Lions trying emulate Patriots success

DETROIT — It doesn’t take long to see the connections between the Patriots and Lions. All you need to do is take a look at the coaching staff, front office and roster.

The Lions first attempted to implement the Patriots culture into Detroit when they hired Bob Quinn as their general manager in 2016. Quinn rose through the Patriots franchise from 2000-2015. Two years later, Quinn hired Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia as the Lions head coach.

The connections have only grown since then. When the Patriots took on the Lions in their preseason opener on Thursday night, there were many familiar faces on the sideline.

Currently, the Lions have nine former Patriots on their roster — Trey Flowers, Danny Amendola, Justin Coleman, Rashaan Melvin, Tavon Wilson, Eric Lee, Luke Bowanko, Darius Kilgo and John Atkins. Detroit has two former Patriots on their coaching staff — Steve Gregory and Leon Washington. Even Harold Nash Jr., their football performance coordinator, is the Patriots former strength and conditioning coach.

“It’s always good when you bring guys in that you’re familiar with and kind of already have a background from that standpoint,” Patricia said when asked about bringing the Patriots culture to Detroit. “They understand, what for me as a head coach, what I expect and what we’re trying to do. The culture here is strictly Lions culture. We’re trying to build our own culture here, and we’re just trying to bring in the right guys.”

During the teams' joint practices this week, it was easy to see the close relationship between Bill Belichick and Patricia. It was also evident that the Lions are taking a page out of the Patriots book — the organization even built a hill next to the practice field for the players to run, which is almost identical to the one at Gillette Stadium.

During the offseason, the Lions doled out $90 million for Flowers and $36 million for Coleman. Coleman said this week that his time with the Patriots is what led him to Detroit, which made him the highest-paid slot cornerback in the NFL.

“It got me to where I am today,” Coleman said about being a Patriot. “Learning how to be a player and learning how to be a student of the game as well. … Everything that happened before helped me to get here.”

Amendola signed with the Lions in March and said that Patricia’s preparation is reminiscent to what it was like with the Patriots.

“There’s a lot of similarities, obviously. There’s some differences, too,” Amendola said. “Matt’s his own coach, his own mind. He does a great job with us. We love playing hard for him. I’m excited to be here. We’ve had some familiarity in the past, so I really respect him and want to play hard for him.”

Who's who

Patriots rookies were finally given their actual numbers on Thursday.

Since being drafted or signed in April, every rookie was assigned a number starting at 50. For example, first-round pick N’Keal Harry was 50 and second-rounder JoeJuan Williams was 51. This continued all the way down to No. 72, which undrafted receiver Gunner Olszewski had been wearing.

Since NFL players can wear only certain numbers based on positions, the Patriots finally allowed the rookies to don "normal" numbers for the preseason opener in Detroit. (Players actually had to switch to new numbers for the game). The reason for the strange numbers is simple — Patriots coaches want to convey that everything is earned, even the digits on the jersey. This trend started last year.

Here are the new rookie numbers: Harry (8), Williams (33), Chase Winovich (50), Damien Harris (37), Yodny Cajuste (65), Jarrett Stidham (4), Hjalte Froholdt (64), Byron Cowart (99), Jake Bailey (7), Ken Webster (47), Andrew Beck (86), Nick Brossette (42), Ryan Davis (19), Malik Gant (42), Terez Hall (59), Martez Ivey (63), Jakobi Meyers (16), Olszewski (9), D’Angelo Ross (41) and Tyree St. Louis (68).

Harry will need a new number before Week 1 as receivers can only wear numbers 10-19 and 80-89. Harry was originally listed as 10, but his number changed on the Patriots roster. Josh Gordon, who’s suspended, wore 10 last year.

It’s noteworthy that Winovich was given No. 50. It’s the same number Rob Ninkovich and Mike Vrabel wore. Now, that’s good company.