Needing to pick up the pieces after the past week has brought a divisional-round loss and their top two assistant coaches booking HC jobs elsewhere, the Lions are set to start moving forward. One of their recent playoff opponents has produced a DC candidate.
Buccaneers inside linebackers coach Larry Foote is expected to interview for the Lions’ DC job, Fox Sports’ Jordan Schultz tweets . Also known for his playing career, Foote is a Michigan alum and a Detroit native. He was with the Lions in 2009 and has been in the coaching ranks for 10 years now.
Aaron Glenn‘s extensive run on the coaching carousel ended Wednesday, as the Jets hired the four-year Lions DC . This marks new territory for Dan Campbell, who has yet to make an outside hire to replace a coordinator. Campbell promoted Ben Johnson to replace Anthony Lynn as OC in 2022 but faces the prospect of needing to look outside to replace Johnson and Glenn. Though names like Tanner Engstrand and Kelvin Sheppard have come up as options for the gigs , Foote looks set to have an opportunity on the defensive side.
A Bruce Arians hire immediately after his playing career ended in 2015, Foote jumped into a position coaching role. Arians hired Foote as his ILBs coach ahead of a 13-3 Cardinals season that ended in the NFC championship game. Foote followed Arians to Tampa in 2019 and has coached both the Bucs’ outside and inside ‘backers over the past six years. His stint as OLBs coach overlapped with the Bucs’ pass rush-driven surge to a dominant Super Bowl LV win, which featured Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul provide consistent pressure to close out the franchise’s second championship.
Coming up on the early PFR pages as a player, Foote spent most of his career with the Steelers. The off-ball ‘backer started for both modern Pittsburgh Super Bowl-winning teams, being part of the 2008 squad’s elite defense, before signing with his hometown Lions in 2009. Foote signed with Detroit in March of ’09, inking a one-year deal. He did not overlap with Campbell on the Lions’ roster; the current Detroit HC’s playing career wrapped after the winless 2008 slate.
Foote,44, returned to the Steelers after that Lions one-off and closed out his career with the Cardinals under Arians in 2014. He is now on Campbell’s radar to replace Glenn, and his Detroit ties make the candidacy a bit more interesting.