The Detroit Lions have made a ton of fans happy this offseason by overturning their offensive staff at the top. They opted to fire offensive coordinator John Morton and replace him with Drew Petzing. While the Petzing hire itself wasn’t all that popular with fans—earning mostly Bs, Cs, and Ds in our fan vote—people were feeling a lot better after Detroit reportedly added Mike Kafka to the staff in a currently unnamed role.
But I can sense a growing concern that the Lions haven’t done anything on the defensive side of the ball yet. It’s obvious defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard isn’t going anywhere, but people are yearning for some sort of addition to help out the young coordinator and provide some new ideas to the Lions’ side of the ball that had even more struggles than the offense last year. Are the Lions seeking out someone like that? It’s impossible to know right now, because they tend to operate in the shadows for their coaching hires.
Additionally, it’s very hard to predict which coaches would be available for this hypothetical role with Detroit. There are still upwards of 10 defensive coordinator vacancies across the league still, and it’s unclear how many defensive coaches would be willing to take on an assistant role with Detroit.
But, for now, let’s dream and/or get creative. Today’s Question of the Day is:
Who is a coach you’d like to see added to the defensive staff?
My answer: I listed four candidates on this week’s Midweek Mailbag podcast. But I’ll mention my favorite from there, plus one more that I’ve seen other people recommend that makes sense.
The latter is Chuck Pagano. He would check a lot of boxes. First, he’s at the stage of his career where he would likely take a senior defensive assistant role. After a handful of seasons off, Pagano was the Ravens’ senior defensive senior defensive assistant/secondary coach last year, but it’s unclear if he’ll have a role under new Ravens head coach Jesse Minter.
More importantly, Pagano already has a very strong connection with Sheppard from when Pagano coached him with the Colts. The Lions defensive coordinator has listed him as a heavy influence on him, and even said if he knew Pagano was going to coach last year, he would’ve tried to bring him on the Lions’ staff.
“Chuck Pagano is another guy, he now joined Baltimore. I told him, if that fire was still lit, I wish he would’ve told me—I would’ve tried to bring him to Detroit,” Sheppard said at last year’s NFL Combine.
The other coach I’m thinking of is a very different direction to go. It’s a younger mind that has a connection with two people on the Lions’ staff: Giants interim defensive coordinator Charlie Bullen.
Bullen coached the Dolphins with Dan Campbell back in 2012-15, acting as the team’s assistant defensive line coach. More interestingly, Bullen was the Giants’ outside linebackers coach last season, before being promoted midseason to defensive coordinator. Who was the person who made that decision? The Giants’ interim head coach who is now on the Lions’ staff, Mike Kafka. Clearly Kafka had enough respect for Bullen to give him the late-season promotion, and the Giants defense responded with a strong finish to the season, particularly with their young pass rusher Abdul Carter, who had this to say about Bullen.
“He inspires us. When he holds guys accountable, he doesn’t call guys out, he calls guys up… If I had to pick a defensive coordinator, I would say Chuck.”
If the Lions want to add an up-and-coming defensive coach that now has some serious experience in improving a pass rush and future defensive coordinator potential, Bullen would be an interesting option. The Giants do have interest in retaining him, and he’s received some defensive coordinator interview requests, so it’s unclear if Detroit has a realistic shot at him, but he would be a nice boost.
Which coach would you like to see added to the Lions’ defensive staff? Share some answers in the comment section at the bottom of the page.
See More:
