FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, July 18th, 2022
PETER KING PRAISES THE DETROIT LIONS’ TEAM MENTALITY IN THIS WEEK’S “FMIA” COLUMN
“On New Year’s Day, [Aidan] Hutchinson and [Jameson] Williams were lock top-10 picks. Maybe top-five. The Lions got them second and 12th overall…and they’re euphoric.”– King on the Lions’ 2022 draft
“We kind of feel like we may be Rich Strike here. That’s how we all talk. That’s how we all think. There’s nothing fake about it.” – Lions head coach Dan Campbell on comparing his team to the longshot Kentucky Derby winner
“If the league doesn’t come down hard on Watson, with all the accusatory evidence in the public sphere already, it will look like a giant whitewash.”– King on Deshaun Watson
STAMFORD, Conn. – July 18, 2022 – Peter King speaks with Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes and shares his thoughts on the Lions ahead of the 2022 season in this week’s edition of Football Morning in America, available now exclusively on NBCSports.com. King also discusses the latest surrounding Deshaun Watson, Baker Mayfield’s trade to the Carolina Panthers, and more.
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The following are highlights from this week’s edition of Football Morning in America:
King on the Detroit Lions players’ mentality heading into the 2022 season: “It says something to me that players on a team with 11 wins in the last three years might actually like where they are.”
Lions head coach Dan Campbell on comparing the team to historic longshot Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike: “We kind of feel like we may be Rich Strike here… I think that’s how we all feel. That’s how we all talk. That’s how we all think. There’s nothing fake about it.”
King on Campbell: “Everyone wonders whether the ‘Dan Campbell Way’ will be more emotional schtick than true winning leadership. I wonder too.”
Lions QB Jared Goff on Campbell’s relationship with his team: “People outside the building can’t see it, obviously, but we have a plan, and we’re all-in. People see some of what Dan says, and that’s great. But I can tell you—Dan knows what the hell he’s talking about, and he’s got the respect of that [locker] room.”
King on the Matthew Stafford trade and what it means for the Lions going forward: “The reality now is that the deal is [Matthew] Stafford for [Jared] Goff, Jameson Williams and a 2023 first-round pick, give or take the millions for Goff and some other draft tentacles. If the two ones next year have to be packaged for a QB in the draft, then it’d be Stafford for Williams and a new quarterback. And man, there’d be pressure on GM [Brad] Holmes to pick the right QB of the future, and on the QB to produce at a playoff level.”
Lions GM Brad Holmes on drafting WR Jameson Williams in the first round: “I had Jameson in his own box…You want to be as sure as possible with first-round players, of course, and I was absolutely convinced on Jameson…the speed, how fluid he was, how confident he played.”
King on the Lions drafting DE Aidan Hutchinson and Williams: “On New Year’s Day, Hutchinson and Williams were lock top-10 picks. Maybe top-five. The Lions got them second and 12th overall, with the obvious asterisk on Williams, and they’re euphoric.”
NEWS & NOTES
King on Deshaun Watson: “If the league, or [arbitrator Sue] Robinson, doesn’t come down hard on Watson, with all the accusatory evidence in the public sphere already, it will look like a giant whitewash.”
King on the Texans’ involvement in the Watson story: “It’s pretty creepy that the franchise wrote a check to get rid of the problem, which the Texans did last week when they settled with 30 women who accused Watson of impropriety. This whole story stinks, and Watson’s former and current teams are feeling the heat right now.”
King on the Raiders’ hiring of Sandra Douglass Morgan as team president: “Morgan will be asked to do much of what [current Commanders president] Jason Wright was asked to do in Washington when he took over as president in the midst of the Daniel Snyder crisis: fix a floundering franchise. The difference with the Raiders, of course, is that the football team should contend this year, something that looks unlikely in Washington.”
King on fantasy football analyst Matthew Berry leaving ESPN: “I don’t understand ESPN letting the biggest name (by far) in the fantasy football business walk away, and I probably never will.”
NBC Sports football analyst Chris Simms on Bengals QB Joe Burrow: “Joe Burrow is the closest thing I have seen to Peyton Manning.”
King on the Panthers trading for QB Baker Mayfield: “This trade makes sense to me. Despite what Carolina people said, they weren’t full of hope that Sam Darnold could be the long-term quarterback. And Mayfield for a season might show enough to earn a contract in Carolina. He’ll have to show a lot.”
King on the Ravens’ QB Lamar Jackson contract situation: “Do you want to lock in Jackson at $46 million a year, or whatever, with that postseason Sword of Damocles hanging over Jackson? I don’t. Let him play this season out and judge his worth then.”
King on recently retired TE Rob Gronkowski: “I think Rob Gronkowski plays again.”
Read the full FMIA column here and catch the weekly Peter King Podcast here.
The following are additional highlights of NBC Sports’ NFL coverage:
- PFT Live with NBC Sports’ Mike Florio and Mike Golic (Mondays) and Florio and Chris Simms (Tuesday-Thursday) streams on Peacock from 7 a.m. – 9 a.m. ET on weekdays & is available on-demand. The Dan Patrick Show streams at 9 a.m. ET, The Rich Eisen Show at Noon ET, Brother From Another at 3 p.m. ET, PFT PM at 5 p.m. ET. At 6 p.m. ET, Chris Simms Unbuttoned streams Tuesday-Friday.
- com continues to provide the latest news and updates.
- NBC Sports EDGE’s A Good Football Show continues the NFL discussion and Bet The Edge Podcast provides daily betting insights.
A new “Football Morning in America” posts every Monday morning exclusively on NBCSports.com through the NFL season. It was announced in May 2019 that King signed an exclusive agreement with NBC Sports Group that included writing a weekly Monday morning NFL column for NBCSports.com; making regular appearances on PFT Live with Mike Florio; and continuing to contribute to Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports.
—NBC SPORTS—
