Jim Schwartz Pursues Free Agents Like A Deranged Ex-Boyfriend

How do you convince talented and (mostly) sane players to move to Detroit and play for the Lions? If you're Jim Schwartz you sit outside their house in the middle of the night and leave heaving breathing on their voicemail.

When the clock struck midnight Eastern time on the free agent signing period last week, Schwartz was sitting in a parked car just steps from the home of his old Tennessee charge, Kyle Vanden Bosch. As soon as the contact period opened, he sent the player a text that read: "I could be anywhere right now, but I'm coming to talk to you because you're the guy I want." Did someone just turn on the theme music from "Pyscho"?

Then when Vanden Bosch didn't immediately respond (because he missed the message), Schwartz called to say, "I'm a block from your house. Can you give me a minute?" Then he refused to go home until Vanden Bosch agreed to become a Lion. Amazingly, this worked.

I guess those high pressure sales techniques that only pay off in terrible romantic comedies also win people over in the real world of pro football. Schwartz then held a boom box over his head until Vanden Bosch came out of his house and said, "You had me at 'Oh and 16.' "

Kyle Vanden Bosch Talks about Jim Schwartz and Signing with the Lions [Sports Radio Interviews]