Notes: VIDEO: Hendon Hooker, Sam LaPorta receive inspirational message from NFL legends

This past Thursday, Fanatics posted a four-minute video on Twitter showing clips of rookies who attended the Rookie Premiere event in what they call the “Fanatics Locker Room.” On a side wall, a recorded message was played from an NFL veteran player (mostly retired, but some active) that meant a lot to the rookie in the room.

Three Detroit Lions players were at the event: tight end Sam LaPorta, quarterback Hendon Hooker, and running back Jahmyr Gibbs. Although Gibbs did not appear in the video, some bits with LaPorta and Hooker made the final cut. LaPorta’s message was from current San Francisco tight end and former fellow Iowa Hawkeye George Kittle. In the same vein, Hooker’s message came from former Tennessee Volunteer and 2021 Hall of Fame inductee Peyton Manning.

At the end of the video, we find out that each rookie received a signed jersey with an inspirational message. One of the final shots is Sam LaPorta holding up a jersey from George Kittle that says “This is just the start” and “Be Great Today!” It’s too bad we don’t get to see more of Hooker or Gibbs.

Two former Lions were featured in the video as well. Running back Barry Sanders delivered a message to both Atlanta rookie Bijan Robinson (a noted Barry Sanders fan) and Cowboys rookie Deuce Vaughn. According to Vaughn when he held up Barry’s jersey: “This dude right here, is the reason why I play this game .. it’s the reason why I work so hard.” Meanwhile, wide receiver Calvin Johnson was briefly shown introducing himself in a recorded video playing for Seattle rookie Jaxon Smith-Njiba.

What a nice thing for Fanatics to set up as part of the welcome for these rookies to the league. Now, on to the rest of your weekend Notes:

• Also from Thursday, fearless leader Jeremy Reisman was a guest on Windy City Gridiron’s podcast Making Monsters with Taylor Doll.

• Mike Payton—who we said goodbye to this week—is now over at A to Z Sports. His latest column: “It’s time to end the unfair scrutiny of Lions receiver Jameson Williams.”

• This is pretty cool (when done with EPA per play instead of total EPA, Goff is still third):

• A new 27-minute episode from Friday of the Ken Brown and Mike O’Hara podcast on WJR 760’s site went up with the two discussing minicamp week and the upcoming schedule.

• Speaking of minicamp, the Lions media folks posted a highlights video on the team’s official YouTube channel.

• A couple days ago, Gordon McGuinness from Pro Football Focus posted his rankings of all starting NFL centers. Pro Bowler Frank Ragnow was fourth overall.

• Also from Pro Football Focus, Austin Scott pointed out 12 undrafted free agents to watch as the summer rolls on. An Erik Schlitt favorite made the list: Starling Thomas V.

• From Edward Pevos at MLive, Taylor Swift remembers singing the national anthem at Ford Field in 2006.