Bob Quinn caught himself as the words were leaving his mouth. No, the Lions weren't 'lucky' to be coaching at the Senior Bowl. They were only there because they finished with one of the worst records in the NFL last season. Nothing lucky about that.
"Let me rephrase that," said Quinn. "We were lucky to have Jonah on our team and get to know him a little bit better, so the comfort level was great."
The state of the team's offensive line, for one. The Lions had a gaping hole at guard after letting Graham Glasgow walk in free agency, two holes depending how you feel about Joe Dahl. For a regime that wants to build in the trenches, this was a problem.
But mostly, it speaks to the Lions' belief in Jackson. With the way Quinn talks about him, it's a good bet Jackson will be starting between Frank Ragnow and Halapoulivaati Vaitai in Week 1. Or between Ragnow and fellow OSU product Taylor Decker. “Wherever they need me," said Jackson.
"We watched his film, but then we had him at the Senior Bowl. I think out of the Senior Bowl guys, he’s the one guy that we just fell in love with there," Quinn said Saturday night as he wrapped up the draft. "We fell in love with a lot of guys, but he was the one guy."
Maybe we're parsing words, but Quinn didn't talk like that about any of his other picks. And there were 20 offensive linemen at the Senior Bowl, 10 who play on the interior. Jackson is 'the one guy' who stood out to Detroit.
Why?
"Really tough. Strong, athletic, smart, nasty. Any O-line trait that you put in the scouting manual," said Quinn, "this guy has it."
On top of that, the Lions love the fact that Jackson took a fifth year at Ohio State after a four-year career at Rutgers. After playing mostly right guard and some center for the Scarlet Knights, he stepped in at left guard for the Buckeyes and was named first-team All-Big Ten.
"That kind of told me something," said Quinn. "We talked to this kid, ‘Why did you want to play another year?’ He could have come out last year. He wanted to play against the best competition. That says something. He went there and fit in immediately."
Now he'll try to make the same transition to Detroit. He's got a head start thanks to his experience at the Senior Bowl, where he worked extensively with Darrell Bevell and Lions offensive line coaches Frank Haley and Billy Yates.
"The amount of knowledge that I was able gain in that six days of practice was incredible," Jackson said. "Just the different techniques that you have to use against the bigger cats in the league. Coach Fraley definitely has his guys in Detroit teed up, and I’m ready to get teed up with them.”
Jackson said he left the Senior Bowl hoping the Lions would "keep me as somebody in mind." Little did he know they had fallen for him. They didn't let him fall any further than No. 75 in the draft, which should tell you their plans for the biggest hole on their offensive line.