Two veteran Lions are bringing in the mentality of younger players eager to learn and it's helping them gain trust and prove they still have it

The Detroit Lions signed two receivers in their thirties this offseason and both are expected to have growing roles with the team this year. That's Tim Patrick and Allen Robinson.

Both guys have been in the NFL for seven plus years. When you get older players like that, you tend to see guys that have a larger understanding of the game and the league and are more apt to push off coaching to a degree because they feel they know it all already.

According to Lions head coach Dan Campbell, that has not been the situation for Patrick and Robinson.

"You know what? One of the things I love about Tim Patrick, I put Allen Robinson in the same boat. I'm glad both of those guys are here, by the way, is they act like, just in the way that they handle their business, that they're still young players. And what I mean by that is, man, they want, 'give me the coaching. How do you want it? What is this? What's the, give me all the little details to this. Tell me exactly how you want it.' They're very coachable, like there's no 'I've played in this league eight years, 10 years. I know what I'm doing. I don't need you.' There's no entitlement whatsoever. These guys just come in and work their rear off and they want it. They help out across the board, not only for us, but also on the scout team."

That's a big mentality to have as a vet and it's shows that both players have something they want to prove. Patrick likely wants to prove that he can still play despite missing the last two seasons due to injury and Robinson wants to show that the sun hasn't gone down on his career.

Campbell had some good things to say about just Patrick and how he's come along and is gaining trust fast.

"With Tim, yeah, I feel like he's gotten better and better every week. He brings a skill set that we we need in that room that's different. And man, there's a place for him here. And I know he's gaining the trust of us offensively. But also with Goff, you know. The trust is getting there quickly."

We should be seeing a lot more of Patrick as the season goes on and if he's able to be that Josh Reynolds-esque type player, Brad Holmes might have to win executive of the year again for pulling this off after it seemed like they were deep in the hole.