Ten(ish) Questions With... is a weekly series where we chat with a Detroit Lions player or coach about whatever. Sometimes it’ll be football-related. Sometimes it’ll be about their dogs or something completely different. Want to hear from a particular subject, send an email to Michael.rothstein@espn.com.

Previous Ten(ish) Questions With...

ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Darryl Tapp is one of the more jovial players in the Detroit Lions locker room -- even if it looked for a second like he might not be here.

Initially cut following the preseason, the Lions brought Tapp back during the first week of the season and he has become part of the defensive line rotation for Detroit with the ability to play both end and tackle if needed.

In his ninth NFL season and with his fourth NFL team, he agreed to chat for this week’s Ten(ish) Questions With...

What’s your best football memory ever?

Darryl Tapp: When I got moved up to varsity from JV in high school (at Deep Creek High School in Virginia). It was kind of surreal. I just started playing football to be like my older brothers. My mom never let me play because she was afraid I would get hurt. She let me play the six games on JV and the end of JV season they moved me up to varsity. That was my sophomore year of high school.

What was that first game like?

Tapp: Exciting. I didn’t get to play. I learned from some other guys, it was an away game so we had on all white. What you do is in warmups you go hard and then you roll in the dirt and make it look like you played. Like, oh, all right. OK. So I had my dirty jersey, but I didn’t play. Yeah.

Soccer (he played until sophomore year in high school), were you any good?

Tapp: I was pretty good. But I got too big for the jersey. The football coach came over and said you probably should look at football. My football coach (said that). The soccer coach kept on moving. I was kind of the asterisk in the soccer group. Taller. Bigger. I played fullback and left striker sometimes.

Who has been the biggest influence in your life?

Tapp: Family. Mom, dad, two older brothers. This kind of definitely kept me in line. Fortunate to have a mom and dad. A lot of kids don’t really have that luxury. I have them at home still. Two older brothers that have been the same routes that I’ve gone down, so they’ve been able to guide me and direct me the right way. Always have my best interests at heart, even to this day. Very influential to the person I am and am trying to continue to be.

What’s been the biggest influence point?

Tapp: They instilled hard work. That’s probably the biggest thing I’ve taken away. You can see it from my dad, who worked at a company for 30-something years, retired and then went back to work now. My mom, she was a crossing guard for the same school for 30-plus years. Retired now, just traveling and doing stuff.

Why did your dad (Charles) go back to work?

Tapp: He’s a worker, man. He likes to work. That’s what he enjoys doing. People person. He works, used to work for S&K Menswear store. They got bought out and he started working for another company in Virginia. Two older brothers, one was in the military (Charles Tapp II), did two tours in Iraq. This was my sophomore year in college. He’ll be here this weekend for the game. My next older brother, Brian, another hard-working guy. I had no choice but to fall in line and do that stuff.

What was it like with your brother overseas doing those tours?

Tapp: Sickening. It was cool, though. He got some exposure. It was sickening from the standpoint that he had to go over there; he did it for all of our freedoms and stuff like that. It was cool from the aspect they gained some exposure from that. Guys that was in his group over there, they used to stay up and watch (Virginia) Tech games, so they’d show them on TV during live broadcasts, the group watching the game. That was a cool aspect. It was a tough time to go through, but it all worked out well.

Did you ask for stories?

Tapp: He told me a couple things. I didn’t ask for anything too in depth. But he told me a couple things like, "Wow." Definitely appreciate him.

What was the best day of your life?

Tapp: Probably a four-way tie right now. Graduated from college, that was something stressed in our household. Day I got drafted. When I got married (to Tiffany). And the birth of my first child, Taylor.

That’s fair. You can’t pick one over the other because someone’s getting mad.

Tapp: Yeah, that’s why there’s four and it’ll probably be five when my son gets here Christmas.

What’s the fatherhood process like as you’re getting through it again? Expectations different?

Tapp: Definitely different. We’ve been down that road before. I’ve heard every one is different. I know what to expect, like this happens now, what to expect. It’s going to be exciting because he’s the first boy I’ve had. Looking forward to it.

You going to let him play football?

Tapp: Probably not. I’m not going to force him to. He can do what he wants to do, but if I have my say, I’ll have him play baseball or golf or something like that.

Why?

Tapp: Life expectancy. This is a tough game, get beat up all the time. We want to expose him to everything. I’m just not going to push him toward football. That’s not something I’m going to do.