Now that the search for the Detroit Lions general manager has come to an end, all the focus is on the search for the team’s head coach. With options dwindling after Robert Saleh found a new home in New Jersey, things should heat up quickly.
That said, the list of Lions candidates looks very small. With all the signs pointing to Arthur Smith landing in Atlanta (or Philadelphia), this leaves the following coaches on the short list of Detroit respondents: interim coach Darrell Bevell, longtime Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, Saints assistant coach, Dan Campbell , and the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator, Eric Bieniemy. With Buccaneers’ defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, expected to interview Lions on Friday, this leaves the list of candidates with only five people, none of whom interviewed a second time.
For the past two months, I have rated Lions head coach candidates based on exaggeration and the likelihood of getting a Lions job. Now that the Detroit list has narrowed, I will move on to the ranking of power based on my personal preference completely.
1. Rams defensive coordinator, Brandon Staley
Okay, I’m cheating right away. Staley did not do an interview with the Lions, and until Friday morning, they had not requested an interview with him. Yet, according to Dave Birkett of Detroit Free Press, his name appeared in his personal interview with now GM Brad Holmes.
First, let me address common concerns with Staley. I’m not oblivious to looking like another Bob Quinn-Matt Patricia pair. However, Staley and Holmes have only been together for one season. This is not another friendly thriller. Both guys reached this point in their careers on their own merits and without the connection to each other.
The other concern is that Staley is too green for that. He has been a coordinator for just a year and has only been an NFL coach since 2017. This is a legitimate concern, and is probably multiplied by the fact that Detroit has a first GM in place now. This is a lot of inexperience for a team that specifically said it wanted an experienced crew to repair the ship.
But Staley’s curriculum justifies a meteoric rise. The Rams are first in defense scores, fourth in defensive DVOA and the top five in almost all statistical categories. Sure, the Rams defense is talented, but Wade Phillips was unable to make it the best NFL defense.
Staley is a brilliant defensive mind who is at the forefront of building game plans. He is being named as defensive Sean McVay and has earned the full respect of difficult personalities like Jalen Ramsey. If you need to be more convinced that this should be the guy, read the various profiles about him that have emerged in the past two months. His philosophy would take Detroit’s defense to the right millennium.
2. Former Bengals coach Marvin Lewis
No matter what I write here, some of you won’t be able to pass 0-7 in the playoffs, and I understand that. Detroit doesn’t just want to make the playoffs. They want to be able to put real achievements hanging from the rafters.
However, after our conversation with Joe Goodberry, I believe there is reason to believe that the property has limited Lewis’s ability to succeed. With an incredibly small Scouting department and an even smaller budget to form a team, Lewis did as well as you can reasonably expect.
Furthermore, I don’t think it’s particularly fair to judge Lewis in his playoff history. Of course, his overall record of 131-122-3 is also not good, but the man made it to the playoffs in five consecutive seasons and won the extremely competitive AFC North four times.
More than any other coach candidate on this list, I trust Lewis to build a solid team around him. He has the connections and a very good hiring history.
3. Assistant coach of Saints, Dan Campbell
There is a considerable drop after Lewis here, but Campbell has been receiving enthusiasm from the coach for several years and almost got the job in Indianapolis in 2018.
There isn’t a ton of information about Campbell out there, other than that he is a tremendous leader that players absolutely fell in love with. He brings some experience as head coach of his interim days with the Dolphins, and it doesn’t matter that he’s been side by side with Sean Payton for the past five years.
My biggest concern with Campbell is the hiring of coordinator. It is unclear who exactly he would hire to fill his coaching staff, but those hires would be extremely important, because Campbell was never a coordinator and is not really an Xs and Os guy.
If he were to be hired, I would have to retain the judgment until he filled in the rest of the technical team.
4. Corsican defensive coordinator, Todd Bowles
Bowles is a great leader and perhaps an even better defensive mind. Almost everywhere he went as a defensive coordinator, a good defense followed.
Cardinals 2013: 10th in the DVOA, 7th in the score
Cardinals 2014: 19th in the DVOA, 5th in the score
Buccaneers 2019: 5th in the DVOA, 29th in the score
Buccaneers 2020: 5th in the DVOA, 8th in the score
But, man, it’s hard to ignore his management as the Jets’ head coach. Bowles went 24-40 in four seasons with the Jets and finished last in his division three times. And it’s not like your defense was doing very well during that period, either.
Jets 2015: 6th in DVOA, 9th in the score
Jets 2016: 23rd in DVOA, 28th in the score
Jets 2017: 22nd in DVOA, 22nd in the score
Jets 2018: 22nd in the DVOA, 29th in the score
5. Interim Head Coach Darrell Bevell
Bevell would definitely be the least inspiring of the signings, but he would come up with an offensive system that proved to have at least some success in Detroit. It is also clear that he won the respect of many players in the final weeks of the season.
However, it wouldn’t be exactly exciting if Lions – after thorough research – decided that their best candidate was from their own backyard. It is also unclear how Bevell would solve Detroit’s biggest problem: his defense.
6. Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy
In yet another coaching cycle, we saw Bieniemy’s enthusiasm disappear completely. He is no longer one of the hottest candidates for complete silence, and this is not the first time this has happened. At this point, you should ask yourself what exactly is going on during these interviews.
But, even leaving that aside, I was never too high on Bieniemy. Andy Reid’s training tree has been inconsistent at best, and Reid is still primarily responsible for the Kansas City attack. Throw some ugly skeletons into Bieniemy’s closet, and I just think this is an option that should be avoided. I have the appeal of a young and offensive coach, but I don’t think Bieniemy is that guy.