The Detroit Lions defense is off to a really good start this season. Even with the loss of Aidan Hutchinson, the team finds itself as the fifth ranked defense in DVOA. Still, it’s a long season and when you get to December and January, some fresh minds and fresh concepts in the building can help a lot.
In the past the Lions have had a strong defensive minded coach in something of a consultant role. The team has had Dom Capers and John Fox in those roles most recently. This year presents the option to do something like that again. The Lions should be the next team to hire Jets head coach Robert Saleh to come in and help out.
Saleh is currently working with the Packers as an offensive consultant, but the Dearborn native isn’t locked into a full time job with them right now. Per NFL Insider Tom Peliserro, Saleh is expected to find himself with other teams this year.
“Don’t be surprised if some other friends of Saleh also have him in their buildings as the season goes on. Maybe a week or two in Green Bay, there’s other coaches he knows around the league. It’s something good for a coach in this position to do, which is get out, see how other people do things, maybe you can help them a little bit along the way as well.”
Saleh hasn’t worked with any of the Lions coaching staff like he has with Matt LaFleur in Green Bay, but there is a lot of mutual respect there with Dan Campbell and Saleh. Both were part of the 2021 coaching carousel and both came up in coaching around the same time.
At the end of the day the whole friendship thing doesn’t matter. What does matter is making sure that when the late season comes around and the Lions are pushing to repeat as NFC North champions and fighting for the best possible seeding they can get, having some new minds in the building to help shuffle things around and prevent teams from catching on to you is a good thing.
Saleh may not have worked out as a head coach in the NFL and I fully think there were some circumstances (Aaron Rodgers) in New York that most coaches don’t have to deal with, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a good coach. He was a tremendous defensive coordinator for the 49ers on Kyle Shanahan’s staff and helped get that team to the Super Bowl in 2020. He was also a defensive quality control coach for the Seahawks when they won the Super Bowl in 2014. The guy knows his stuff.
We’ll see what happens, but going all in on winning the Super Bowl this year doesn’t just have to be about what players you get, it can be about making all kinds of moves to make sure you stack the deck in your favor. That includes making additions to the coaching staff. Who knows, maybe Aaron Glenn takes a head coaching job next year. It would be good to have a great DC just hanging around the building.