ALLEN PARK — It’s become a tradition that rookies are in charge of supplying the Detroit Lions wide receiver room with snacks.
Players drop their preferred choice of snack in their group chat on any given day and the rookies make sure to grab it ahead of their daily room meeting.
The first time Isaac TeSlaa was tasked with procuring snacks he committed the cardinal sin: DoorDash.
When veteran Amon-Ra St. Brown found out that TeSlaa used the delivery service to fill everyone’s request rather than head to the store and get it himself, he set the rookie straight.
“I said, no, no, no. Ain’t no DoorDash,” St. Brown said. “You got to go pick it up.”
TeSlaa understood the message and now makes his regular trips to Target, filling Jameson Williams’ regular request for cups of instant ramen noodles, Ronnie Bell’s obsession with Gushers and among the most important being St. Brown’s sweet tea.
“Saint loves a sweet tea, so when he doesn’t have his sweet tea, he gets a little cranky,” TeSlaa said. “So I gotta make sure I’m on top of that.”
It’s a small gesture, but one that goes far with the guys in the Lions receiver room.
And as TeSlaa continues earning the respect of his teammates and coaches in his first year as a pro, every deed carries weight.
“They gotta understand the flow of camp, understand the snack situation and whatnot, how that really does help camp kind of go by smoothly,” Bell told MLive. “When you’re in those meeting rooms all day long, at least you got some snacks.”
Luckily, the slow start to the snack situation for TeSlaa and fellow rookie receivers Dominic Lovett and Jackson Meeks didn’t get in the way of the receiver unit meshing together this offseason.
From their first get-together at St. Brown’s house in the spring to one last gathering after training camp before the season got into full swing, most of what a receiver room with four new faces needed was time.
“It’s been from when I first got out here in the spring or whatnot, like just kind of how close all of us have gotten, how cool all of us have gotten with one another,” Bell said. “That was really our first time really trying to kind of gel in with one another. Just how tight the whole group has become is really cool.”
Any sort of snack debacle early on was erased from the hard work of all the rookies, but TeSlaa — as a third-round pick in the NFL Draft — particularly stood out to his teammates early in training camp because of his efforts on the field.
His willingness to go out and block for teammates and contribute on special teams did not go unnoticed.
Like anything else in the room, doing the dirty work might not get a player noticed by fans or draw cameras his way, but players and coaches see it all. It builds trust that TeSlaa will put himself on the line to help the team.
Come TeSlaa’s first NFL Sunday, his ability to contribute was limited.
After missing multiple practices due to an illness leading up to a game against the Green Bay Packers, it was harder to include TeSlaa in the game plan.
Missing practice means a player is also missing meetings, and next-day prep sessions. Getting TeSlaa on Zoom could only do so much, but he was back in uniform for the practice the Lions focused on red-zone plans.
That’s why it wasn’t surprising to see the Arkansas product line up late in the game along the 13-yard line. But TeSlaa’s first NFL catch was more of the surprise as he made an extraordinary one-handed touchdown grab.
“Of course, you start making plays, you get the respect,” wide receivers coach Scottie Montgomery said. “This is a making plays business, right? And I think there was a lot of respect connected to him for making that play in the game because of everything that he went through last week from his illness.”
Back in full swing for practice this week, coach Dan Campbell made it clear they envision more for TeSlaa.
It’s looking like it’s just the start of things for the rookie receiver in Detroit. The Michigan native will make his first regular-season appearance at Ford Field, where he grew up going to games, against the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
The jersey he wore in his first game is going to his parents. He hasn’t decided what to do with the ball he scored the touchdown with, which St. Brown made sure to collect for him.
Even after an electric debut catch, TeSlaa was right back to snack duty this week. He searched high and low for Jolly Rancher Chews on Wednesday, but couldn’t find them so he just got a plethora of candies, made sure to grab Williams’ ramen and “overloaded” on sweet tea for St. Brown.
That’s certainly keeping the receiver room happy and excited about TeSlaa’s future.
“I love Isaac. I think he’s coming along great,” St. Brown said. “I think, you know, he’s so young, he doesn’t really know what to expect. I feel like even after that catch, I mean, it was one of the craziest catches I’ve seen, but it’s almost as if, like, it wasn’t real for him.
“I think he’s going to be great for us moving forward. I think he’s right where he needs to be, you know, increasing his rod, I feel like each and every week. He’s coming along and he’s doing everything right. I mean, on the field, off the field, getting us snacks,” he joked. “He’s doing a great job.”
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