The Lions are reportedly moving towards hiring a former tight-end of theirs and current New Orleans Saints assistant Dan Campbell to be their new head coach — one day after agreeing to a five-year deal with Brad Holmes to be their new GM.
This was reported by a number of sources including a former Detroit teammate of his Dan Orlovski who gave Campbell some glowing reviews on Twitter.
Like Rapoport mentioned, Detroit wouldn’t be able to schedule an in-person interview with Campbell until the Saints’ season comes to an end. So it still can be some time before anything is made official with Campbell.
Campbell was reportedly the leading candidate along with Titans assistant Arthur Smith who was eventually scooped up by the Falcons.
Nonetheless, some of the early indications on what may have intrigued the Lions about Campbell are some of the usuals when it comes to what teams should like about head coaches. He’s a “leader” and a player’s coach which the latter would be a nice change of pace considering the celebrations that erupted across the NFL when Matt Patricia was fired. He’s offensive-minded with his biggest coaching influence being Sean Payton which stems itself from the Bill Parcells coaching tree.
If the Lions end up going with Campbell I’ll generally have the same reaction that I did when they hire Holmes which is cautious optimism. Furthermore, the cynics will decry any move the Lions make — again, certainly deserved given the organization, however, taking into account the relatively unknown aspects about Campbell no one can be definitive on how things will ultimately turn out with him.
It’s not like they’re inking Marvin Lewis to a deal who provides a large sample size to give some sort of educated opinion.
A couple of things to note though regarding Campbell:
- If the Lions do in fact hire Campbell, they would essentially have two first-year figures occupying prominent roles within the organization. Brad Holmes is a first time NFL GM and has no prior experience running a building. Meanwhile, Dan Campbell although was an interim head coach for the Dolphins at one point has never been hired by anyone in the League as a head coach. That’s not to say either of them will fail or have success, it’s still noteworthy to point out.
- I have some question as to actually likes Dan Campbell. Is it Rod Wood, Sheila Ford Hamp, and Chris Spielman? I mean Holmes was just hired yesterday and now we’re hearing about the team looking to hire Campbell basically as soon as they can. Was Holmes briefed on Campbell? Did he give his approval? I know Holmes is the new guy in the room but he should at least have a head coach in place that he likes, knows he can work with, and above all is his.
Todd Bowles and the Lions cancel their interview
In light of the Dan Campbell news, the Lions and Todd Bowles canceled their scheduled interview for today after it was made apparent the Tampa Bay defensive coordinator wasn’t going to get the job in Detroit.
