The Detroit Lions traded the 122nd, 139th and 168th selections in the 2023 NFL Draft to the Arizona Cardinals to make the 96th pick. The Lions chose Western Kentucky defensive lineman Brodric Martin at that spot, and he played 28 snaps in three games as a rookie.

Martin didn’t get hurt. Detroit didn’t think he was ready to play.

“The challenge was not playing,” Martin said during the Lions’ offseason program. “In my mind, I wanted to play, but I wasn’t ready. Sometimes, that’s just how it goes. You’re just not ready to do what you – God doesn’t got that in your plan for you to do that right there. Hopefully, this year God’s got it in my plan for me to do so. …

“I do feel a lot more ready.”

Martin has had to wait to play before. A defensive end and tight end at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa who also played basketball and threw the shot for the Jaguars’ track team, Martin started his college football career in 2017 with a redshirt season at North Alabama. But over the next three seasons at UNA, Martin started every game before transferring to Western Kentucky.

“He’s improving,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said during the offseason program. “And there again, it’s hard to say without pads on. Till we get pads on, that O-line, D-line — but I can tell you this: Terrell, who I’ve got a lot of confidence in Terrell Williams, man, as our D-line coach. I think he really is, I think he’s the best D-line coach in this league. And if he’s not, you can argue what place he is. He’s been working with (Martin), a ton of one-on-one, individual.

“And, look, the kid wants it, he’s working, and he’s improving. And we’ll just — he’s another guy we’ve just got to get him reps, and training camp’s going to be pivotal for him with the pads on.”

Williams is entering his 27th season as a defensive-line coach and joined Detroit after six seasons with the Tennessee Titans.

“He’s still a rookie in my mind,” Williams said of Martin, “because he didn’t play very many snaps. Developmental players, sometimes guys look at that as a negative. I look at it as a positive, and truth be told, if you’re a great, great player, you’re still developing, and some guys are just coming from a little further back.

“But I think Brodric is — his game is going to have to be when pads come on. Again, we do what we can do out here, but it’s hard to judge a nose tackle without shoulder pads on completely because you can get away with some things out here that you can’t hide from in training camp and in football games. But we’ll find out long before the games start how far he’s come.”

Martin said he benefited from a full offseason program with the Lions.

“This offseason is football,” Martin said. “Prepping for the draft, that’s ball, but it’s not really ball. You know what I’m saying? This is what I needed in an offseason — the NFL work. It was good for me. …

“I feel good. I feel confident just by having that knowledge of going through that first year. I feel like I honed in on my body and on my mind to be a contributor this year.”

Martin is listed on the Lions’ roster as 6-foot-5 and 330 pounds, but he said it’s a different 330 pounds this year.

“I started to eat right,” Martin said. “Got a chef. It started with eating for me, so that’s what I’ve been doing. …

“What I did was lose more fat and gained back some of that in muscle. That was my plan, and that’s what I did.”

Detroit defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said Martin had transformed physically to meet the demands of his job.

“He has adjusted his body to be an NFL defensive lineman,” Glenn said. “Listen, I know there’s going to be a lot of questions and a lot of guys asking, ‘Well, has he improved?’ We don’t have pads on. When you’re in your underwear, it’s not telling anybody anything.

“The thing that we do know is the mentality is there, so since the mentality is there, now let’s see if that’s going to actually happen when training camp comes. So you guys will see exactly, or you guys will hear exactly, what you need to hear once the pads come on.”

But Martin said his biggest improvement had been mental.

“It all slowed down for me a lot more,” Martin said. “I understand the game a lot more, and so I’d say that’s where it really made a jump for me.”

The Lions concluded their offseason program last week. Detroit’s rookies report on July 20 and veterans report on July 23 for training camp at the team’s facility in Allen Park, Michigan. The Lions kick off their three-game preseason schedule on Aug. 8 against the New York Giants and start the regular season on Sept. 8 against the Los Angeles Rams.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.