The Detroit Lions came close to reaching Super Bowl LVIII, but narrowly lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. Despite the disappointment, there is optimism for the team’s future as most of the coaching staff is set to return. However, it is worth noting that one assistant faced slanderous attempts for choosing to stay. The Lions are determined to embrace the concept of “unfinished business” and use it as motivation moving forward.
As the NFL world gathered in Las Vegas for the highly anticipated Super Bowl, here are some noteworthy news updates regarding the Detroit Lions on this Super Bowl Sunday.
The Lions indeed lose an assistant coach
Despite expectations that the Detroit Lions would retain their entire coaching staff for the upcoming season, a surprising development occurred on Saturday. Passing game coordinator Tanner Engstrand, who was not chosen for the previous offensive coordinator position vacancy, received news that impacted the team’s plans for continuity.
Duker joined the Detroit Lions as a defensive assistant in 2021 as part of Dan Campbell’s initial coaching staff. He was later promoted to safeties coach in 2022 and took over the responsibilities for the entire secondary when Aubrey Pleasant was terminated during the season. For the most recent season, he held the position of defensive backs coach.
The recent hiring of Deshea Townsend adds clarity to Duker’s departure and potentially affects the role of cornerbacks’ coach Dre’ Bly in a different way than initially speculated.
Jared Goff has to be “one of the happiest guys on the planet”
There’s no doubt Jared Goff is the Lions’ player who benefits most from offensive coordinator Ben Johnson’s decision to stay.
On that note, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, CBS analyst and former NFL quarterback Matt Ryan knows what it means for Goff to have that continuity for at least one more season.
“Jared Goff should be the happiest guy — one of the happiest guys in the NFL right now, to know that going into this offseason, he’s not having to re-learn a system, he’s not having to re-learn a play caller,” Ryan said, “He’s not having to do all of these things that require so much effort and also don’t allow you to pick up where you left off and I think that’s going to be really huge for that offensive team and for the team as a whole, to have Ben back.”
Goff and Johnson obviously have a strong relationship, as Johnson has (smartly) leaned into what Goff does best, asked Goff what he likes to do and has empowered his quarterback with input into the offense. Those things feel elementary, but not every coach does it.
Jared Goff and Aidan Hutchinson recently discussed their thoughts on Lions head coach Dan Campbell being snubbed for NFL Coach of the Year. Despite this season being seen as a prime opportunity for Campbell to win the award, he finished in a distant third place behind Kevin Stefanski and DeMeco Ryans.
Hutchinson expressed his belief that Campbell deserved the award, emphasizing the historic accomplishments the team achieved under his guidance. He also stated that while awards are nice, Campbell is considered the Coach of the Year by the entire team.
Goff echoed Hutchinson’s sentiments and went a step further by mentioning the narrative nature of the award and the expectations placed on the Lions this season. He suggested that the award tends to go to coaches whose teams were not expected to be as competitive or had to overcome significant injuries. Goff also mentioned that since the Lions were expected to perform well, Campbell not winning the award did not come as a surprise.
According to Farhan Lalji of TSN, there is a significant possibility that Mathieu Betts, the reigning CFL Defensive Player of the Year, will sign a futures deal with the Detroit Lions. The Lions had previously brought Betts in for a visit in December, and now as their offseason roster is being formed with 90 players, the potential signing of Betts appears to be on the horizon.
Mathieu Betts, the reigning CFL Most Outstanding Defensive Player, had an exceptional season with the BC Lions, recording an impressive league-leading 18 sacks. In his first season with BC, he had seven sacks. Prior to joining the BC Lions, Betts spent two seasons with the Edmonton Eskimos/Elks in 2019 and 2021.
Originally from Montreal, Betts participated in the East-West Shrine Game as a college prospect in 2019. He signed with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent and made it to the final roster cuts in late August before returning to the CFL.
