The Detroit Lions made a Friday night splash by reportedly signing Pro Bowl defensive tackle Mike Daniels to a 1-year $9.1 million deal.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Daniels was offered and turned down more money from other teams so that he could play in Detroit because he wanted to play for coach Matt Patricia.
You read that correctly, just a year after it was reported that Patricia had lost the locker room, he has suddenly become a coach Pro Bowlers from other teams — division rivals at that — want to come play for.
The truth of the matter is, that false narrative was an overblown story that too many people on a national level believed.
Wanting to play for Patricia isn’t an isolated situation either. Just this past offseason, when Trey Flowers was a free agent looking for a new home, Patricia was a big reason he landed with the Lions.
Here’s an excerpt from an interview with Lions multimedia journalist Tori Petry: “I knew Matty P (Patricia) was here (Detroit) and he’s the guy that brought me into New England and developed me there, so that’s when I got the idea it might be cool to be a Detroit Lion.”
When asked if playing for Patricia influenced his decision to sign with the Lions, Flowers responded: “Being able to reunite with someone that you’re familiar with, that knows your strengths, your weaknesses, and can definitely take your game to the next level, so, I’d say he had a pretty significant role.”
Flowers wanted to play for Patricia. Daniels wanted to play for Patricia. Maybe this is another false narrative about Detroit that can be put to bed.
