Breaking News:Dan Campbell vows to return after Super Bowl

ALLEN PARK — Ben Johnson dropped some serious love for his tight ends in his first meeting with reporters of the new season, saying it’s the best room, from top to bottom, that he’s been around in his 13 years in the NFL.

When MLive asked Dan Campbell about those comments the next day, the Detroit Lions head coach said he agreed with that thinking and statement, pointing to the versatility and experience in that room.

head coach Dan Campbell donned the popular “Salty” t-shirt on an overcast Friday morning.

Many presume it is a reference to personal feelings of frustration regarding how the team is viewed or for previous negatively hurled at the coach, who started his coaching tenure in 2021 in Motown with a three-win season.

Sports Illustrated NFL reporter Albert Breer spoke to the fourth-year head coach, after a practice that resembed a scrimmage and shared his takeaways from the ninth Lions training camp practice.

He explained to me it has two meanings. The first one is obvious: He wants a team that plays that way, with a real hard edge, which everyone knows. The second is less apparent,” writes Breer. “He wants guys to be “salt of the earth.” It’s important for him as he tries to keep his team grounded after last year’s success, something that’s actually been relatively easy because he has a lot of guys who are, yes, salt of the earth.”

Breer continued, “The work of three guys who just got paid — St. Brown, Jared Goff and Penei Sewell — came up with folks I talked to, which is a good sign that all the praise and hype the Lions have received won’t change them.