Last week the Detroit Lions lost director of scouting advancement Mike Martin to Notre Dame. He is the Irish’s new general manager. On Wednesday the Lions lost another front office member.
This time it’s the Lions’ director of football compliance/ lead football council Jon Dykema. He will be heading to Lansing to be Michigan State’s new executive senior associate athletic director.
Dykeam spent 15 seasons with the Lions. Per the Lions, this is what his role was in Detroit:
“In his current role, Dykema’s responsibilities include overseeing the legal aspects of the club’s football operation, negotiating player contracts, assisting with the club’s salary cap planning and management, helping to direct analytics initiatives and coordinating with the league office regarding CBA compliance, player contracts and grievances. He also advises the coaching staff on playing rule interpretations and changes, penalty trends and replay reviews. On the business side of the organization, Dykema functions as the club’s privacy officer for HIPAA compliance and helps manage the organization’s government relations strategies and policies. In 2012, Dykema was selected to represent the Lions at the NFL-Stanford University Graduate School of Business Executive Education Program for Managers.”
So the Lions aren’t going to be losing someone who helps with player development, but they do lose a strong voice in the front office that assists with all the developments of the league as well as making someone who would have helped them make sure they can get players under contract while remaining complaint with the collective bargaining agreement as well as being someone who could help with player grievances against the league.