How badly did the Lions want to add DJ Reader? They wouldn't let him leave Detroit without signing a contract.
"They only booked a one-way flight on my visit, so they was really trying to get this done," Reader said Tuesday on the Up & Adams Show.
The Lions brought Reader to Allen Park last month to have him checked out by team doctors after he underwent surgery for a torn quad he suffered last season. They liked what they saw and signed the giant defensive tackle to a two-year, $22 million before they sent him home.
Reader laughed and said he kept asking his agent, "Yo, when am I gonna get the flight home?" And his agent kept telling him, "They said they're gonna book it."
"I’m like, 'Dude, it’s like 5 in the afternoon, I still ain’t got no flight back to the crib. I been up here since 8, I ain’t got no flight back,'" Reader said. "He was like, 'It don’t seem like they’re trying to let you out this building.'"
In fact, Reader said he was walking down a hallway in the team facility when someone shouted through an open office door, "We ain’t letting you out the building ‘til we get the deal done, man!"
"I don't know who it was, I didn’t even look in the door when he said it, but all I can remember is those words being said as I walked by. It was cool, though," Reader said. "It feels amazing to be wanted, man, that’s the biggest thing. That’s all somebody wants."
Reader got a good vibe from the Lions as soon as arrived in Allen Park. He loved his interactions with Dan Campbell, whose handshake blew him away, and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn. He said that Campbell called him a "missing piece that they needed, and that was the kind of the theme for the day. That was really what most people talked about during all the meetings."
All Reader could talk about afterward was Campbell's "super-strong grip."
"He’s got big-ass hands, that’s the first thing I noticed when I shook his hand. I was like, damn, this hand’s big as hell," Reader laughed.
More importantly, "everybody seems like they really, really enjoy working there, and that’s big for me," Reader said. "The energy in that building was great. Coach Campbell, talking to him, he’s a guy who looks you right in the eye, you can tell he really cares about ball. AG, super excited about defense, so it was a fun environment when you land there."
The Lions weren't letting him land anywhere else.