By Michael Stets
ALLEN PARK–We are now into the second week of Lions’ OTAs and rookie wideout Kenny Golladay continues to shine.
On Wednesday afternoon, at the second practice open to the media, the third-round draft pick out of Northern Illinois didn’t drop a pass thrown his way, including a catch on a fade route in the corner of the end zone, drawing a flag on veteran Johnson Bademosi in the process.
But you won’t hear any brash talk from this rookie, who told reporters after practice, “I still have a long way to go. I’m still working.”
Golladay, 23, says he studies the playbook from one to two hours per night with his roommate and fellow rookie Michael Roberts. “We just talk each other through stuff,” he said.
“Yeah, he’s one of those guys that really works at it,” Lions head coach Jim Caldwell said. “Obviously, we know he has the height and skill set to play the position, but like anything else, with a young guy he’s learning.”
Caldwell explained that the team’s system is designed to deliver all the terminology in the playbook to the players six times before the first preseason game takes place.
“We believe that giving it to him that number of times, it’s by design and not necessarily by necessity, but by design to make sure that they can hear it six times,” Caldwell explained. “On the sixth time, we think that they’ll have a pretty good grasp of what we’re doing so that by the time we get into preseason, those guys should be ready to go.”
On how the process of absorbing information from the coaches has been so far, Golladay said, “They definitely make sure we are prepared and at the end of the day once they give us the information, whatever it takes you to memorize it, that’s on you.”
The Chicago, Ill. native said he “knew the playbook was going to be challenging.” And while that can be daunting for any rookie, he’s excited that he has veteran wide outs Golden Tate and Marvin Jones to learn from. “I’m a rook just trying to follow after them,” he said.
How much does it help having Tate and Jones on the team?
“It’s huge,” he said. “They’ve been here before, you know? To be honest, I don’t even know how many years they’ve played in the league,” he admitted, drawing a few chuckles from reporters. “I know it’s more than me. They’ve been here before and it’s always good for a rookie to come in and have a vet, and I got two that I can actually learn from.”
With the departure of veteran receiver Anquan Boldin, who had 67 catches and led the team with eight touchdowns in 2016, Golladay is expected to step into the No.3 receiver role this season. And his height and ability to go up and get the ball–which he’s showcased in practice thus far–will help fill the void left by Boldin, especially in the red zone. In his senior year at Northern Illinois, the 6′ 4″ receiver, who was a first team All-MAC selection, had 87 catches, 1,156 receiving yards and eight touchdowns.
He’s playing well so far, but Golladay gives the impression that he won’t get too down on himself if he has a bad day while becoming acclimated to the NFL, saying, “Of course, I’m going to have a couple of hiccups and bumps in the road, but [I] just [have to keep] stacking each day on top of one another—the good days.”
And while playing in the NFL is a “dream come true,” Golladay knows he has a job to do and he can’t afford to walk around with stars in his eyes.
“That ‘oh my gosh I’m in the NFL’ is out the window now. I gotta go out there and make plays.”
His favorite moment so far?
“Putting on that Lions practice jersey and having that decal on the helmet.”