There’s a new day for the Detroit Lions defense. Aaron Glenn has taken the head coach job with the New York Jets and the Lions have promoted linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard to the defensive coordinator position.
This move has had Lions fans wondering what could change for the Detroit defense. Will they remain schematically similar to what Glenn was running? Will there be a lot of man coverage and blitzes? Let’s talk about it.
One thing that should remain the same for the Lions is positional versatility. This is a team that loves to draft and sign players that can do multiple things. You really see that in the secondary with guys like Brian Branch who can play both inside and outside corner as well as safety. The Lions will likely continue on that theme so Sheppard will have the ability to maneuver players around.
In terms of blitzes, you have to wonder if that was something that the Lions have had to do due to injuries. They had to send the house more often than not in order to replicate the pressure they were getting from guys like Alim McNeill and Aidan Hutchinson.
When those guys are back and healthy and the Lions continue to build their edges, they probably will back off on the blitz a little bit. It’s not something they will go away from completely.
Two things that are exciting is that the belief around the league is that Sheppard has an innovative defensive mind. With that comes new ideas and some new wrinkles. You can bet on seeing some different things out there.
The other thing is that Sheppard is going to expect a different level of violence from the defense than Glenn did. Not that Glenn didn’t expect that, but this is something that Sheppard has constantly been imparting on the linebacker group since he took the linebackers coach role.
Glenn would say that Sheppard is a bulldog and that he expects players to be bulldogs too. So with that in mind, the Lions could be a much more hard-hitting bunch than they’ve been in the past. They could also be a more disciplined group too.
We know the Lions want to keep some philosophies the same. They still plan to draft and sign players they feel best for their culture and mindset. They may still look to do some things schematically the same, but there should still be some notable differences under Sheppard.