Wrestling seems to be a big thing the Lions love in their players, here's why
This week the Detroit Lions went out and signed former Cardinals nose tackle Roy Lopez. A really solid addition to the defensive line. We got to meet Lopez on Thursday in his introductory presser. The biggest thing he talked about there was wrestling. Lopez was a two-time state champion with a 113-3 record in high school. […]
This week the Detroit Lions went out and signed former Cardinals nose tackle Roy Lopez. A really solid addition to the defensive line. We got to meet Lopez on Thursday in his introductory presser. The biggest thing he talked about there was wrestling.
Lopez was a two-time state champion with a 113-3 record in high school. He gives credit to sport for helping him on the football field.
"My favorite move was a snap down right. So, and then you watch my film, and my favorite move is a bull shuck, like it's the same movement as wrestling, you know? So it's kind of full circle. I laugh at it. I think it's funny. My pad level is just purely off of leverage and inside hands, just like wrestling."
It's hard to know how many wrestlers on every team in the league, but it's easy to know that the Lions seem to have affinity for them.
Lopez is the newest wrestler in town, but the Lions also have Malcolm Rodriguez. He's a former two-time Oklahoma state champion and you can see that show through on film as well. Don't believe me, ask Jason Kelce.
After Rodriguez, there's safety Loren Strickland. In an interview with A to Z Sports last summer, he credited wrestling with helping him channel his athleticism. Offensive lineman Graham Glasgow also wrestled coming up.
So what is it about this sport? Like Lopez talked about, there's a lot of leverage and hand control techniques that you can bring over from that world to help you get an edge on your competition.
The other thing, and I can say from experience, wrestling is a disciplined sport and you have to be a disciplined individual to do it and be successful at. Maintaining weight is an uphill battle by itself, but training daily and traveling all over the place while you're doing that is tough. You also have to have that mindset that you can take down another man and pin him.
Dan Campbell and the Lions want the guys who are disciplined and they definitely want the guys who want to dominate their opponent. It makes sense that they keep bringing in wrestlers.
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