Not that he would say anything else, but Detroit Lions rookie defensive tackle Brodric Martin made his intentions for his first season clear.
The Detroit Lions traded up into the end of the third round of April’s draft to select Western Kentucky defensive tackle Brodric Martin. It was a fairly surprising pick, and no one was more surprised than the incoming rookie himself.
Talking at rookie minicamp, via the team website, Martin said he and his family was preparing to extend his hotel draft party into Day 3 of the draft when the Lions called.
"I was on the sixth floor just grabbing something to eat and I had gotten the call from coach Campbell,” Martin said this past weekend during Detroit’s rookie minicamp. “He said, ‘Do you want to be a Lion?’ I said, ‘yeah.’ I ran down six flights of stairs just to get down to a TV and my momma because she was down there setting up for the party and all that for the next day.”"
Martin’s recent interview with the Detroit Lions podcast shed light on another team that was eyeing him as a third-round pick.
“I heard third round from one team, that was the Giants,” “They could (have) drafted me in the third round.”
The Giants used their third-round pick to trade up 16 spots and select wide receiver Jalen Hyatt in the third round. That seemed to spur Martin to call it a day on Day 2, before the Lions called.
Brodric Martin intends to be an immediate contributor for the Detroit Lions
Martin (330 pounds) shouldn’t pigeonholed as just that, but he is pretty clearly a nose tackle by trade. Isaiah Buggs stepped up nicely last year, but Lions head coach Dan Campbell did acknowledge they’d like to reduce his workload to allow him to be more effective.
That’s where Martin may come in, even with a learning curve perhaps made steeper by coming out of a small school. Speaking further at rookie minicamp last weekend, he said he wants to step into a key role on the Lions’ defensive line right away.
"I want to play this year,” Martin said. “I want to do this now. Although I came from a small school and all that, I’m looking to play. There’s nothing about waiting that I want to do. I want to play now. I want to be in Kansas City first game.”"
Martin’s enthusiasm to play is apparently equaled by his enthusiasm to learn his craft. He said he has been studying film on some bigger defensive tackles in the league, Fletcher Cox and Chris Jones among them.