It’s Matt Patricia’s way or the highway.
At least, that was the takeaway gathered after day three of Detroit Lions minicamp concluded.
The head coach, who served as the Patriots’ defensive coordinator before accepting the Lions head coaching position the day after the New England’s Super Bowl LII loss, reportedly punishes his players with a vast amount of running, per Carlos Monarrez of the Detroit Press. It seems like a bit of a high school coach kind of move, and one Lions player isn’t too thrilled about.
“These are true professionals,” Lions running back Kerryon Johnson said, via Monarrez. “These are grown men, 30, 35, 25.”
Considering they’re grown men, it’s likely excessive running won’t cause the players to turn their backs on Patricia. But as Monarrez writes, “you have to assume if he’s using these tactics in front of reporters, he could be using others privately that are equally distasteful to players.”
It sure will be interesting to see if Patricia continues to use running as punishment, or how his players react to any other type of antic the first-year head coach might have up his sleeve.
