‘Don't act like we're bringing in a scrub': Why Lions believe they'll rebound from brain drain

Yahoo

a day ago

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — As Terrion Arnold jogged out to practice Monday morning, he turned back to a coach and nodded: I know I've got research to do.
Arnold wasn't talking to his teammates about a conversation they had in the locker room. The Detroit Lions' 2024 first-round draft pick wasn't talking to defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard, either, nor to his defensive backs coach.
The cornerback was following up about a research assignment from … receivers coach, Scottie Montgomery?
Neither player nor coach found this unusual.
'Always trying to get that extra,' Montgomery, who's also assistant head coach, told Yahoo Sports. 'Things that they can see that maybe we're putting on tape, but definitely that other people are putting on tape. To help them get to not only formation recognition better, but route recognition.
'A lot of questions and answers.'
Montgomery spoke about the cross-field collaboration as if it is normal and standard in the NFL. In Detroit, he said, the offensive and defensive line coaches aid players across the line of scrimmage. As running backs coach last year, Montgomery alerted linebackers to keys worth remembering.
Like the level of physicality in Lions practices, this is not the NFL norm. There are some teams that don't organize interdisciplinary conversations at all and others that do so only during a bye week as the exception rather than the rule.
In Year 5 of head coach Dan Campbell, the Lions expect more.
'The maturation process of our program, of what Dan has been able to do for the organization — it just kind of turned everything into think tank,' Montgomery said. 'We're going against each other in training camp [and] there's no doubt we're competing our ass off.
'But at the same time, we know that this is for a bigger goal that's going to start a bit later.'
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The think tank mentality sweeping the Lions organization has contributed to Detroit's recent success, the Lions' playoff berths the past two years were their first consecutive postseasons since 1993-1995. The Lions are looking to follow their 2023 season NFC championship appearance and 2024 franchise-record 15 wins with the spotlight that's eluded the franchise its entire history.
Detroit has never played in, much less won, a Super Bowl.
Multiyear success is a good start. But the Lions lost three key members of their braintrust during the offseason.
Their plan for maintaining the standard amid turnover at offensive coordinate, defensive coordinator and center?
Enter the think tank.
'We're going to do what we do here from Dan more than anybody else — he's the top of the brain trust,' Montgomery said. 'Everything changes. Nothing stays the same.
'If it is, the complacency will kill you.'
The trio they lost — and the trio they found
Success, rather than complacency, was the demise of the 2024 Lions group. The Chicago Bears hired Ben Johnson as their head coach while the New York Jets hired Aaron Glenn to lead their franchise.
Early in the summer, the Lions also lost four-time Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow to retirement.
No one disputes the talent and foundation each of the three brought the club, or the work it will take to replace them.
But the think tank mentality means the Lions aren't starting from scratch building new schemes and playbooks to match their play-callers.
The play-callers aren't starting from scratch, either.
'It's not like we're going from Ben and AG to some coaches that don't know anything,' wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown told Yahoo Sports. 'Don't act like we're bringing in a scrub.
'These coaches know ball.'
Sheppard was promoted internally after coaching linebackers and outside linebackers after Glenn the past four years. He was in the building for all of Glenn's installations, meetings and play-calls; he contributed to last year's seventh-ranked scoring defense (the Lions did rank 20th in yards allowed, in part stemming from when injuries bled their depth). Like Glenn, Sheppard played in the NFL — a linebacker for five teams across eight seasons.
In St. Brown's words: not a scrub.
On offense, John Morton spent time first as a player on the Packers' and Raiders' practice squads and more recently on the coaching staffs for six different clubs. His 2022 senior offensive assistant role with the Lions meant he was front and center as Johnson first installed the Lions' most recent offense. As Broncos pass game coordinator in 2023 and 2024, Morton subsequently helped Sean Payton turn around Denver.
'So he kind of knows what we've been doing here, he knows the players and, like he says: he's going to continue to do the things that we do well,' St. Brown said.
The Lions ranked first in scoring offense and second in offensive production last season.
'We've been a pretty good offense for the past few years, so a lot of the stuff that we've been good at we've kept in,' St. Brown said. 'Then, obviously, Johnny Mo's going to add his wrinkles.'
Expect shifts in formations and tweaks in motions, but not a full overhaul thanks to the retention of run game coordinator and offensive line coach Hank Fraley.
Fraley 'was a big driving force probably in the fact that everything didn't change, which I'm happy about,' left guard Graham Glasgow told Yahoo Sports. 'They did a good job of making it so that it's not all completely new, which I appreciate.'
That's by design for the Campbell think tank, which aims to maximize each member of its staff but not rely too heavily on them to regroup when success prompts promotions elsewhere.
On the offensive line, Glasgow is teaching second-round rookie Tate Ratledge some of what Ragnow taught him, sharing tips on how to read hand placement to detect pressure and whom to help first when uncovered during a play-action pass.
'He always was good at keeping a bigger-picture view of what we were supposed to do,' Glasgow said of Ragnow. 'Frank was always just a tough play who's really f***ing smart.
'I feel like you can always learn little things from that.'
In 2025, Lions looking 'to close out some debts'
The Lions' return to postseason relevance under Campbell felt good at first.
'When nobody has expectations for you to win games or go far or win playoff games, it feels nice when you're doing those things,' Glasgow said. 'But then … last year we win all those games for what? To go home?'
January left a bitter taste in Detroit's mouth.
The Lions hosted the upstart Washington Commanders in the divisional round before an electric Detroit fan base. Five turnovers doomed the Lions' offense while a slew of late-season injuries decimated their defense.
The Commanders upset Detroit, 45-31.
'We've created this chip on our shoulder this offseason to understand 'close' is not close,' Montgomery said.
Campbell told his roster during an early training camp team meeting: There must be a reckoning.
'We're out to finish what we started, we're going to close out some of these debts,' Campbell reiterated the message Monday morning.
External expectations ticked up quickly last offseason … and now hang in limbo.
Players know they're no longer the NFC favorites and their luster has lost some shine even as they believe in their consistent-over-flashy principles.
In some ways, St. Brown says, the expectation that the Lions will hover in the range of fifth to 10th is more comfortable for this team and this city than the feared favorites.
Few expected them to make it to the NFC championship two seasons ago, just as few expected drafting Jahmyr Gibbs 11th overall to be an investment that returned handsomely and few believed at first in what now borders on the legend of Dan Campbell.
'We're not back to square one, but we're back to square 'you're still underdogs,'' St. Brown said. 'We feel like we play best when we're underdogs. We love being the underdog [and it] gives us that hunger, that fight [that] our team is built off.
'We're right where we need to be.'