Rookie Giovanni Manu is a ‘totally transformed player’

The Detroit Lions’ 2024 NFL Draft class has been a quiet one thus far, as general manager Brad Holmes—intentionally or not—focused on long-term projects. Terrion Arnold has been the lone consistent starter. Ennis Rakestraw battled injury his rookie season, Sione Vaki has been great on special teams but is still learning the running back position, Mekhi Wingo had some rotational play before his season-ending injury, and Christian Mahogany battled illness and injury all season before establishing himself as the top interior backup.

The one player I left out is the biggest project of them all: offensive tackle Giovanni Manu from the University of British Columbia. A physical specimen—6-foot-7, 354 pounds, and seemingly not a single percentage of body fat—Manu came into the NFL having played against a low pool of talent in Canada in college, and it showed in training camp.

The unfortunate part of the regular season is that the media doesn’t get to see how players like Manu, who has been inactive for every Lions game this season, develop through the course of the year. Thankfully, Justin Rogers of Detroit Football Network did some recon, interviewing Manu, his coaches, and his teammates on the progress of the fourth-round pick. It’s an excellent article worth your time which you can read here.

While it’s impossible to know just how much Manu has progressed until he’s actually out there proving it, based on Rogers’ conversations, it certainly seems like the rookie tackle has made enormous strides. Here’s what assistant offensive line coach Steve Oliver said when Rogers asked him where Manu has grown the most.

“I can’t pinpoint one specific thing because he’s a more confident, totally transformed player,” Oliver said. “You see the strength when he gets hold of guys, plus the feet and the athletic ability.”

Part of the reason the Lions drafted Manu was that beyond his prototypical size and athleticism, he displayed detailed knowledge of his college scheme, giving the team confidence he’d be able to learn and grow rapidly. Needless to say, that’s happened.

“You can ask, ‘Hey, why did you miss here?’ He’ll say, ‘Yeah, my aiming point was too wide. I missed with my hands. My eyes got bad,’” Oliver told Rogers. “Before, he didn’t know why he lost a rep or why something went wrong. He couldn’t feel it. That’s been great because there’s so much more self-correction at practice and he can fix things the next play.”

Again, I highly recommend reading the entire thing. It’ll get you seriously hyped about Manu’s future.

The Lions have been putting together 2024 compilation videos over the past week. Enjoy their latest, the biggest hits from the season:

Funny, quirky story from the Commanders. On Tuesday, they practiced outside in the cold, drawing comparisons to the Matt Patricia era.
Kerby Joseph responded to more accusations that he’s a dirty player:

#Lions S Kerby Joseph on being labeled "dirty": "I don't care about nobody's opinion, for real. ... This is football. When you sign up to play this game, you sign up for injuries. ... The people complaining about dirty hits—they just soft. They don't know football. I feel like I… https://t.co/NBnC5FZVEn pic.twitter.com/EsuudqM2bY

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 14, 2025
If you’re feeling like you want to be depressed for no particular reason, Dave Birkett wrote 58 reasons why the Lions have never won a Super Bowl.
Alex Anzalone vouched for Aaron Glenn on Adam Schefter’s podcast, saying that Glenn has just as many leadership qualities as Dan Campbell:
Zak Keefer of The Athletic penned an awesome article about “The genius of Dan Campbell,” actually tapping into the Lions coach’s football intelligence.