2026 Detroit Lions Offseason Thread

[lordstanley]

1 hour ago, Motown Bombers said:

I would move Monken to the top of my list. My only concern is how does he work with a QB like Goff? 

I read a post on Twitter that supposedly one of the things that got Harbaugh fired was stubbornness to management about him not wanting to move on from Monken. So I suspect that Harbaugh, who will have his pick of jobs, will take Monken and Monken will follow him. 

Edited yesterday at 12:26 AM by lordstanley

[Motown Bombers]

Called it. 

 

[gehringer_2]

29 minutes ago, lordstanley said:

I read a post on Twitter that supposedly one of the things that got Harbaugh fired was stubbornness to management about him not wanting to move on from Monken. So I suspect that Harbaugh, who will have his pick of jobs, will take Monken and Monken will follow him. 

I would think autonomy over his staff choices becomes a matter of principle with any experienced head coach.

[Hongbit]

52 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

Called it. 

 

No. No. No.  A million times No.

This team can not afford to have a first time OC to learn on the job calling plays and developing a game plan.  I don’t believe he’s done that at any level. 

Blough may end up as a great OC someday but this job is too much for him right now.

Edited yesterday at 01:44 AM by Hongbit

[MichiganCardinal]

2 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

I would think autonomy over his staff choices becomes a matter of principle with any experienced head coach.

He's been there 18 years and has finished with fewer than 8 wins one time. He would have been to the playoffs for the 7th time in 8 years this year, despite a slew of injuries, if his rookie kicker made a 44-yard field goal. He deserved autonomy over staff decisions. It takes some gall for the Ravens to fire him.

I think they will regret this decision. Who will they even replace him with? Stefanski? Minter? Try to be the smartest guy in the room and grab a coordinator on no one's radar?

This has all the elements of a decision that blows up in their face in three years when they haven't gone better than 8-9 and are trying to hire someone another replacement.

[Jason_R]

 

[MichiganCardinal]

1 hour ago, Hongbit said:

No. No. No.  A million times No.

This team can not afford to have a first time OC to learn on the job calling plays and developing a game plan.  I don’t believe he’s done that at any level. 

Blough may end up as a great OC someday but this job is too much for him right now.

If David Blough is 2022 Ben Johnson, isn't that good enough? I think this is just agent fodder from Blough's camp and won't materialize, but I'm not "hell no" on it. There are plenty of guys worse than a well-respected up-and-coming 30-year-old.

I think he is much more likely to come in as the Passing Game Coordinator under an experienced play caller. Maybe become the OC in waiting.

[Jason_R]

17 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

He's been there 18 years and has finished with fewer than 8 wins one time. He would have been to the playoffs for the 7th time in 8 years this year, despite a slew of injuries, if his rookie kicker made a 44-yard field goal. He deserved autonomy over staff decisions. It takes some gall for the Ravens to fire him.

I think they will regret this decision. Who will they even replace him with? Stefanski? Minter? Try to be the smartest guy in the room and grab a coordinator on no one's radar?

This has all the elements of a decision that blows up in their face in three years when they haven't gone better than 8-9 and are trying to hire someone another replacement.

Also, they lost a couple of tough games early — that ridiculous heartbreaker against Buffalo in Week 1 and against Detroit in Week 3, in which Derrick Henry had costly fumbles. Without the Henry fumble against Buffalo, in retrospect, there is no chance Buffalo would have come back, and an extra win in the Ravens column would have put them in the playoffs. Maybe the Detroit game would have ended differently without his fumble. Then they got ravaged with injuries. Harbaugh didn’t make Henry cough up two early wins, but he somehow kept them together to have a chance at the postseason. It’s a tough game. 

[Jason_R]

 

[sagnam]

Hearing that Campbell would retain play calling is super disappointing and helps explain why he’d lean that way over a real offensive coordinator. No way a real OC comes in and doesn’t call plays. It’ll be another year of overwhelmed coaching making suspect clock management and personnel decisions. This team works best when Campbell is leading the entire team and making executive level decisions.

[Motown Bombers]

 

[MichiganCardinal]

2 hours ago, Motown Bombers said:

 

As a note of context, teams can only block "lateral" interviews. They cannot block "promotional" interviews. And the NFL treats their coaches in three tiers: Head Coaches / OC & DC / All Other Coordinators and Position Coaches. So the Commanders could have blocked Blough from interviewing for the Lions (presumably soon-to-be open) Passing Game Coordinator role, but could not block him from interviewing for the OC role.

[Motown Bombers]

25 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

As a note of context, teams can only block "lateral" interviews. They cannot block "promotional" interviews. And the NFL treats their coaches in three tiers: Head Coaches / OC & DC / All Other Coordinators and Position Coaches. So the Commanders could have blocked Blough from interviewing for the Lions (presumably soon-to-be open) Passing Game Coordinator role, but could not block him from interviewing for the OC role.

Right, I was posting more to show that other teams have been interested in him. 

[1984Echoes]

12 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

If David Blough is 2022 Ben Johnson, isn't that good enough? I think this is just agent fodder from Blough's camp and won't materialize, but I'm not "hell no" on it. There are plenty of guys worse than a well-respected up-and-coming 30-year-old...

I agree with this.

And if they hire him as our OC...

One additional point would be:

Our O-Line will be in transition next year. No matter how they try to fix it... there will be new guys, and already-Lions at new positions... IMO.

Which means it may take a few games for our reconstructed O-Line to gel.

That also means, to me, that Blough would have a few games to refine his playcalling before this "new offense" got up to full speed. Call it... "working out the kinks". Both for the new guys/ new positions O-Line and for the new OC, Blough or otherwise...

[1984Echoes]

11 hours ago, sagnam said:

Hearing that Campbell would retain play calling is super disappointing and helps explain why he’d lean that way over a real offensive coordinator. No way a real OC comes in and doesn’t call plays. It’ll be another year of overwhelmed coaching making suspect clock management and personnel decisions. This team works best when Campbell is leading the entire team and making executive level decisions.

It wouldn't bother me if Campbell had "input" the first several games of 2026 until he is certain Goff and Blough (or whomever is the new OC) and himself, are all on the same page with what they feel the offense should be.