With the Detroit Lions’ 2025 staff now finalized, what was Dan Campbell’s best hire of the year?
Earlier this week, the Detroit Lions finalized their 2025 coaching staff. In total, 10 new hires were made, while several internal coaches received promotions or changes to their responsibilities.
The major changes happened at the coordinator positions, where the Lions lost both Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn to head coaching jobs elsewhere. The Lions filled their offensive coordinator position with a semi-external hire (John Morton, who was with the team in 2022). Their defensive coordinator hire was an internal promotion, selecting linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard to head that side of the ball.
But that was just the tip of the iceberg, the Lions also have a new running backs coach, tight ends coach, linebackers coach, pass game coordinator and a bunch of new assistants. You can see a full list of their 2025 staff here .
Today’s Question of the Day is:
What was the Lions’ best coaching hire this year?
My answer: There are a few that stand out. For one, I love the idea of pairing Jahmyr Gibbs with his former college coach in new running backs coach Tashard Choice. By all accounts Choice has been a fantastic coach in the college level, and he even already has a close relationship with Sheppard.
I’m also a big fan of Detroit’s new defensive line coach Kacy Rodgers. He has done fantastic work alongside Todd Bowles for most of his career, and the resume of players he helped coach up is impressive. While it’s frustrating to see the Lions continually go through new defensive line coach after new defensive line coach, Dan Campbell has done a great job getting some of the best guys out there.
I’m also just a big fan of David Shaw in general. In my deep dive of his coaching history, I found Shaw to be a great leader of men type who will be a perfect fit in Detroit’s coaching room. There are genuine questions about him being a pass game coordinator, but his history with Andrew Luck and Rich Gannon are two pretty significant positives in his resume.
Overall, I think I like what the Lions did best with their running back and wide receiver rooms. Losing Antwaan Randle El was a tough blow, but moving Scottie Montgomery to that room was a very smart play. He has the chops to teach the position and the leadership to keep that young room focused. And replacing him with Choice—possibly my favorite external hire—will help continue to get high play out of the team’s running backs.
What do you think was the Lions’ best coaching hire of 2025? Scroll down to the comment section and let us know!