Notes: Utah RB coach explains Sione Vaki’s natural position change

Why does Lions rookie Sione Vaki look like such a natural running back? The Free Press talked to Utah’s RB coach about his position change.

As he has been known to do, Detroit Lions ’ general manager Brad Holmes shook things up when he drafted Utah prospect Sione Vaki in the fourth-round of the 2024 NFL Draft . For one, he traded up to pick 132 to draft Vaki—his third such move of the weekend. Secondly, Holmes made it clear that he was selecting Vaki as a running back and not a safety. Vaki apparently wasn’t aware of a single other NFL team interested in him as a full-time running back.

Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press wrote about how Vaki’s transition to running back in college by talking to Vaki’s running backs coach in college, Quinton Ganther

“The crazy thing is how effortlessly he caught the football,” Ganther said in an interview with the Free Press. “So I knew that he could catch the ball, then the next thing is I knew that he was a tough kid because we’d do blitz pickup with him versus the running backs (in practice). I knew that he had really good twitch, I knew that he was really, really explosive, and I knew he wasn’t scared, he wasn’t soft. A lot of times when you get guys that’s making that transition, you got to see if they have the mentality to be able to play the position.”

You can read the entire story from Birkett here.

And now, onto the rest of today’s notes:

• Will Lions’ tight end Sam LaPorta repeat as the league’s best tight end in 2024?

• Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there.

• Lions passing game coordinator Tanner Engstrand talked about his experience interviewing for offensive coordinator jobs this offseason.

• Lions’ wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown is knocking out some elusive offseason side quests.