INDIANAPOLIS — Dan Campbell let two of his assistant coaches make lateral moves to other teams this offseason, but their departures and other staff changes give the Detroit Lions a chance to be better in 2023, Campbell said Wednesday at the NFL combine.
The Lions replaced running backs coach/assistant head coach Duce Staley with Scottie Montgomery, are set to hire John Scott Jr. as Todd Wash’s replacement as defensive line coach, added former Pro Bowl cornerback Dre Bly to the defensive staff and shuffled positions on offense with the departure of senior offensive assistant John Morton.
Campbell said Staley, Wash and Morton all left for family reasons, and letting them out of their contracts was “the right thing to do.”
Staley and Wash joined Frank Reich’s staff with the Carolina Panthers, while Morton accepted a promotion to be pass game coordinator under Sean Payton, his former boss, with the Denver Broncos. Staley is a South Carolina native and his mother is battling health problems.
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“Listen, it’s tough. It is tough,” Campbell said. “But at the same token, I want to — I want to know they’re all here and when even a piece of them is not quite here, I don’t think that’s fair to them or us. And the other thing about it is I believe there’s good coaches out there. You can find them. Now, you’ve got to work and you may have to turn over some rocks and go through a certain type of process, but you can find good coaches. And I believe that, and I believe we’ve done that.”
Montgomery spent the past two seasons as running backs coach with the Indianapolis Colts and has a wide range of coaching experience on the offensive side of the ball.
A former NFL wide receiver, he coached the position at Duke and with the Pittsburgh Steelers; returned to Duke as associate head coach and offensive coordinator; went 9-26 in three seasons as head coach at East Carolina; and was offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Maryland before returning to the NFL in 2021.
Campbell said he interviewed Montgomery for the Lions offensive coordinator job last winter, when Ben Johnson got the job.
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“I was impressed,” Campbell said. “And that’s why these interviews, it may not work out at the time, but, man, everything happens for a reason. And so to be able to acquire him as our running back coach/assistant head coach from the Colts, man, was big. So I think he’s going to be an outstanding teacher. I think he’s got a lot of versatility. He’s coached the receivers, he’s coached running backs. He’s been a head coach, he’s been a coordinator. He’s worked with quarterbacks. So I just think that this is a talented coach, man, that’s got a lot of wisdom. He’s a motivator, energy. So we’re happy to have him.”
On the offensive side of the ball, the Lions also hired Steve Heiden as tight ends coach this offseason and moved Tanner Engstrand full-time to passing game coordinator after he served as tight ends coach/pass game coordinator last season.
Defensively, the Lions hired Bly to coach cornerbacks, promoted safeties coach Brian Duker to defensive backs coach, the role he served in the second half last season after the firing of Aubrey Pleasant, and have agreements in place to add Scott and ex-NFL head coach John Fox (as a senior defensive assistant) to the staff.
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Campbell said Fox, who was defensive coordinator with the New York Giants when Campbell entered the NFL as a player in 1999 and went to Super Bowls as head coach with the Panthers and Broncos, will fill a role on defense similar to the one Morton had offensively last year, and to what Dom Capers had under coordinator Aaron Glenn in 2021.
“He’s been out of it for about five years. He went back to Indy last year kind of in the same capacity, senior defensive assistant and, man, you could see the fire in him,” Campbell said. “I mean, it was, it’s impressive, man. He just, he misses the chess match, he misses preparing for an opponent and just worrying about defense. And so I think he’s going to be great at helping A.G. just watch his blind spots, which is really what Johnny Mo’ did for us on offense to help Ben out. So I think he’ll be a great addition.”
Briefly
Campbell said he was not surprised to see his old boss, Payton, back in the NFL after a one-year hiatus.
Payton went 152-89 and won one Super Bowl in 15 seasons with the New Orleans Saints. He sat out last season, and was considered the top coach available in this year’s hiring cycle.
“I felt like he just needed a breather,” Campbell said. “He needed a change of scenery. I had a feeling he would be back. I didn’t know when that was going to be, but I would say this: he looks rejuvenated. He definitely looks rejuvenated. So if anybody can get that thing turned around out there it’s him.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.