Talking Grit: A Detroit Lions Podcast
Talking Grit: A Detroit Lions Podcast
Bonus Episode: 2024 Detroit Lions Draft Review
In this bonus episode, Jason and Jacob discuss their thoughts on the 2024 Detroit Lions draft. They review all draft selections. They also share their experiences at the NFL draft in Detroit! Plus another fun round of the Honolulu Blitz.
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Bonus Episode: 2024 Lions Draft Review
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Jason Harwood: [00:00:00] Hello everybody. It's Jason here. This episode, you're about to listen to, as a bonus episode, we originally recorded this before our podcast with Jeremy Reizman from pride to Detroit. At the time Jacob was going to be heading on vacation. So we had recorded ahead a, an episode or two.
Um,,
just so that we could release every week. So this week we're going to have two episodes.
The next one will come out on Wednesday or Thursday of this week and we're review our thoughts on mini camp. We'll probably crap on Aaron Rogers too.
So you have that to look forward to all right. Enjoy the show. [00:01:00] All right. Everybody welcome back to talking grit. I'm Jason Harwood and with me is Jacob Litton. Today we're going to talk about the draft. We just started this podcast not too long ago, so we're just going to talk about our views on the draft. We might even touch on a little bit about our experience in Detroit when we went and go from there. So Jacob, I'm gonna let you start this off. I think we're going to start with the last pick in the draft and kind of work our way forward.
Is that the way you want to do this?
Jacob Litton: Yeah, I'm going to work from the back. We're going to move all the way up to our first round pick.
Just kind of go from there, talk briefly about each one, where they fit in. Alright, round six, pick 210, Christian Mahogany, guard out of Boston College. Actually, one of the picks that was better for us based on where his total ranking was. He was projected, 3rd or [00:02:00] 4th rounder, 141 overall prospect and we got him at 210. Don't know a whole lot about him. I know he graded positive for pro football focus and that he works better in the running game.
With that being said, he didn't allow a sack last year, there's no pressure on him to come in and play right away being a late draft pick. I think it's a pick with high upside. Even if he's just a backup role player for the next few years, he's behind Zytler, Graham Glasgow, two guys definitely want to learn from.
There's no pressure there. I think it was a good pick. How did you feel about this one?
Jason Harwood: Yeah, that's actually, one of the ones I was pretty excited about. I think he actually has A chance to, hit the field this year if, an injury actually happens. I think he's going to be, for some reason, I just get the feeling that he's going to be able to step in
he does an awesome keg stand celebration, so we got to get him in the end zone, right?
Jacob Litton: Oh, okay. I have not seen that.
Jason Harwood: seen the keg stand celebration? No. No.
Yeah,
Jacob Litton: I [00:03:00] didn't see his keg stand No,
Jason Harwood: Yeah, see, that's the type of research that I do. You know, all these numbers and everything. And
I'm looking at end zone celebrations.
That's just why we work well together.
Jacob Litton: you're yeah.
What's really important.
Jason Harwood: Exactly. I'm all about it. Seriously, though, I was really happy with this pick. I'm sure he slipped. Do to some injury concerns. You got to think about there, but Brad Holmes is not afraid to go after people with injury concerns. He's shown that time and time again, either through the free agency signs or the players he picks.
What did you
think about it?
Jacob Litton: I liked it. I mean, I, uh, Didn't know too much about him. Had to look into it a little bit. Uh, you know, I did see where they said that it was basically a good pick based on where his projection was, but it's hard to tell some of these guys that they put third or fourth round projections on, they end up going undrafted.
So. Take that with a grain of salt, but everything that I've seen about him looks really positive, seen some highlights of him being able to pull and what he can do in the running game. And it makes them look, you know, really [00:04:00] solid if he can stay healthy. Uh, and you know, learn behind who we have right now, I think is a positive pickup,
Jason Harwood: Yeah, I think Brad Holmes referred to him as a dirt bag. He changes Twitter handle handle to have that in there. That just tells you what type of offensive lineman he is.
Jacob Litton: right?
Lead me into the next pick, also round six, pick one 89 and another one where, you know, this guy was projected third or fourth round, Makai Wingo, defensive tackle out of LSU. He was actually ranked 88 overall. And we got him at 189. He had a really good pro football focus grade. A lot of positive things to be said about him.
He was a captain for LSU. , surprising to see him fall as far as he did. Do you have any insight on that one? Did you hear about him before?
Jason Harwood: Yeah, I didn't really hear about him too much. , I'm Not following SEC football as close as I am the Big Ten. So no, he's kind of was under, under the radar for me, you know, undersized defensive tackle. , let's all compare him to, someone else that Brad Holmes helped draft. , Aaron Donald.
No, it's [00:05:00] not fair to anybody. No one's ever gonna be like that. Not fair to, categorize him in there, but, went with defensive tackle and hopefully he can help us, hopefully he can get to help us
get some rush.
Jacob Litton: Yeah, and that's another, another late round pick. There's no pressure on him to perform right away. Defensive tackle is definitely a position of need for us, he can come in there. We see what he's got. Maybe he's used as a rotational piece, take some of the pressure off of DJ reader, get some fresh legs in there.
I'm okay with that pick. I mean, even if he doesn't see the field a whole lot, he's a, seems to be a positive player, a team player. And those are the kinds of guys we want in the locker room.
Jason Harwood: Well, you know, we draft captains for a reason. Those are the guys that the team respects, right? So that carries some weight for sure. Brad Holmes has drafted a lot of captains and, I think that that's on purpose. Going to be a guy that's probably not going to come in on first down or whatever, or second down, depending on distance, he's going to be someone there that's going to be on a primary, primarily passing down.
We'll see how it goes. [00:06:00] Six round pick. We're getting to the point where our roster is pretty deep, where a six round, you know, our draft picks aren't guaranteed
to make the roster anymore.
Jacob Litton: right. Absolutely.
Jason Harwood: All right. Who's next Jacob.
Jacob Litton: So the last two picks that we had were. Really good picks in terms of what their rankings were overall, what the projections were overall, these next two, both of our fourth rounders, it's kind of the opposite. so round four, pick 132, it's Sioni Vaki, uh, so he's the running back slash safety out of Utah.
He actually, based on, uh, prospect rankings, was ranked 247 overall and we picked him at 132. When you see this on the surface, , sometimes you're like, man, what are they thinking? What are we doing? What's going on? Not really with Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell. We think that they have a specific plan in place for this guy.
He doesn't really stand out anywhere. I don't think they drafted him in here to be a running back. I don't know that they necessarily drafted him to come out here and just play safety. I think that they drafted him to be kind of a gadget player for [00:07:00] special teams. You know, at the combine, it looked like he tested mostly with running backs.
He doesn't really have a true position. You know, you see round four, you think that's kind of early to draft somebody that's just going to be playing special teams. But, you know, we talk about grit, everything, this guy shows it. He's not the most athletic person out there, but he is tough and they must see something in him that they really wanted him to go get him at pick one 32.
How did you feel about that one?
Jason Harwood: Didn't know about him before the draft. But I like what I've seen and I can see where they're going with this. I think he's going to, you know, he's special teams written all over him, at least for this first year and with the new kickoff rules. I think he might excel in that situation. You might see him as our kickoff returner.
You want someone with running back skills. He hasn't, , shown extensive running back skills. I mean, it's very limited opportunities, but he had very good numbers, making people miss. So I'm. Ecstatic from that [00:08:00] standpoint of where we could see him play. You have to have one or two designated returners. He could definitely be one of them back there, with the new rules . And then it's kind of interesting, you know, he's a safety, but we draft him as a running back. It sounds like he talked to Ben Johnson primarily. So it looks like, you know, they're going to just, uh, as a running back on the offense.
And, um, you know, I'm intrigued that we have, you know, a running back. They can also play safety, but I have a feeling they're not going to put too much on his plate this first year. Even with Brian branch, they started to, give him too much and they backed them off and just put them at the nickel, just cause they didn't want to overload them. I think the same thing with Vaki. They're going to give him one thing to focus on. Probably mostly special teams. Maybe they, use him as, fourth running back. Maybe behind Craig Reynolds. We'll see how that all goes. It's one of those picks that you're just like, , I trust Brad Holmes and you know, we'll see how he does, didn't know anything when he was drafted, but I like what I see.
[00:09:00] He showed out really well at the rookie minicamp too. He was one of the standouts there, so that's a positive going for him.
Jacob Litton: Absolutely. And what does that say about Brad Holmes and our team that in round four, we're picking a special teamers. We're picking guys that just fit the team. And that's what they're going to be doing is special teams. You know, most of the time, the guys that play special teams are the linebackers, the running backs, the safeties, the guys that just Aren't quite good enough to play that position every day But they're good enough to be on the team and they want to use them on special teams And it sounds like this guy we're putting him in strictly for special teams to make that even better
Jason Harwood: The lions are, have a, pretty deep roster right now. They have a vision for where a guy's going to fit. And so I don't think they're saying, Hey, we need to draft, a special team's guy, or we need to draft a safety, or we need to draft this.
They just draft a football player and they'll, they'll make it fit. The people that love football, they're going to Play anywhere that the team needs them. This guy's extremely versatile, which is what this team, craves.
Jacob Litton: And being ranked so [00:10:00] low And being picked so high, you know, they feel like they're on to something might have a diamond in the rough
which kind of goes with the next guy that we have as well.
Round four pick 126 This is the big offensive tackle Giovanni Manu from British Columbia.
So he was actually ranked 282 overall. Most of these had him round seven or undrafted just because he's such a raw prospect, didn't go up against the greatest of competition, but this dude's just massive. He's a huge project, but just the size and athleticism that he's already shown. You can see what they're going for here because there's no pressure on him to perform either.
He was drafted round four, we know it's going to take some time to really see what you have out of him. But like I said before, what's that say about Brad Holmes and the team that's like, you know what? We're going to take this guy right here right now. That's who we want. That's what we want to work on.
On paper. It looks crazy. If we were playing Madden and we drafted the 282nd [00:11:00] overall, Madden's going to give me a thumbs down and tell you that you're stupid.
Jason Harwood: There is a pattern here between, that I'm, the connection I'm seeing between, you know, last year's draft and this year's draft. So with Manu, I think he's definitely a project. He reminds me of like, Project Martin last year, where we traded up and drafted him, right? And he just had some, Amazing physical attributes.
We're talking about project Martin, whereas Manu throws the same thing. My expectation is Manu is going to, , he's going to start out inactive. They're going to give him time to grow, but I just see the pattern of how. It feels like in that round, like three through five, Brad Holmes is just picking players that he just, that he wants that he's identified as these are lions. I don't care, that this guy's rated, , one 80 or whatever he's rated, he's my guy. I see something in him and we're going to invest in him. Not to go outside draft talk, but Broderick Martin from last [00:12:00] year. I don't know if you've seen the pictures, but he's
transformed his body this year. Um,
Jacob Litton: I have.
Jason Harwood: the Liam
McNeil approach and, you'd love to see it. That's like why the Lions draft these football players. They get in this position and they're just gonna, they just want to get better. They want to. Themselves better to help the team and they're going to do what they need to do to get on the field.
And when you have competition all over the place, you know, do those things. You're like, Hey, I just, I need to, step up my game. I need to eat better. I need to, I need to train harder, and project Martin looks, He looked impressive and the pictures that I saw so whether that translates on the field I'm not sure but you know, I that what's crazy about my new is that he's already a freak physically and so Imagine if he's you know bigger and stronger next year when he comes back.
I mean, it's it's Insane to
think about
Jacob Litton: Right, right. Yeah. He's got the size. He needs the technique.
Jason Harwood: yeah.
Jacob Litton: He's only [00:13:00] going to get better.
Hopefully, you know, we hope it's good enough that he actually makes the field and makes an impact
Jason Harwood: You got Pene Sul number 58, Manu pick number 59 and says because he's the next in line to be a great Polynesian football player. Um, not going to say, not going to compare anyone to Pene Sul because that's just unfair, but
I love the mindset.
Jacob Litton: for sure.
Jason Harwood: Alright man, who's next?
Jacob Litton: All right, now we get to the, the big ones. The, Next one up, round two, pick 61, and this one is Ennis Riggstraw, cornerback out of Missouri. This is another one, kind of surprising that he dropped down to us. A lot of mocks had him going towards the end of round one or really early on in round two.
He was ranked, 36 overall prospect, 80 grade from pro football focus. On paper everything looks really good. He looked like he was going to be towards the, , end of the first round, early second, and then he falls to us towards the end of the second. Kind of, um, I guess I would say it's a little surprising based on our first round pick.
I did not expect to go [00:14:00] back to back cornerback, but I'm okay with it. Uh, you know, he's a physical outside cornerback. He definitely is not afraid to tackle. He's physical. Just, an improvement on a position of need. How did you feel about that when you saw that second round pick being a corner?
Jason Harwood: I, am really happy about this pick. Might be my favorite pick of the draft, to be honest with you. Uh, I don't know that and Tarion's hard, hard to pick, but just the fact that he fell that far, um, it was great. And I'm not afraid of them doubling up at all. They needed help at that position and they, Didn't have, players necessarily signed later the next year, you know, and so Amik might be the only one, that signed, , later.
I can't think of any other ones, it's good to have young people that, at that position. I like that he is hard nosed and will go there and tackle the running game. I don't think the Lions are going to draft a corner. That doesn't have that attribute. And, shame on the rest of the NFL for [00:15:00] letting that guy fall all the way to the Lions at pick 61. Because, uh, the Lions are gonna reap the benefits from that.
Jacob Litton: Absolutely. Yeah, I really liked the pick as well.
Jason Harwood: Anything else you wanna
Jacob Litton: We'll move right into the next one. I don't have anything else to add on that one just yet. Um, but then you move into the next one. So this is the big one, the round one pick 24, uh, Terry on Arnold cornerback, Alabama, I know you don't really do it as much, but I mock draft every year. I try to come up with my own.
I got a competition with one of my friends. We go back and forth. We mock draft every year. I did not think there was any chance that Terrian was going to fall down to us or just this late in general, he's ranked 11 overall pro football focus. Great. It was almost 90 pastor rating against him was only 50.
, attitude wise, everything about him was perfect. And that would have been, that was my home run pick for the lions. So the fact that it actually happened, I was ecstatic for, uh, you know, as the pics go by, you're seeing the trades, you're seeing everything happen. You're like, please let him fall, [00:16:00] let him fall, move up and get him here.
Move up and get him here. And I'm just hoping the whole time, it's different than in the past. Cause in the past, I've always felt, you know, the lions are going to screw it up. We're going to draft Eric Ebron.
Jason Harwood: Hm.
Jacob Litton: Just, you know,
ever since Brad Holmes came along, you just have to trust the process. So no matter who they took, I had to be okay with it.
And I knew there was going to be a reason, but this was the guy that I wanted. Um, So the fact that it happened was huge. I loved that he was there at the draft. He came out and seen the fans and everything. The fans loved him right away. It seemed like he loved Detroit right away. It was just perfect.
How did you feel about that one?
I know you were, you were looking at Cooper DeJohn.
Jason Harwood: I was, but that was mostly because I thought we were going to be picking at 29 and I, in my wildest dreams, did not think that Terry and Arnold was going to fall to 24. I really didn't read too much up on him because I just didn't think there was any chance he was going to fall out of, I thought the teens at the latest and I was, didn't think [00:17:00] that. Uh, Brad Holmes would trade up that far. I mean, it's definitely not out of their own possibility, but I just didn't think he was going to do it. I didn't think there was any chance, but, you know, everyone's drafted quarterbacks and offensive players and, um, the Lions are one of the teams that just, like, took advantage of that
and lucked out.
I,
Jacob Litton: Right. That's just the way the cards fell.
It was unbelievable.
Jason Harwood: Oh, yeah. It's unbelievable.
And just for Taron Arnold, how
awesome is it? In Detroit and you get drafted and, his personality is amazing. Um, I think it's perfect for, that position and he's going to be just, he is going to be a city favorite.
I can already feel it.
Jacob Litton: For sure.
Jason Harwood: quote
with his
mom
Jacob Litton: yeah, yes.
Jason Harwood: he's just going to fit in really
good with the city. I think, when we lost CJ DJ, we lost swag or something, whatever you want to say. I think Terry and Arnold will pick that up. And
I,
Jacob Litton: Jason's using the word swagger.
Jason Harwood: I know. Did I
Jacob Litton: Ha ha.[00:18:00]
Kind of. I know what you mean. Yeah, you, you use it right.
Jason Harwood: All
Jacob Litton: By accident, I think, but you got it.
Jason Harwood: feel, I feel so good about myself when, when, these youngins say I use the words correctly. It's great. After I get over this elation of using the word swag correctly, Terry and Arnold, he's, CJ DJ without like the condescending, , to me, like he, he just is like, can talk, but it seems so positive the way he talks and you know, he wants to be the best, but he doesn't have to put down other people to do that.
And
I love that about him.
Jacob Litton: Yeah.
he's got a really good personality, for sure.
Jason Harwood: Yeah.
Jacob Litton: He's somebody else that's very active on, like, uh, TikTok, social media.
I know you don't have that, you should check it out sometime, he's really good on there.
Jason Harwood: well, you know, if you start posting some good stuff on our, you know, on Twitter or whatever, it'll force
me to make an account, you know,
Jacob Litton: Okay. Ugh.
Jason Harwood: But I'm trying to avoid you in other spaces other than this podcast and work. It's [00:19:00] just hard, man, texting me at all times of the
day, and, ah, it's just rough, it's rough.
Jacob Litton: Nobody believes that. Okay.
Jason Harwood: I'm trying to make it true
though. Heh heh heh heh.
Jacob Litton: You're too busy with your water aerobics classes. Ugh.
Jason Harwood: the, the women in there treat me very
nice, okay? It's okay. It's, I'll, I'll,
Jacob Litton: Cause you're young to them, right?
Anyway, let's get back on,
back,
on topic here. ,
that must have been really cool for Tarion too, because you think about all the pressure and everything, you don't know where you're gonna go, you're sitting there at the draft, you're waiting for the phone to ring, the phone rings, and it's the frickin Detroit Lions.
You're in Detroit. Most people at the draft ever.
You're sitting in there, you know that you're gonna come out there, the fans go crazy when they hear your name.
That had to just be the best moment for him.
Instantly be accepted, everybody just, you know, the whole place is fired up for him.
Jason Harwood: well, I don't know about you, but I've never been at a place where 250,000 people cheered for me at one time.
[00:20:00] has, has that happened to you?
Jacob Litton: No.
Jason Harwood: Yeah. So, I
mean, know, at
work, you know, I got people cheering for me all the time, but at most that's 10 to 12. So, yeah. I don't know how it feels when there's 250,000 people cheering for you.
It's gotta be amazing.
Jacob Litton: 10 to 12 is pushing it.
Jason Harwood: Yeah, it is.
Jacob Litton: That's one old lady at a time, if that.
Jason Harwood: hey, man. It's all good. It's all good. There's so many people that.
get us confused because of the Jacob and the Jason,
I love it.
Jacob Litton: I've set really high standards, so when they think that you're me,
you better step up your game.
Jason Harwood: You're tough to live up to expectation
wise, man.
Jacob Litton: Appreciate that.
Speaking facts now.
Jason Harwood: alright, is there anything else you
want to add on, Tarion, before we get into some,
uh, topics here?
Jacob Litton: No.
Jason Harwood: Besides Tarion, who's the player that sees the field first out of the rest of the draft
picks that we got here?
Jacob Litton: A lot of these guys are raw prospects that you don't really necessarily expect to see the field right away. I think you have to go rake straw. I [00:21:00] mean, with the position the way that it's at, everything's up for grabs. If he shows out in training camp, I definitely think snaps are there for him to take.
Sione also, with the value that he's putting in for special teams and everything. I mean, he, he's somebody that's probably out there week one if he can hang,
Jason Harwood: Yeah, I think, you know, if you're including special teams and who sees the field, which special teams is It is included, I would say Vaki is probably number one. He might be the first one to touch the ball for the Lions this year. If he's the kickoff returner, you know, when we get the ball first.
So he might be the first one to touch the ball for the Lions this season. Um, you know, it could go that way. I think Enes Reykstra definitely has a chance to, see the field. Although position is suddenly deeper than it's, um, than it has been in a long time. outside of an injury, I think and it's probably doesn't see the field right away, but you know, who knows, there's sometimes you gotta be in diamond and he might be out there depending on, how he's playing
and how he develops.
Jacob Litton: [00:22:00] for sure.
Jason Harwood: We talked about project Martin last year. He basically was inactive for all but one game, the Raiders game. Um, Same situation I see for Manu. So do you think the over on under on active games this year? I set it at 1. 5 games. Do you think it's over or under
that that he's active?
Jacob Litton: I would say under. I don't think that he's really gonna play that much. I don't think he's ready to play that much. Hopefully, knock on wood, there's no injury or anything that's kind of thrusting him into a position where he has to play either. I, I don't think he's gonna play very much this year.
I don't think, even when they drafted him, they intended on him playing a whole lot this year.
Jason Harwood: I just see the project Martin thing happen here outside of him. Just like showing out somehow and Training camp. Yeah, I don't think we're gonna see him very much during the season, but he'll probably get some opportunity You know in preseason. Well, I'm sure we'll see him out there I doubt we're going to see him that much this season, but you know,
he could learn a lot this year.
So that it's
just a long [00:23:00] term draft pick,
Jacob Litton: Hey, and I hope I'm wrong. He comes out here and just blows it up with his size and everything. If he shows that he's ready right away, you know, get him some playing time right away.
Jason Harwood: yeah, especially if he can show that, I mean, he could come out like in those goal line, big packages and you put them on the other side of Pene
Jacob Litton: Man. Can you imagine lining up opposite that?
Jason Harwood: I know that Pene and Manu would be, it's a Polynesian duo over there.
What's the pic that surprised you the most?
Jacob Litton: , I was surprised by the rake straw pick just cause I didn't see us going corner again. But I guess like, you know, the real surprising one for me was probably going to be Sione just because it was like, I had never heard of him. You see it flash on the screen, running back slash safety, like, man, I have no idea who this guy is, I don't know what he's about, I had to instantly look it up, I think that one is the most surprising one to me.
What about for you?
Jason Harwood: you?
know, Manu was surprising just cause that was the first one he traded up for, and I was like, Oh, here, Brad Holmes doing [00:24:00] it again. And then he followed it up with Vaki. And I was like, and I was so confused because they announced them as did they announce them as running back. Right. But then he's listed as safety. So I was like, did they just screw up or. just, I had didn't, he
wasn't on my radar.
Jacob Litton: Right,
Jason Harwood: yeah, that
was shocking for that. Um,
even the first row pick Terry and Arnold, I was shocked that he fell that far. So, I mean, I wasn't shocked that the lions picked him, but I was just shocked that
he fell to where he
did.
Jacob Litton: right,
That it actually fell into place.
Jason Harwood: Yeah, and we, jumped in front of the Packers, to
get him , which is,
Jacob Litton: so, good.
Jason Harwood: So so sweet. Ah, God, love screwing over the Packers. It's, it is so awesome. the Lions, had What five players on the top 2, 525 next year. , Anyone that's 25 years or younger, 20 percent of this list is lions. Will any of these players that the lions drafted, this year [00:25:00] make that list do you think
year?
Jacob Litton: That's a hard list to make. Uh, so the fact that we have five lions on there right now just speaks volumes for, the drafting of the ability of Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell. Uh, unbelievable. Five of the 25 are lions. Looking at the list, obviously you hope that Terry on, you hope that rake straw, either of them, both of them, you hope they play well enough that they're on that list.
It's too soon to tell right now, I guess I would say, you know, obviously the best chance of showing up is going to be Terry on. He's going to have plenty of opportunities, you know, right away.
Jason Harwood: Yeah. I mean, if you're playing in a division with Justin Jefferson and you know, somehow they get matched up and he shows out, well, that'd be a
quick way to get noticed. So don't
you think?
Jacob Litton: Absolutely. That's a tough test a couple times a year.
Jason Harwood: So just to quickly go over, I think it'd be good information for everybody. If you haven't seen that list, I'll just quickly go through the Lions.
Sewell was number one on the list. Uh, Hutch was number six, Amin Ra was number [00:26:00] 11, Laporta was 19 and Gibbs was 21. So that's the five players, Jacob, how many other players from the NFC North
made that list?
Jacob Litton: I don't have that in front of me. Why don't you let me know?
Jason Harwood: would be a big fat zero. So the Lions have five of them. The rest of the division don't have any. This good young Packers team that everybody's talking about, they don't have any of the players, you know, under 25 that made this list. So, I think I liked the Lions chances moving forward just with that information alone.
Jacob Litton: For sure.
Jason Harwood: This list is
obviously not definitive. Even I think Gibbs is rated too low. They got Bijon rated ahead of them. Obviously I'm biased, but kind of like what Gibbs gives us. Each team can use a different type of running back. Uh, Gibbs is just going to be that. He's just a weapon.
He's, he's going to have an amazing season this
year.
Jacob Litton: Yeah, right. Just got a small glimpse of it last year. He's really,
he's going to go off this year.
Jason Harwood: Cause we're on the topic of the draft, Jacob and I both went up to the draft this year. We didn't go together. We just took our families [00:27:00] up
separately. Uh, both had different experiences.
Jacob Litton: Jason asked and I told him I didn't want to go with him.
Jason Harwood: He said, I'm not going to go. And then all of a sudden on Facebook, I see pictures, you know, posted of him up there and I was, you know, so mad.
That was before we started the podcast, but I've forgiven him. And now, you know, we're doing this together. So maybe next year, we'll go to Green Bay and go to the draft
together. What do you think about that?
Jacob Litton: I think I'm busy that week.
Jason Harwood: Yeah. Sorry. You got to wash your car or something. Do you want to talk about what you did with your family up there
just a little bit? We don't have to be extensive,
Jacob Litton: if you didn't get a chance to go to the draft, you really missed out it, they had everything set up perfectly. It was great for Detroit and everybody saw how many people showed up, you know, even. With the numbers when you knew how many people were there everything was spread out I mean, obviously you had a lot of lines to wait in there was a lot of stuff to do a lot of it was Family oriented, you know, it definitely exceeded my expectations It it was great even to the point where now my kids are [00:28:00] wanting to go to Green Bay next year
It's like I don't want to show up in Green Bay,
Jason Harwood: you got to show up
in your Honolulu blue.
Jacob Litton: no
No, I mean they I don't want to show up in Green Bay because I don't want them to get any closer our record
Jason Harwood: I know you have a lot of kids, but you know, I don't think it's going to push it too
far towards that.
Jacob Litton: I just don't see how it could get any better than what we did in Detroit. Everything about it was just really, really cool.
What was your experience like?
Jason Harwood: it was awesome. I mean, just feels like a hit at the right time for Detroit too. , we had just, know, I had those two playoff wins, not a couple of months before that. And so the energy was really positive towards the Lions, , I think it helped us break the record because there was just a lot of Lions fans that were ready to go, um, and just kind of feed into football fandom. And you're right, everything was just spread out. There was a lot of people up there, but I felt totally safe the whole time I was up there. There was just [00:29:00] so much to do. I only went up for one of the days. Um, there was no way you could get everything in. There were lines, but you know, you pick and choose what you wanted to see.
And there was just plenty of things to do. , the best thing that happened to me up there was meeting Amin Ra. That was a thing that the boys really wanted to do, he was taking pictures on Saturday. We got in line real early and they cut the line off, you know, pretty quickly.
Cause it was, you know, he's only had so much time. He's only going to be up there for an hour. Amin Ra was so gracious. He made us feel welcome. It was great. He introduced himself to the boys, they took a picture with him, then we got to move in, take a picture, and then, as we're walking away, he wished both my boys by name, um, that they had a good day at the, at the draft.
So, he remembered their names. It was, Unbelievable, the professionalism that he exuded there. He had just signed that big contract. It didn't go to his head. He was just, he was introducing himself to everybody as Amun Ra. Like we all didn't know that it was
Amun Ra, but it was just, it was stand up
[00:30:00] dude.
I was super
Jacob Litton: Right. Very cool.
Jason Harwood: who did you run
into? So we actually, we got to meet Frank Ragnow. we were at the little Caesars truck, so it was a contest. You got to throw footballs and, you know, try to beat the high score. And we actually got to throw against Frank Ragnow and, same kind of experience, just a real, real awesome dude, cool to, to actually get to talk to him for a couple of minutes, get the picture taken with them, the kids both loved it.
Jacob Litton: I feel like the game was rigged, and that's the only reason that he beat me at the football throwing contest, but
I don't have any video evidence of that.
Jason Harwood: can, uh, cannot just look at reality, man. He's always an excuse. You know, I,
Jacob Litton: I didn't miss a target the whole time, I felt pretty good. So to see that he beat me by as much as he did, something was rigged. No, but uh, it was just, it was too. You know, we um, We waited in line for the pizza throwing contest with, it was by mistake. We were waiting in line, and here comes Frank, out ready to throw footballs.
Jason Harwood: It's a pleasant surprise.
Jacob Litton: [00:31:00] Right, right, no, it was perfect.
Jason Harwood: my wife really enjoyed it. I was kind of worried taking her up to the draft thing because I was wondering like how she was going to feel about it. But she really liked it. She did the throwing contest. She was like right. Right in there and just loving it.
Um, so what did
your wife think about it?
Jacob Litton: Oh yeah, no, she loved it too. I mean, we love being downtown Detroit and just walking around anyway. So it was cool to see how they had, changed things, how they had had different things set up. Getting to try all the food and the different thing down there. There was a lot still to do.
So it really was a good family event. I feel like everybody had a good time.
Jason Harwood: I I was just Taken back by the mana organization. It was very well run I thought it was I was just super impressed with all that like it's got to be impossible to organize, you know, event where there's 700, 000 people over 700, 000 people going down there. The city was without incident, which I'm really excited about.
I think it's just going to [00:32:00] lead into some bigger and better things for the city.
Jacob Litton: Absolutely. The city shows out, definitely. I can't say that I was all that surprised with how many people that were showing up there. I thought, you know, you see those pictures of Nashville from the past, like how many people were packed in there. That's what I was envisioning happening in Detroit.
I, you know, you know, to how many people are down there and how many people take it so seriously now that the team has been doing well, especially. And really, I mean, they were fans of every team that were down there. There were a lot of people that had traveled in, it was just, you know, as far as the number of people, that's what I expected, but we weren't crowded on top of each other.
There was still definitely space and everything. Back to what you had said before, it was just incredibly well run. Everything was planned out perfectly. It was just very, very cool. And I hope more things like that come as a result. It's a shame that we're not going to get the draft here again for quite some time.
If we ever do again,
Jason Harwood: I think our kids will be taking their kids the next time that it's here, just because they're going to cycle through all these [00:33:00] cities, which is fine. I hope every fan base gets to experience what we did. I, it was, it was
amazing.
Jacob Litton: Absolutely.
Jason Harwood: One thing that I thought was
funny that when you and I got together
and we're talking later about our experiences up there That both of our kids came up with the same game They wanted to find a jersey from every team why they were up there and you know Both our kids just came up that independently and we were just talking about that.
So I thought that that was Really funny when it
speaks to how many fans were up there of all
the teams?
Jacob Litton: Yeah right.
Jason Harwood: All right,
so anything else you want to
add in on our draft talk?
Jacob Litton: No.
Jason Harwood: All right, we're
going to get into the Honolulu Blitz. All right, Jacob,
I'm up first this time.
Jacob Litton: Yep. Uh, this time I have a couple more open ended questions, not all necessarily football related either. Just a couple of things to throw at you just to see,
just for my own personal knowledge, I want to know these things too.
Jason Harwood: you're, are
you going to ask me questions about [00:34:00] myself? You're going to get to
know
Jacob Litton: Yeah, maybe
Jason Harwood: good. This will make a
first.
Jacob Litton: There's only one of those questions because I don't want to know you that well, but
Jason Harwood: you got appearances, man. Appearances. We gotta show like
Jacob Litton: Yeah
Jason Harwood: isn't a Rod and
Mario situation,
people. Yeah.
Jacob Litton: It might lead to that
Jason Harwood: good. It's good. It's a good.
thing we
record this separately.
I can't take your chair.
Jacob Litton: Yeah All right. Here we go. There's a couple a couple trivia things a couple open ended to you ready? All right, let's go Who is your favorite NFL quarterback? That's not on the Lions
Jason Harwood: I'd say Justin Herbert. I just like, I like his
hair.
Jacob Litton: That's such a Jason answer.
Jason Harwood: is.
Jacob Litton: swear, man.
For those of you who don't know, Jason lacks hair.
Jason Harwood: That's right, that's why I like his
hair, man. I'm jealous.
Jacob Litton: Who was the first draft pick for the Lions in the 2020 season?
Jason Harwood: 2020 season?
so that is COVID. That was, no, wasn't Jared Davis. No, who would it have been?
Oh, man, the first
Jacob Litton: Oh, he froze. [00:35:00]
Jason Harwood: Uh, was that Frank? No. No, this is way before that.
I don't know. I'm stumped. Tell me.
Jacob Litton: 2020 was Jeff Okuda.
Jason Harwood: God. That's why I
Jacob Litton: That's why you couldn't think of him.
Jason Harwood: I just permanently blocked that out of
Jacob Litton: Right. Exactly. We, uh, we closed that one off.
Jason Harwood: You had to bring up the drafted a quarter, a cornerback
in the first round and right after we drafted
one. Well, we were talking about our corners we drafted this year. I just thought it was appropriate. Excuse me. Not my fault. You forgot all about it.
Jacob Litton: Okay. Uh, what would you say is the best sporting event that you've ever been to?
Jason Harwood: it's, uh, for me it's the, uh, I had the Rams Lions game last year
is probably the best one I've ever been to
Jacob Litton: I thought that's what you were going to say. Okay. What's your favorite fast food restaurant?
Jason Harwood: Taco
Bell.
Jacob Litton: Nice. When was the last time the lions won an NFL championship
Jason Harwood: 57.
Jacob Litton: and who'd they beat?[00:36:00]
Jason Harwood: That I don't know. Giant? No, I don't know.
I don't know
Jacob Litton: It was the Browns
Jason Harwood: Yes.
Jacob Litton: That was a bonus question though. You still got that one, right? Yep 57 the Lions beat the Browns in the championship and there were only 12 teams in the league at that point.
Jason Harwood: yeah,
that, that, that tracks Yeah, right
it's celebration. The browns and the lines. We're gonna get in the,
any sort of championship we cut down like the league in a third of
what it is right
Jacob Litton: I think I saw the Lions went like eight and four in the regular season still
Jason Harwood: a long
time. Hey, not bad. You forgot Okuda, but I can't blame you for that
no, that's really bad on my part. I should have known that right out the gate, but I had blocked that, I mentioned Justin Herbert
in that set of questions, and he was drafted right
Jacob Litton: Right, right
Jason Harwood: I was
too busy thinking about his hair. Um,
alright man, you ready for your questions?
Jacob Litton: I'm ready. Let's hear
Jason Harwood: Best division
in the NFC right now. alright.
Jacob Litton: The North
Jason Harwood: alright.
who in your opinion, who are the starting outside corners for the Lions
in week one?
Jacob Litton: I think you [00:37:00] go Carlton Davis and Terry Arnold.
Jason Harwood: Dan Patrick or Rich Eisen?
Jacob Litton: Who's that?
Jason Harwood: You don't know who those guys
are? I'm just kidding.
Oh my god, You freaked
me out. Rich Eisen.
Jacob Litton: Rich Eisen has the Michigan connection, right?
Jason Harwood: Alright, that's, that's good, X.
Jacob Litton: Those are both really, really old guys though, Jason. I mean,
Jason Harwood: You, you've lit, they're great
Jacob Litton: I, I've heard of both of them. I know who they are.
Jason Harwood: well Dan Patrick is one of the best interviewers I've
ever seen. He's amazing. Does he still interview? Does he still have a show?
has a show?
and it's I think it's on Peacock or something So maybe you know spend three
bucks a month and get Peacock and you'll figure it out.
All right
Jacob Litton: I have Peacock, I just don't watch Dan Patrick.
Jason Harwood: good, man. You're missing out. I mean, he's a historical person, right, I know.
person. Have you ever heard of
SportsCenter?
Jacob Litton: I used to watch SportsCenter when it was good.
Jason Harwood: well,
Dan Patrick is what made SportsCenter SportsCenter.
Jacob Litton: I know who Dan Patrick is.
Jason Harwood: all right, man. Favorite
workout song.
Jacob Litton: Ooh, that's tough. I [00:38:00] mostly listen to Fall Out Boy.
I can't say that I have a favorite actual workout song right now, though.
Jason Harwood: right. Aaron Rodgers plays over or under 11 games.
Jacob Litton: You know, I'm gonna say Under.
Jason Harwood: All right. Is that wishful thinking or is that
like what you actually think is going to happen?
Jacob Litton: I don't care either way. I mean, the football fan in me actually hopes that he gets to play a full season and that the jets still don't do very well, but, uh, you know, don't wish for an injury or anything like that, but he is older, he's coming off of an injury and you got all that stuff, you know, where he's like, I could have played last year if I wanted to.
And
Jason Harwood: yeah,
Jacob Litton: he's just not willing to admit that he's, uh, you know, guess getting older and getting more fragile.
Jason Harwood: I agree with you. If I had to bet, I'd go under 11 games too. But, who knows? I mean, I hope for the jets sake that he does play.
Since games so that you know, Well, you hope for the NFL's sake, because of all the primetime games they gave them again.[00:39:00]
my sake too I don't want to be stuck with you know, Jets backups, you know Just having them having to keep people score under 14
points to have a chance to win the game So,
Jacob Litton: Right.
Jason Harwood: know.
We'll see if
Aaron Rodgers makes that much of a big a difference either. So But I'm an Aaron Rodgers hater. He's
super talented, but
Jacob Litton: It's hard to be a Lions fan and, uh, not have a little bit of, uh, hate or resentment towards Aaron Rodgers.
Jason Harwood: because he doesn't like to give, um, know, when the Lions, you know, beat him, because we can't let that team beat him. That was, like, I didn't like him before that, but that was the kicker, when you call us that team. You know, that team that had the phantom face
mask call, so you could throw that, you know,
Jacob Litton: That's where my hatred began, was the face mask thing. And then them beating us after that.
Jason Harwood: Uh, just so many times, just, uh, beyond him being
arrogant, in my opinion,
Jacob Litton: Right.
Jason Harwood: So like during that time, I'll term that the SOL Lions [00:40:00] era or whatever, You just knew they got Rogers down on the third down. I knew a flag was coming out, I don't necessarily feel that way now when the lions play, lines are getting respect and I think it's going to be even more in their favor in the future too, just cause you know, we showed that we're a good team. We don't need breaks. Um, hopefully, we don't have
any Brad Allen situations this year.
Jacob Litton: Yeah, no, that's what I was gonna say. I hope so. We still do not have a very good history with the refs.
They don't do us any favors.
Jason Harwood: , if, I was a doomsdayer, I'd be thinking right now , alright, this hip drop tackle's gonna happen with some stupid 4th and 20 play that they tackle him 5 yards away from, from the line of scrimmage, and they, , they call that getting automatic first down, and then, , it screws over the Lions or something.
Jacob Litton: Well, you know, what's going to happen to somebody.
Jason Harwood: yeah, and,
Jacob Litton: It might even be week one that that rule is going to be put in the spotlight very quickly.
Jason Harwood: In the preseason, sometimes they like, over flag things, and so just to get people to know, hey, we're for real, so, I'm curious to see [00:41:00] how it's, um,
know, done in, in the preseason,
Jacob Litton: Right, right. Yeah. Cause that could be a questionable call and no call as well.
Jason Harwood: It's like one of those things that's gonna be like, like the process of the catch or whatever, it's gonna have like all these steps, did they do it, and it's like, I just want to play football, you know, I just want, it's like, alright, did the guy, you know, in a catch, did the guy have the ball two feet on the ground, that's a catch, okay, we don't need to like, has he fallen to the
ground,
Jacob Litton: It shouldn't be so difficult.
Jason Harwood: shouldn't and , Instant Replay, not really like Instant Replay as it's called in the, the games, but TV's Instant Replay and the showing down in the slow motion can, you can just get to so minute that, it just played right into that, , and I feel like half the time these refs are afraid of calling something, because, you know, it's hard, I mean, I, they have an impossible job to be able to call know, some of those plays, bang, bang, everything's not as easy as seeing someone report, rubbing their chest right next to you, you [00:42:00] know?
You there?
Jacob Litton: Was that a joke?
Jason Harwood: why
why do you pause so long? That is funny.
Jacob Litton: I just had to get you back.
Jason Harwood: So, all right, man I think that wraps it up here Had a great time talking with you as usual. I hope everybody else that's listening enjoyed it You know visit us at Facebook at talking grit Um, yeah, again, we got the email talking grit at yahoo.
com. You can reach out to us. Like I said, we soon we're going to start asking, for questions. We're getting to a point where maybe we can do some, listener questions. And I think it'd be fun to reach out and just get some interaction with some people that have been listening to our podcast. , that's been great to see, and, I really look forward to that. And then, you know, I can have interaction with someone other than this guy that I'm talking with
constantly, so.
Jacob Litton: He doesn't get out much. He doesn't get to talk to many people.
Jason Harwood: I know, I know, I went out on Friday night, and the first time in a long time, I got home at like 2 in the morning.
It was, [00:43:00] I didn't even know there was a 2 in the morning anymore.
Jacob Litton: It was another bingo night.
Jason Harwood: man, it wasn't, we actually went out to Fricker's. I hung out
with some, some uh, co workers. We didn't invite you.
Jacob Litton: That's how you know it wasn't a party.
Jason Harwood: Because you weren't there, it
wasn't a party?
Jacob Litton: Right?
Jason Harwood: okay, yeah,
Jacob Litton: And because you were at Fricker's.
Jason Harwood: Dude. Jason's talking about a wild night that he had at Fricker's.
night at no point, play it
Jacob Litton: He Didn't get home until 2 AM.
Jason Harwood: Didn't ever say wild night. So,
Jacob Litton: He ate so many chicken wings.
Jason Harwood: chicken wings.
I did, I, we, you know, it was so wild that we played a game of Euchre there. So
sitting on
the patio, that's how wild I get. Alright, on the patio.
We played Ace No Face and man, you talk about, you know, just going to the extreme and Euchre, you know, it's
Jacob Litton: Well, I'm glad you had a good time.
Jason Harwood: Yep. That's good. It was, it was good cause you weren't there. So, all right, man. Thanks everybody for listening. Hope everybody has a good day and go [00:44:00] lions.
