Reggie Wayne retired after 14 seasons four years ago, and while he played regular-season games only for the Colts, the decorated wideout was a Patriot briefly. However, the Lions showed interest in adding him in that 2015 offseason as well. Wayne was not interested, citing the Lions’ insistence he work out for them as a reason he sidestepped them en route to New England.
“I said, ‘Work out? You the Detroit Lions. Wait. Work out? I’m good,'” Wayne said during an appearance on NFL Network anchor Dan Hellie’s Helliepod podcast (via the Detroit Free Press). “Like, I can give you — I got 14 years of working out that you can see,” Wayne said. “So I was like, ‘Nah, I’m cool.’”
Then coached by former Colts head coach Jim Caldwell, the Lions employed Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate as their starters at that point. Wayne did end up working out for the Patriots but cited Bill Belichick‘s success as a reason he agreed to audition for New England. Wayne’s Patriots tenure ended up lasting barely 10 days, with the then-36-year-old wideout asking to be released before the start of the 2015 season. Wayne added during the interview the Pats let him keep a $450,000 signing bonus he received.
Shifting to current matters, is the latest from around the league:
- Veteran NFL assistant and two-time interim HC Perry Fewell accepted a job with the NFL this week. The league named Fewell its senior vice president of officiating administration. The former Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator will oversee the officiating department, which will include working with outreach to GMs and head coaches. This will be the 57-year-old Fewell’s first year away from coaching since he began in the profession in the mid-1980s. Fewell has been an NFL assistant since 1998.
- When the NFL revamped its Rooney Rule, it also added a provision that will feature all 32 teams housing a coaching fellowship program for minority candidates. These will be full-time positions that will last from one to two years.
- The NFL made another new hire recently, tapping Jeff Miller as its new executive VP of communications, public affairs and policy, per ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter).
- NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith is somewhat less bullish on the 2020 season unfolding than the NFL currently is.
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