Kenny Wiggins has been in the NFL for nine years. He entered the league during its last lockout -- remember that? Tuesday afternoon was the first time he's ever been called to a podium to address the media.
So he lumbered onto the stage at the Lions facility in Allen Park, smiled sheepishly and asked, "Take it easy on me, alright?"
And then, for most of the next 10 minutes, Wiggins sounded like a natural. He cursed once by mistake, but who hasn't? Towering over the microphone, the 6'6 Wiggins commanded the room with stories about his winding NFL journey.
He was up there because his journey has led him here, on the verge of re-establishing himself as an NFL starter. The job at right guard is up for grabs on the Lions offensive line. Wiggins, 30, has a real chance to claim it.
"That’s a question for (Matt) Patricia and all the coaching staff, but I hope so," Wiggins said. "I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to start."
For Wiggins, who said he watches the draft every year, it was an encouraging sign.
"Honestly, this is the first year in the last six years that I haven’t had a person drafted at my position in the first three rounds. I’m still here, so there’s something to say about that," he said.
The guy has a knack for sticking around.
By his own count, Wiggins has been cut 10 times in his career -- which means he's been signed 11. Before it all began, he was forced to make a stop with the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the UFL. He figured he'd cash a couple checks and land an opportunity in the NFL. The league folded a couple weeks later. Just one of those checks came through.
The experience is still seared in Wiggins' brain, a nightmare he's able to laugh about now.
"It was very eye-opening," he said. "I'll tell you a quick story. I got there first day, and they put us up in a hotel. They (told us), 'You get breakfast and lunch on us, and you have to do dinner on your own.' I was like, OK.
"Get on the bus, come back from practice, our (team operations) guy is just standing there with a cooler with hot dogs in foil. People were fighting over the ketchup and mustard packets, and I was just like, 'What am I doing here?' Two hot dogs in one bun was my lunch. It was like, 'OK, this is not the NFL.'"
Wiggins got his first shot in the NFL soon thereafter with the 49ers. He was cut and wound up with the Ravens, only to be cut again.
Then it was back to the 49ers, where Wiggins very nearly played a major role on a team that made it to the Super Bowl in the 2012 season. He was next in line behind three members of the team's offensive line. In a league where injuries are the norm, none of them ever got hurt.
Then it was on to the Chargers, back when they were still in San Diego. Wiggins cracked the 53-man roster at the end of the 2014 season and played his first career snap on a field-goal attempt. His first offensive snap didn't come until the next season. He started eight games for the Chargers in 2015, then all 16 at right guard in 2017.
The Lions signed him to a two-year, $5 million contract that offseason, the first major payday of his career. Wiggins promptly filled in for Lang in 10 games in 2018.
Now, a year later, he has a chance to replace Lang for real. He'll battle for the job with the likes of Aboushi, Joe Dahl and Tyrell Crosby. He'll lean on his experience from last year, as well as those from the rest of his career.
"I've been cut 10 times. I played in the UFL. I've done it all, so nothing surprises me at this point in my career," he said. "I think I've proven I can play in this league. It's just going out there and doing what I normally do day in and day out."
He did what he's never done on Tuesday, but for the most part played it off like a vet. Somewhere in the facility, Wiggins agreed, his teammates were likely watching him on TV, laughing at a fish out of water. ("I’ll probably get sh*t for this tomorrow," he said.)
That's fine. No one's able to laugh at Wiggins like Wiggins himself. He patted his belly when asked how grateful he is for the cafeteria in the Lions facility, the days of hot dogs wrapped in tin foil long behind him.
"So grateful, man -- as you can tell," Wiggins grinned. "It’s how it should be."