Lions coach building team in his image

To understand what Lions coach Rod Marinelli wants in a player, look no further than new starting nose tackle Chuck Darby.

Darby is 32 years old. He’s only 297 pounds. And he’s so vertically challenged at 6-feet that even Marinelli, his biggest fan, calls him “Shorty.”

But, as Marinelli said, “I saw something in him. I could feel it.”

Marinelli was Tampa Bay’s defensive line coach when he pushed the Buccaneers to keep the undrafted Darby in 2000. This offseason, Marinelli was entering his third year of remaking the Lions into his image when he pushed team president Matt Millen to sign Darby, a free agent from Seattle.

He also persuaded Millen to trade the team’s once-promising nose tackle, Shaun Rogers, to Cleveland. Rogers is bigger (6-4, 340) and younger (29) than Darby. But he’s also the one thing Marinelli hates most: an underachiever.

Darby, on the other hand, is a classic overachiever.

A long shot to make the Bucs’ roster out of South Carolina State eight years ago, Darby did everything Marinelli asked. He’d line up with the first team, second team and third team with no rest in between. He’d go one-on-one against each member of the first-team offensive line, one after the other, with no rest. He’d do everything Marinelli asked.

“Rod gave me my opportunity,” Darby said. “Everybody else just looked at me as just a short guy, not big enough to play this game.”

Darby made the Bucs’ practice squad in 2000. He made the roster in 2001. He started in Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl XXXVII victory. He also played in Seattle’s Super Bowl XL appearance.

Eight years after discovering Darby, Marinelli is still looking for tough guys to transform a dismal franchise. Only 13 players remain from the roster Marinelli inherited in 2006. Several new faces have connections to Marinelli, including three defensive starters who played in Super Bowl XXXVII: cornerback Brian Kelly, former Viking safety Dwight Smith and an old guy nicknamed “Shorty.”