New Lions LB Grant Stuard drops inspiring bible verse to describe his game

Grant Stuard’s inspiring story and tenacious attitude are great fits for the Detroit Lions.

New Detroit Lions linebacker Grant Stuard life has not exactly been a fairy tale. As detailed by The Athletic’s Zac Keefer , he battled through a tough childhood. His father was in and out of jail, and his mother was battling a crippling drug addiction throughout his adolescence. In short, his personal life was chaotic and out of his own control.

Football created order and comfort in his life.

“I had a lot of things that were outside of my control happen to my family, in my family, and realized very early on that football and aspects of the game are very controllable as far as the work that you put in, as far as the way you respond to things that happen,” Stuard said in his introductory press conference with Detroit. “That stuff you can control. For me, I found comfort in the game.”

That comfort allowed him to fight through some personal demons and beat significant odds when it came to making a career out of football. What also helped was a moment in 2019 when he turned to God, and aligned his personal and football life with the same attitude.

“In Ecclesiastes, Chapter 9, I think it’s verse 10 or verse 11, it says to do everything your hand touches, do with your full might because, you know, you have no more time in the grave. There’s no toil, there’s no work, you can’t do nothing after this,” Stuard explained. “That really spoke to me, reading that as a young man. I gave my life to Christ in 2019. I think that I play with that. I think that’s shown by the way I prepare, even by the way I practice. Hopefully, I can earn that reputation here and just be an asset, for sure. Yeah, that’s how I describe my play.

[Note: It is, indeed, verse 10 ]

Stuard found his way to the University of Houston—where he could play ball and still provide care for his family in need. He parlayed that into being Mr. Irrelevant, the final pick in the 2021 NFL Draft . And while his stay with the team that drafted him (Tampa Bay Buccaneers ) lasted just a single season, he excelled for three seasons with the Indianapolis Colts , becoming a special teams phenom and a dependable fill-in on defense. In 2024, he got the first start of his NFL career, and proceeded to tally 19 tackles, one tackle for loss and high praise from his head coach.

You’d think for a player looking to continue to advance his career, coming Detroit would be a challenging sell. The Lions are returning all three of their starting linebackers, and they’ve got a stable of depth capable of playing special teams, including Malcolm Rodriguez, Anthony Pittman, Ezekiel Turner, and Trevor Nowaske. To some, that’s reason enough to look elsewhere in free agency—and Stuard had other options. But he told his agent that surrounding himself with talented players is exactly what he wants.

“It’s not like other situations I may have had where maybe it was an easier path to the field or an easier path to maybe being the No. 1 guy on a unit or something like that,” Stuard said. “But [my agent was like], ‘They’ve got some players over there.’ I’m like, ‘Well, that’s good! I want to be around guys who are attacking the day the way I attack the day.’”