podcast episode. You can listen to the entire episode on their site.

• The new media folks working for the Lions are so good at what they do. So much Marvin Jones material to work with!

• Not sure if we ever pointed this out, but the Lions quietly put up a photo gallery titled “Behind the scenes: 2023 Lions free agency.” There are many super cool shots in there of the players signing their contracts, walking the halls at Allen Park, and posing in front of a replica of the badass neon sign at Ford Field (you know which one).

• Mike O’Hara posted articles at the official team site about running back prospects and edge rusher prospects in the upcoming draft.

• We know the Lions players are out training together, but could there be some non-Lions family in the area too? It’s always entertaining to see them go at it on their podcasts, but it looks like the St. Brown brothers have also been putting in some spring work against each other on the field:

• In their latest Dungeon of Doom podcast episode, Kyle Meinke and Ben Raven from MLive asked Seth Emerson of The Athletic about pro prospect Jalen Carter. You can listen to the entire episode in a web player on Spotify.

• For the gamers out there still playing Madden: