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The Detroit Lions were forced to rebuild their coaching staff under Dan Campbell after the team lost its offensive and defensive coordinators this offseason. The Lions responded to the exodus with solid coordinator hires, bringing John Morton over from the Denver Broncos to run the offense and promoting Kelvin Sheppard to the top spot on the defensive side.
Now the Lions are continuing their coaching overhaul by replacing top staffers who left for new opportunities under Ben Johnson or Aaron Glenn. On Thursday, Detroit locked up a key offensive asset.
The Lions hired David Shaw as the team’s new passing game coordinator, according to NFL insider Tom Pelissero on X. Shaw signed a multiyear deal with Detroit.
Prior to landing with the Lions, Shaw most recently coached in college. He succeeded Jim Harbaugh as the Stanford Cardinal’s head coach, spending 12 seasons in the role after serving as Harbaugh’s offensive coordinator for four years. Shaw resigned following the 2022 season with 96 wins in his 12-year run, making him the winningest head coach in Stanford history.
Shaw landed with the Denver Broncos for the 2024 season, working as the team’s senior personnel executive. While the majority of his experience is at the college level, Shaw’s resume includes nine seasons as an NFL coach with the Eagles, Raiders and Ravens.
Shaw will, apparently, replace Tanner Engstrand as passing game coordinator in Detroit. Engstrand has held that title with the Lions since 2022. However, he’s considered the frontrunner to land the New York Jets’ offensive coordinator job. Glenn and the Jets already hired former Lions’ tight ends coach Steve Heiden, who will serve as the offensive line coach in New York.
It was initially believed that Sheppard would also follow Glenn to New York as the Jets considered him for their defensive coordinator position. However, the Lions hung onto Sheppard, bumping him up from linebackers coach to DC. The Jets, meanwhile, hired veteran coach Steve Wilks to helm the defense.
It’s interesting to wonder what the Lions’ coaching staff would look like had Detroit reached the Super Bowl this season. Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn would almost certainly still have left the team for head coaching jobs. And they most likely would still have taken assistants from the Lions along with them. But would Campbell have been able to retool as efficiently if he got started a month after the hiring cycle began?
As it played out, Detroit has been able to quickly restaff, replacing important assistants who were pilfered by the competition. The pressure is now on the Lions to replicate their success over the last two seasons without several key coaches who helped the team flourish. The organization hopes its efforts to rebuild will keep Detroit’s Super Bowl window open for years to come.
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