Reggie Wayne was a free agent after the 2014 NFL season, the final year of a fantastic career in Indianapolis for the perennial Pro Bowl wide receiver. The Detroit Lions, then led by GM Martin Mayhew and head coach Jim Caldwell, came calling to Wayne in hopes of luring him to join the team.
Wayne told NFL Network host Dan Hellie that the Lions approached him that offseason about coming to Detroit. But Wayne told the “Helliepod” podcast that the Lions wanted him to work out before offering him a deal.
“I said, ‘Work out? You the Detroit Lions. Wait. Work out? I’m good.’ Like, I can give you — I got 14 years of working out that you can see,” Wayne said. “So I was like, ‘Nah, I’m cool.’”
Wayne, then 37, had no such reservation in working out for the New England Patriots. As he explained,
“Before I get there, Bill Belichick says, ‘Hey, Reg, you got to work out,’ ” Wayne said. “So I said, ‘All right. You Bill Belichick, all right, I’ll work out for you. Y’all New England. OK, I’ll work out for New England.’
At that point, the Patriots were coming off a Super Bowl victory. The Lions had finished 11-5 in 2014 but lost in the first round of the playoffs and didn’t boast anything close to the sustained success of New England.
Wayne wound up signing a 2-year contract with the Patriots, but he was cut before the season and never played in the NFL again. The Lions opted to sign Lance Moore instead. Moore caught 29 passes for 337 yards and four TDs in his one year in Detroit, the final season of his career.