New Detroit Lions defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch says head coach Jim Schwartz, who was his defensive coordinator in Tennessee, made an impressive sales pitch, starting at his doorstep as soon as the free agency period started at 11 p.m. Central Thursday.
“I was shocked,” Vanden Bosch said on WDFN in Detroit, per SportsRadioInterviews.com. “I was gearing up all day waiting for 11:00 - it was 11:00 my time - waiting for phone calls to see what we were going to do. My wife was up with me watching the Real Housewives of Orange County or something. Coach Schwartz called me right at 11:00 and said, ‘I’m a block from your house. Can you give me a minute?’ He had sent me a text that I missed about a minute before that that said, ‘I could be anywhere right now, but I’m coming to talk to you because you’re the guy I want.’”
Uh oh. Schwartz sent Vanden Bosch a minute before the free agency period started?
Anyway, Vanden Bosch admits that he was skeptical of the Lions franchise at first, but talking to Schwartz (not to mention seeing the four-year, $26 million deal the Lions were offering) made Vanden Bosch decide that Detroit was the place for him.
“I had a lot of doubts and had a lot of questions,” Vanden Bosch said. “Speaking with Coach Schwartz and hearing his optimism and his plans for the off-season, I got excited. Having played for Coach Schwartz, I have ultimate faith in him. It can be incredibly gratifying to be a part of something special and to be a part of a turnaround. I think that’s the way we’re headed.”
Lions fans who have watched the team go 2-30 in the last two years and 42-118 in the last decade can only hope Vanden Bosch is right.