Undoubtedly, coaches and players in the NFL need to effectively communicate with one another.
If there's a player on the Detroit Lions' roster qualified to talk about that, it's a player like defensive lineman Michael Brockers, who is entering his 10th NFL season in 2021.
He spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Rams organization, and was acquired by Detroit via a trade with Los Angeles earlier this offseason.
Brockers' defensive coordinator in the Motor City will be former New Orleans Saints defensive backs coach Aaron Glenn, who will be an NFL defensive play-caller for the first time in '21.
Brockers offered Glenn some high praise this week when talking to the Detroit media about the former NFL defensive back and his ability to communicate.
"I think the biggest thing about coaches and players is you have to have great communication," Brockers told reporters. "And, he (Glenn) is 100 percent the best communicator I've kind of been around. You know, just being a player that's played in the league. And, he has an understanding of that perspective of being a player."
So far, Brockers has also enjoyed being around the Lions coaching staff as a whole.
"For me, I think the biggest thing about this coaching staff is how they go about coaching and just the process of playing the game and having energy and love for the game," he said. "So, I'm enjoying the coaching staff, I'm enjoying the players that I'm surrounded by and it's definitely fun for me."
A few of the players that he'll be surrounded by along the defensive line this upcoming season will be rookies.
Detroit general manager Brad Holmes selected defensive linemen with back-to-back picks in the 2021 NFL Draft, taking Levi Onwuzurike, out of Washington, in the second round (No. 41 overall) and N.C. State product Alim McNeill in the third round (No. 72 overall).
It's going to allow Brockers, a first-round pick of the Rams in the 2012 draft (No. 14 overall), to flex his mentoring muscles in his first year in Motown.
While it's a role he embraces, don't expect him to constantly be getting into the faces of Onwuzurike and McNeill to let them know that they're making mistakes.
"I try to be passive because I don't want to rub anybody the wrong way," Brockers said. "Some guys are into their own stuff, and I don't want to be that guy who comes in and says, 'Oh, you're doing everything wrong.' So, I just try to give my little two cents, really, if there's something I feel like I can give them and it's something they'll take, I'll do it. But, other than that, man, I'm just trying to find my way around. I don't want to just claim that I'm a captain or anything like that. Wherever I can put my little two cents in, give a little knowledge here or there, I'll do it. Other than that, I'm just chillin'."
As Brockers knows from his own experiences, life will come at you fast in the NFL. So, his advice to Onwuzurike and McNeill is to "take it one day at a time" with their respective careers.
"When you're out there, you're thrown into the fire, you're in the NFL, coming from college and all that pressure's on you, you really have to slow down," Brockers said. "I think that was the big thing about me, man. A first-rounder coming in, you don't want to be a bust, like, you're thinking about that stuff. So, you really have to slow it down, learn the game, take it one day at a time. I think that's a big deal, to just take it one day at a time, not trying to overdo yourself and to just be a sponge."
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