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“He (Adcock) was a major disappointment, in my mind,” Buono said. “Antonio is younger and he’s going to get better.”

Though he was a member of four practice squads in the NFL — Cowboys, Broncos, Steelers and Saints — Johnson met the CFL’s strict eligibility criteria for the “most outstanding first year” player award, i.e. he wasn’t named to the active roster of a CFL club in the previous season. Also, he didn’t dress for a National Football League team in the current year or any season prior to that.

Purifoy won the reserve cornerback battle out of training camp in 2014, was a standout on special teams and suited up for 11 games with the Indianapolis Colts that season. Despite seeing his defensive snaps increasing, he was waived by the Colts for indiscretions unrelated to his ability to play at that level. What he lacked was maturity and insight, though Purifoy says he has learned from his mistakes.

“I feel like a rookie,” he said. “They (veteran Lions) treated me like a rookie, but not like they do in the NFL. They didn’t cut my hair or anything. But I had to go through the initiation. I had to sing a song (at training camp). Of course, I felt like a rookie because I was learning the Canadian game. It may be a technicality, but they had to pick one of us, and it was Antonio.”

The most precocious athlete on the Lions, Purifoy plays with an intensity that falls just short of the edge of rage.

“He’s not a rookie of the year candidate?” asked running back Jeremiah Johnson. “That sucks. I figured he’d be a shoo-in. If he wasn’t playing for us, you’d see a big difference. He practises like he plays. He feels he needs to go and punish you. He’s that intense. He’s an extraordinary talent.”

“I’d put him up against any first-year defender in this league,” Elimimian added. “If you ask any guy on the other side, who they keep their head up for, Zero (Purifoy wears jersey No. 0) is one of those guys.”

The major challenge for the Lions now is how to keep him. At the risk of sounding overly optimistic, Buono admitted: “I’d be shocked if he was still here for more than two years.”

From rook to knight? It’s your move, NFL.

mbeamish@postmedia.com

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