Jeremy and Erik debate a bunch of Detroit Lions topics, including which coordinator is toughest to replace.
This may finally be the year the Detroit Lions have their coaching staff picked apart. Already in this cycle offensive coordinator Ben Johnson has four head coaching interviews and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has five. In addition to that, position coaches Deshea Townsend and Hank Fraley have coordinator interviews, and Chris Spielman is even interviewing for a general manager job.
The Lions have been lucky to keep the band together for as long as they have, but that luck may be coming to an end. So it begs the question: what is the best-case scenario if the Lions do end up losing a coordinator?
On this week’s Midweek Mailbag podcast, Erik Schlitt and I debated which coordinator the Lions could least afford to lose, and why.
Both of us agreed that losing Johnson would be the bigger loss.
“The reason I would pick Ben Johnson as the one I’d prefer to stay is because this is an offensive league,” Schlitt said. “And the relationship he has with Jared Goff is really what makes that offense run at a high level. That is a relationship I would not want to see missing.”
That said, it’s important to note that Glenn has done a fantastic job and would be a significant loss, too.
“You look at what Aaron Glenn has done when you finally give him good players,” Schlitt said. “He’s turned this team into a top-five defense. And then he’s at such a disadvantage having lost so many starters off of his defense. Yet he’s still been able to maintain it, which shows what a really good coach he is. I feel like he gets the short end of the stick a lot of times because they haven’t invested as much into the defense as they have on offense.”
In fact, I argued that Glenn may be the better head coaching candidate because he’s a culture setter—something the Lions don’t need as much these days, but was critical in the early Dan Campbell years.
“The one thing that becomes very hard to replace (re: Glenn) is the teaching, the mentoring, the things that make him such a good candidate to be a head coach,” I said. “The leadership. I think he can be a Dan Campbell replica. Now, he’s going to do it in his own way, but he’s going to command the respect of players in a way that few can, through the good times, through the bad times. There is not a coach outside of Dan Campbell that is more respected in that locker room than Aaron Glenn. That’s not easy to replace.”
You can catch that full discussion at the 34:45 mark of this week’s podcast.
Here are the other topics on the show:
- 4:00 — What’s with the missed delay of game calls?
- 11:10 — Has Amik Robertson’s play changed the Lions’ future plans with Carlton Davis?
- 19:40 — Can Lions defense continue strong play from Vikings game?
- 32:30 — Breakdown of compensatory picks if Lions lose Aaron Glenn, Ray Agnew
- 34:45 — Previously notated conversation about which coordinator to lose
- 39:25 — Would losing Agnew be worth the draft pick compensation?
- 44:50 — Safe to assume Agnew and Mike Disner are staying given no early rumors?
- 46:50 — Why aren’t the Lions getting any pass interference penalties in their favor?
- 50:45 — How do the Lions prepare for the Divisional Round during the bye week not knowing their opponent?
- 54:00 — Ranking the Lions’ potential playoff opponents by best matchup, most entertaining
You can catch the entire episode below. Or watch it with bonus content over on Twitch and YouTube .