The Carolina Panthers fired head Coach Frank Reich on Monday morning after the Panthers had a 1-10 start this season. There’s some intriguing questions here that directly relate to the Detroit Lions. The first one is obvious, will the Panthers try to get ben Johnson again?
They took a shot at him this past offseason, but the interview never went down. The Panthers were prepared to fly him out and he decided to stay in Detroit. I would be shocked if they didn’t try again.
The questions I’m more interested in today are what happens with Duce Staley and Todd Wash? Could they make a return to Detroit? Both will more than likely be let go after the season so that the new coach can bring in their own staff.
Let’s start with Staley. It’s kind of a shocker that the Panthers didn’t make him their interim head coach considering he’s the team’s assistant head coach. They instead went with special teams coach Chris Tabor. Could Staley come back?
It seems unlikely for multiple reasons. The first being that Staley made a lateral move to Carolina so that he could be closer to his mother who was going through some health stuff at the time. The other is that the Lions have Scottie Montgomery in Staley’s old role and he’s been doing a good job with the Lions run game.
Montgomery could get hired to be an offensive coordinator somewhere after the season. The Bucs interviewed Montgomery right after he took the Lions running back/assistant coach job in February. There should be interest again.
Even if Montgomery does get hired away, it’s hard to see Staley leaving.
As for Todd Wash, now there’s a move the Lions should be looking to make. The Panthers defense has been bad. That could effect Wash’s ability to find something new that won’t be another defensive line coach job.
The Lions are having a very hard time with their defensive line and defensive line coach John Scott Jr. You have to wonder if the Lions decide to part ways with Scott after this season. If they do, can they get Wash back?
Wash left the Lions on good terms. Could he return to the Lions? An even bigger question is this. If Aaron Glenn were to leave for whatever reason, could Wash be back to be the Lions new defensive coordinator? Wash was the Jaguars coordinator for four seasons and had a big hand in the Sacksonville era before that team fell apart in every way.
We’ll see where things go in the offseason, but Wash is someone I would definitely keep an eye on.