8 thoughts to end the week: Barnes' evolving role, slippery home turf and expectations for St. Brown
Allen Park — Friday is typically a quicker and quieter day at the Detroit Lions practice facility. Most of the week's interviews have already been conducted, the content filed, and attention has fully shifted to the game ahead.
Here at the Detroit Football Network, I'm still finding a rhythm with things and testing new features.
Here’s another one.
Instead of churning out another traditional story or two from conversations in the locker room, I'm going to lean into a style mastered by the legendary Peter King and spill out some end-of-the-week thoughts.
Let’s see if this sticks.
A second chess piece
Let’s talk about Derrick Barnes. You probably won’t hear many fans call the fourth-year linebacker their favorite Lions defender, but the team clearly feels pretty damn good about what he's bringing to the roster.
Last week, ahead of the opener, defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn discussed how Brian Branch was less of a safety and more of a Swiss Army knife. That was validated through his utilization in the contest, when he lined up double-digit snaps in the box, the slot and deep, while also seeing a couple of reps out wide and at the line.
Well, guess what? Barnes has become a similar mix-and-match schematic piece up front, splitting his time between the edge, off-ball and even logging 16 reps in the slot.
Listen to how position coach Kelvin Sheppard raved about Barnes’ continued development.
“He's earned everything he's getting right now,” Sheppard said. “…He is a full-on professional. This job means everything to him. Outside of his family, I know for a fact that this is all he does. This guy is playing five positions right now, in game. Not like in practice, or in a backup-type role, in game. He's playing five, five positions within the game and he does not bat an eye. For a guy to be able to come from where has in 2021, man, I credit that kid.”