Before an 8:30 a.m. practice, Derrick Barnes gets to the Lions facility around 6. He uses the time to loosen up, get his mind right, "and I gotta get the beet juice," he said. "Look, I wasn’t going to give my recipe out, man, but if you want to come out with energy, beet juice is the way to go. Look up the benefits of beet juice, I'm telling you."
Per Artificial Intelligence, it's all natural: "Beet juice helps improve athletic performance and stamina. The nitric oxide from beets increases blood flow to muscles."
On Thursday, Barnes put a bit of a beeting on the offense. Even in a practice without pads, the fourth-year linebacker was intent on setting a physical tone. First he laid a good, clean shoulder into tight end Shane Zylstra to knock him off his feet and out of bounds after a catch along the sideline, much to the delight of Aaron Glenn -- and Aidan Hutchinson, who howled his approval. Later, he did the same to tight end Brock Wright, who managed to stay upright.
"Something that AG said that hit me is, what’s your identity? And also, we’re different. And we are," Barnes said after practice. "I think we get the look-past a little bit around the league, as far as our defense. And that’s hurtful to us, because we know what we can do. We know what we did do."
The Lions were carried by their offense to the brink of the Super Bowl last season, a top-five unit for the second year in a row. But the defense made marked improvements from the year prior when it ranked last in the NFL. Most notably, it smothered the run. The next step is clamping down on the pass.
"I’ll be honest with you," said Barnes. "I don’t think for a second that we're just an offensive team. The offense is very dynamic, but I always thought we were a good defense and could be a great defense. It’s amazing to see what AG and the entire coaching staff are doing to allow us to go out there and make plays. I’m so excited for this season and how everything comes together. We’re hungry as a defense and as a team obviously, and we’re ready to go out and show it."
Glenn plans to be a more aggressive play-caller this year, emboldened by a slew of additions in the secondary. He implored his players on Thursday to "challenge" the man in front of them on every snap, especially his corners. He encouraged them in no uncertain terms to bring the physicality. Barnes got the message. Asked about laying a little lumber in the second practice of camp, he said, "You always gotta protect your teammates, very important, but I won’t apologize for the way I come out here and work."
"I told the linebackers the same thing the other day. I won't apologize for that. I’m not out there trying to hurt nobody, but I’m doing what my coaches ask me to do. We gotta create turnovers. Those are the teams that go deep into the playoffs and to the Super Bowl, so we gotta make that a habit now. If that’s a consequence of going out there and giving it your all, I’ll take the consequence," he said.
Barnes, who delivered the turnover of the year last season when he picked off Baker Mayfield to send the Lions to the NFC title game, is an interesting piece for Detroit's defense. With Alex Anzalone at weak-side linebacker and Jack Campbell poised to take over in the middle, Barnes is slated to start on the strong side. It allows him to use his speed and physicality off the edge, like he did at Purdue when he played some defensive end. The Lions' pass rush could use it.
"I wouldn’t say it’s foreign, but last year I was getting back into it, now I’m just working on technique again as far as the SAM role," he said. "I love it, I did it in college. The ability to be able to get off the edge, still working, as you see, on my pass rush moves, just getting back into the flow of everything. I had a few rushes today that I’m not excited about, but that comes with time. It’s Day 2 of camp, a lot of days to get better.
"But yeah, the way that AG has it schemed up just to be versatile, that’s what I was coming out of college. So to come out and be able to show that -- like they say in the league, 'the more you can do.'"
The more he will play. Barnes is coming off the best season of his career, fourth on the team with 81 tackles, including five tackles for loss. He's also entering a contract year, with his future in Detroit at stake. He says that every play is "a little personal for me, and it’s got a lot to do with my family back at home, my son, my wife, I dedicate every day to them."
Barnes turned 25 in May. He smiled and said he feels "younger than ever, even younger than I did last year. I think it’s just the hungriness in me, I’m just super hungry. I’m starving, actually." That, and the beets.