Dan Campbell is known as the coach who wouldn't mince his words when he sees a problem. One former Lions quarterback witnessed this firsthand while on the team.

In a recent episode of the Jet Press, Hendon Hooker, who was a part of the Lions in the 2023 and 2024 NFL seasons, revealed what the Lions head coach used to say to him during training.

“I have no idea,” said Hooker when asked why college quarterbacks clap. “The more that I think about it, the more I’m like, ‘That’s so dumb.’ Because when I was in college, I think we only used cadence one year when I was at Virginia Tech, and I was clapping on everything else. And then when I got to the NFL, Dan Campbell was like, ‘Bro, your cadence sucks. You need to go work on your cadence."

The Lions drafted Hendon in 3rd round of the 2023 NFL draft as the 68th overall pick. But he was used to using claps before a play because in college football, clap cadence is more dominant, especially compared to traditional verbal cadence. But that wasn't the case in the NFL.

The former Lions QB had troubles adapting to that, and Dan Campbell was not forgiving with words or action either.

Hendon revealed that during practice, whenever the team worked on situations aimed at drawing the defense offside, Dan Campbell would send him in to handle the cadence. If he failed to get the defense to jump, he had to do 50 pushups.

But He Has No Hard Feeling for Dan Campbell

Hendon did not have a great time with the Lions. In 2023, he could play a single game because he was recovering from an injury. Then in 2024, he played 3 games in which he had a passer rating of 86.3 with 62 yards.

Eventually, the Lions released him near the end of preseason, just before the regular season started. But he had no grudges against Dan Campbell. "I love Dan Campbell, man,” he said to The Jet Press.

Not only that, the former Lions QB added,

“He’s an amazing coach. He’s an amazing football mind. And he coaches with passion. He wants you to play with passion. And that just becomes contagious. You can see it throughout their whole team — everyone’s playing with their hair on fire.”

Currently, he is a part of the New York Jets as an unsigned exclusive-rights free agent.

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Written by

Reyansh Dubey

Edited by

Kalp Thaker