Notes: Detroit welcomes DJ Reader with open arms

Are you ready for the wrecking crew of DJ Reader and Alim McNeill? Opposing teams are not.

Big, bad DJ Reader signed with Detroit on Thursday, and the Lions wasted no time rolling out the introductory materials. In addition to the introductory press conference we mentioned on Pride of Detroit (in which the team offered an optimistic injury update for the torn quadricep he sustained last December), there is a lot of material now available online to get fans fired up for their powerful new disruptor in the middle of the defensive line. Included in the behind-the-scenes photo gallery on the team’s official website are some shots of Reader (and the other new Lions) putting pen to paper in Allen Park, signing their official contracts, and meeting the staff.

Over on the team’s official YouTube channel, the entire 12-minute introductory press conference for the former Bengal is now up for everyone to watch. Our own Erik Schlitt included a lot of the best quotes in his roster impact analysis of the signing, but you can hear for yourself Reader declare that he’s “super happy” to be lining up alongside another Carolina guy like Alim McNeill (and that Carolina has the best athletes in the country).

He’s excited to be playing for Dan Campbell and actually getting to meet the head coach was energizing: “It’s real. It’s something that like comes over you when you know somebody cares about you, and they’re talking to you and they’re being honest. They look you dead in your eye when they’re talking to you. It almost gives you chills. It makes you feel like all right, I’ll really run through a wall for this guy, and I think that was the coolest part.”

In addition to the official press conference, team reporter Dannie Rogers sat down for a five-minute interview which was also posted to the official YouTube channel. Rogers led off by asking about Reader’s tweets during Detroit’s recent run in the playoffs. “It looked like you were the Detroit Lions’ biggest fan (this) postseason on Twitter. Can you break down the tweets?!?!” After the big guy’s rave review of the Lions’ success, Rogers pointed out how well things worked out to get him to Detroit: “You were almost manifesting this.” Reader’s eyes are aglow when he agrees:

“It’s crazy right, how that happens?” Like, that’s just how life works, I guess. You know, um, you’re around good people and you see good things and sometimes you want to be a part of them. Luckily I got that chance.”

Through the course of the interview, Reader talks about the serendipity of his excitement over the Lions’ playoff success flowing unexpectedly into signing with Detroit, how he (a former Clemson Tiger) can’t wait to mess with NC State’s Alim McNeill (“you know, can’t hold that against him”) as a fellow Carolina guy, and the love he has for his family. Apparently, Reader’s son is fired up about the move too: “His favorite color is blue, so he is super hyped. He’s ecstatic right now, and he’s excited to be a Lion. He’s like, ‘you know the lion’s the king of the jungle.’ He said he was a tiger before, but he’s excited to be a lion.”

Pretty much everybody is high on the possibilities that putting Alim McNeill next to DJ Reader brings for the Lions’ defense. On the latest episode of their Dungeon of Doom podcast, MLive’s Kyle Meinke and Ben Raven were enthusiastic about what the defensive line will look like in 2024. Meinke can barely contain himself (skip to 10:23 in the 39-minute audio):

“What an imposing looking dude! Picturing that guy—who was a top ten defensive tackle in the league last year according to Pro Football Focus—playing alongside Alim McNeill, also a top ten defensive tackle last year according to Pro Football Focus. Like, that to me is how you get better in free agency. . . it’s building strengths. It’s complementing what you have, and what they have in Alim McNeill is a really powerful defensive tackle who plays the run very well. Detroit was number two against the run last year and he really took steps forward as a pass rusher after dropping some weight. It was a breakout season. He might have been a Pro Bowler if he hadn’t gotten hurt late in the year.

And now you pair him with DJ Reader. This powerful, powerful bull rusher. Um, a guy in the middle. Like, it’s going to be a problem for offensive lines. They are going to wreak some havoc. They’re certainly going to defend the run (laughs), which is how it all starts. . . DJ Reader, one of the best dudes in the league. Put that meat next to Alim McNeill. That’s like 700 pounds of girth. It’s going to be a freak show up front in the interior of the Lions’ defensive line. I don’t remember the last time we could say that about Detroit.”

Even Mike Valenti on 97.1 The Ticket was pumped up about Reader joining the Lions on Thursday: “I like this. This to me is the best signing of your offseason.” Walking through the logic, Valenti was upbeat about the team addressing the defensive line in this manner. “I’m in. I needed to get better up front. I had a preference to an EDGE, but I’ll never be mad about a balanced defensive tackle. Meaning a guy who’s not just a run stuffer. He’s not just an occupier. It’s a guy you can play on passing downs and he can help you. Reader’s that.”

Valenti went on to make a similar point to MLive’s Meinke about what the pairing of the Carolina guys does to opposing blocking schemes:

Valenti: “Put him next to McNeill, you got two of the top ten defensive tackles in football. Rico, that’s real. That’s going to be a nightmare for offensive coordinators. You got three guys to block two. Good luck with that.”

Rico: “I mean, you really already weren’t running up the middle last season.”

Valenti: “You ain’t gonna do it now.”

Rico: “And now you just improved that. You made a strength even stronger.”

Valenti: “Yeah.”

Rico: “Which brings a lot of third-and-longs.”

Valenti: “I’ll be in disbelief if people run the football on this team.”

On the Ken Brown and Mike O’Hara podcast on WJR 760 from Friday (skip ahead to 16:22 in the 32-minute audio posted online), Brown loved bringing in Reader: “to me, this is an A+ signing.” O’Hara immediately went to the interior pairing aspect:

“I think he’ll help Alim McNeill too. I think he’s a good complement to him. I think Alim’s a good player on his own, but to get a guy—look, we’re talking about an unusually big man in Reader. he just, he looks like a guy who can handle the interior by himself. And you know what, he probably has over time. . . they had a really good run defense to begin with. This makes it even better.”

Good luck to all the opposing offensive coordinators trying to do anything against this incredible defensive interior. It’s going to be a heck of an offseason imagining how much better the run defense can even become.

We now move on to the rest of your Weekend Notes:

• The Detroit Economic Club’s next meeting in April at the MotorCity Casino Hotel will focus on the upcoming NFL Draft. Guest speakers will be Lions president Rod Wood and a trio of local media folks: Dave Birkett from the Detroit Free Press, Nick Baumgardner from The Athletic, and Will Burchfield from 97.1 The Ticket.

• Tim Twentyman at the official team site has a solid rundown on what the other teams in the NFC North have been doing in free agency.

• From The Athletic’s Diana Russini, it sounds like former Lions defensive linemen Da’Shawn Hand is returning and Benito Jones is heading to Miami.

• The voice of the Lions and cute dogs; even Reader plus McNeill might not top this combination. Fox 2’s Dan Miller will be in Dearborn for a pet adoption and fundraising event next Saturday:

• Reminder: you can enter a contest to join the Inner Circle and have a front row seat at the 2024 NFL Draft. The entry form is on the Lions’ official website, and asks fans to submit a photo of themself in their best Lions outfit and write two short answers explaining “Why do you want to represent the Lions at the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit?” and “What does it mean to you that Detroit is the host city for the NFL Draft?” The contest is open to fans aged 18 or older.

• Just like last year, the Lions held a Tackle Reading event at the beginning of March at Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary-Middle School with City Year Detroit. There is a photo gallery of images from this year’s Cat in the Hat themed event on the team’s official website.

• Dave Birkett at the Detroit Free Press wrote a nice piece on incoming NFLPA president Jalen Reeves-Maybin, talking about some of the issues of concern to the players like longer schedules and turf conditions.

• The Lions media folks would like you to know that Pride of Detroit is not the only group with insane users of Madden who make bananas Lions content: