It has been well-documented as to how poorly the Detroit Lions ownership has treated some of the best players in franchise history, including Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson.
But according to current Lions owner, Sheila Ford Hamp, those days are over and it started with Matthew Stafford, who was traded to the Los Angeles Rams during the offseason.
From Detroit Free Press:
“I mean, I hope so. When Matthew called and said he wanted to be traded, it wasn’t what I was hoping for at the time. … I’m thinking at the time, ‘We don’t have a coach, we don’t have a general manager and now we don’t have a quarterback. OK, now what?’ But I looked at it as really as an opportunity, and it’s Dan’s philosophy, it’s my philosophy, we want people to be here that want to be here and that want to play for us. And I understood, I am a huge Matthew fan. I respect him.
“This would have been his fourth coach change. He didn’t know who the coach was going to be — I didn’t know who the coach was going to be at that point so I couldn’t say, ‘Oh, just hang in there because so-and-so’s coming.’ And I don’t blame him for not wanting to start over again. He’s, what, 32 (at the time)? He’s got hopefully several more years, but he’s not in his 20s anymore and he gave us his heart and soul and I so really wanted to honor his wishes and do the best we could with him.”
Player after player has spoken poorly about their time with the Lions. It will be interesting to see if that changes moving forward.
