Published Nov. 13, 2020 on Bleacher Report
On clean-out day at the end of the 2018 season, there was a tangible sense of relief in the Lions locker room. It had been a long and difficult transition under first-time head coach Matt Patricia's Patriot-like culture. Over the last week, with the end in sight, players who were no longer under contract were loud about their intentions to get the hell out of there. "There was a lot of, 'You all have fun, because I am gone!'" says former Lions running back Zach Zenner. "People talking about how there was no way they were going to re-sign back in Detroit."
Then-safety Glover Quin says players blasted music that entire week, turning the locker room into a "funhouse" because "guys were over it, really. They were over the season, they were over everything."
One player's agent had sent him champagne for a Christmas gift, and he had kept it in his locker, waiting for the right moment to uncork the celebration. Saying goodbye to Patricia, at least until OTAs, seemed like just the reason to party. Before the Lions' last team meeting, mid-morning, a group of 10 to 15 players took orange juice from the cafeteria and mixed it with the champagne to make mimosas.
They chilled and sipped out of Solo cups, finally relaxing after a season of long practices, tough conditioning and routinely getting cussed at by their head coach, who had a long list of rules that a former player described as taking the fun out of the game. "It was a free-for-all," he says. The stifling Patriot Way experience had been a culture shock many veteran players were elated to be done with.
"Didn't nobody care at that point," says a former offensive player. "Everybody was glad to be out of the building and done."