The NFL still has yet to decide which team wil appear on this year’s edition of Hard Knocks, the behind-the-scenes HBO documentary that covers training camp. The Detroit Lions are one of a handful of teams in consideration that cannot opt out, so the possibility that the team is the featured choice is very real.
It’s a possibility team president Rod Wood is prepared to deal with, even if it’s clear he and the organization would prefer another team to get the spotlight.
“It’s an interesting thing cause obviously we’re one of the teams, as you all know, that could be forced to be on it,” Wood said at the NFL owners meeting this week. “I’d much rather end up in the position of not being forced to be on it, and since we’re in that position I guess we’ll have to live with the consequences of what they decide.”
The Cleveland Browns were on Hard Knocks last season, and the cameras captured the dysfunction between head coach Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley. Both were fired at midseason.
I covered those Browns, even appearing in the background shots in a couple of episodes. I saw firsthand how quickly the players, coaches and staffers acclimate to the omnipresent cameras. They quickly become wallpaper to the daily practice and meeting grind; almost everything is captured on team cameras anyway.
The negatives can be quite real, from the Browns horrible coaching dynamic to watching a painfully out-of-touch Jeff Fisher with the Rams in 2017. But there were also some real positives to come from Cleveland’s turn last year.
The cameras exposed how quickly Baker Mayfield won over his teammates and the fans. It showed his work ethic and drive to win, changing the (mis)perception about him many fans had. It could do the same for Matthew Stafford in Detroit.
Some of the focus on lesser-known players is great for fans. The 2018 show spent a lot of time on Devon Cajuste, a reserve tight end who eventually retired to pursue a career in healing crystals. Backup defensive end Carl Nassib’s financial planning seminar for his teammates is one of the funniest things you’ll see in an NFL production. Brogan Roback became a “Brobie” star in the QB RV.
Neither he nor Nassib made the team, but they are what many fans remember about Cleveland’s turn on Hard Knocks. That would likely be true of any production involving the Detroit Lions, too.
