3 Reasons to Be Excited for Hard Knocks 2022

With Hard Knocks and training camp approaching, the Detroit Lions have been sparking some buzz around the NFL from reports, analysts, writers, and TV hosts. Despite finishing 3-13-1 a season ago, Brad Holmes, Detroits GM, has continued to make promising moves towards their rebuild. Additionally, fans have fallen head over heels for head coach Dan Campbell.

Although the defense may worry some fans, the Offensive line assembled by the front office is amongst the top in the NFL. This should allow Jared Goff and weapons such as Aman-Ra St. Brown, Jamison Williams, DJ Chark, TJ Hockenson, and Deandre Swift to be a more than capable offense.

With training camp less than two weeks away, were three weeks out from an in depth view as to what the team looks like and the feeling of the culture. HBO’s annual ‘Hard Knocks’ show, takes us through one teams training camp in depth each year. As a team at the bottom on the totem pole last year, who is projected to be on the rise, Detroit Lions will be the feature team in 2022. With a handful of characters on the team, it’s bound to be an entertaining season.

Dan Campbell

Dan Campbell, another wise known as MCDC (Motor City Dan Campbell), is one of the most quotable coaches in the league. Get this guy in front of a microphone, and he is destined to give you a snippet that could go viral.

I think it’s a fair argument that HBO chose the Lions as the 2022 team the second Dan Campbell gave his infamous ‘Kneecap Biting’ presser in the summer of 2021. How could they not want this guy on TV? Throw in his leadership ability and he’s a cross between Captain America and Bert Kreischer!

HBO will get their social media clips through this guy. The beloved, culture setting, inexperienced, hilarious, hard working leader. Lions head coach, Dan Campbell, is perfect for Hard Knocks.

Sophomores and Rookies

The Lions don’t have a ton of vets on the team. The ones they do have, aren’t all necessarily the guys fans are excited about. However, Brad Holmes has two drafts under his belt as the Lions GM. Since being hired, he’s brought a handful of promising. Convincing  Lions fans Aman-Ra St. Brown, Jamison Williams, and Penei Sewell aren’t going to be great, is near impossible. But let it be known Detroit is  onto something with with these potential breakout players.

Penei Sewell in his rookie season, finished the highest graded rookie tackle by PFF in 12 years. Last season, he went toe-to-toe and face mask-to-face mask with Aaron Donald. It takes a little bit of a psychopath to get into with Donald, especially a rookie. Seeing him on a more personal level will give Lions fans more insight to one of their emerging gems.

The Culture

If you are from Detroit, or Michigan, you know exactly what One Pride is all about. If you ever hear a Detroit fan say, “Detroit vs Everybody,” they mean this:

The Lions are always going to be the underdogs. Nothing is ever going to be handed or expected of this team or this city. It’s no beautiful California sunshine or fancy Miami beach. Detroit is a blue collar town, and there isn’t anything wrong with that. The grind is embraced and the toughness is visible.

This approach is exactly why Dan Campbell was hired. He was inexperienced compared to the other guys the Lions interviewed. Before this he was a TEs coach in New Orleans! But after Matt Patricia tried and failed to bring the ‘Patriot Way‘ to Detroit, not to mentioned 25 years of misery, it was time for a culture reset.

Culture is an essential part of a football locker-room. If you don’t have an identify, you don’t have a team. The reason Lions fans are excited for the first time in, well, forever, is because it’s easy to see something has changed from within. X’s and O’s are how you get the best odds, but culture is what it takes to win games on occasion. Detroit fans should be on the edge of their seat the first time they get the exclusive content of the team that wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for HBO’s Hard Knocks.

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