With a leaner body, a sharper mind and two new mentors showing him the way, Brodric Martin says he's ready "to contribute this year." The Lions hope he's ready, too.
"I feel good," Martin said last Thursday during OTA's, which continue this week in Allen Park. "I feel confident, just having the knowledge of going through that first year and how it went."
The Lions didn't expect Martin to make an impact as a rookie, having drafted him as a project out of Western Kentucky. He wound up playing in just three games. Still, having traded three picks -- a fourth-rounder and two fifths -- to move up for Martin in the third round, bullish as they were on his potential, the Lions are counting on him to produce in year two.
Martin, 25, seems to sense that it's his time. He took his offseason seriously, hiring a chef to improve his diet and attacking his training. He's following the lead of fellow defensive tackle Alim McNeill, who cut 13 percent body fat after making similar life changes last offseason and proceeded to have a breakout year.
"I took something away from what he did and tried to transform my body, because he did it and it helped him out perfectly," Martin said. "I started to eat right, get a chef. ... What I did was lose more fat and gained back some of that as muscle."
Martin said he also benefited from an offseason of training for actual football, instead of the NFL Draft: "Preparing for the draft, that's ball, but it ain't -- you know what I'm saying? This is what I needed, this offseason, the NFL work. It was good for me."
For Martin, the biggest boost might come from two new faces on Detroit's defensive line. There's DJ Reader, the veteran tackle who joined the Lions in free agency after several strong seasons with the Bengals and Texans. Martin said that Reader has "already watched the film on me" from last season and "let me know what I need to do, what I need to get better on and how I look at stuff."
Reader reviewed the tape on all of his new defensive teammates to get a feel for how they'll mesh, but "he watched me specifically," Martin said. "Honestly, it means a lot to me, personally. I ain't never spoke to him before he got here, but the fact that he wanted to do that for me, it's love. I feel that and I really appreciate him for that."
And then there's new defensive line coach Terrell Williams, hired by the Lions after helping the Titans build one of the best run-stopping defensive fronts in the NFL for the last several years. That's exactly where Martin can make his presence felt this season, on a defense that was already elite at stopping the run last season.
Martin said that Williams "brings a straight dawg to the D-line room," echoing Dan Campbell's belief that Williams is the best defensive line coach in the league.
"He's a great coach. He's been in the league for umpteen years and he done coached a lot of great players. He's coached guys like me. He understands what I need and what I need to do. He's really helping me out a lot," Martin said.
Williams told Martin to watch film on former Titans nose tackle Teair Tart, who started 35 games for Tennessee the last three seasons. And in practice, "he's been focusing on my hands and just being more aggressive when I play," said Martin. "He's been really honing in on that with me."
It's a big year for the big defensive tackle, who says "everything has slowed down for me. I understand the game a lot more. I would say that's really made the jump for me."
Now, can Martin speed up on the field?