Detroit Lions defensive assistant coaches meet with the media | May 15, 2025

Detroit Lions defensive assistant coaches meet with the media | May 15, 2025

SH, you uh you guys subbed out one really good veteran quarterback for another this offseason. What are just some of the the differences, the similarities between DJ and Carlton and uh I guess the similarities both are good pros like they understand uh the NFL. They understand what they getting theel to. Both of them are really good man corners. Um the differences is one is 6’2 and one is 510. So that’s the only big difference. But um both are tremendous football players. Uh really good pros. Uh really looking forward to working with both with with uh DJ. Does DJ know he’s not 6’2 because he seems like I doubt it. Doubt. He better think he’s the tallest corner in the room every time he goes in. But you don’t make it this long if you don’t have that mindset, you know, that’s and he has it. He’s been he’s been a really good player his entire career in the league. So they always say a player takes his biggest lead from year one to year two. just how have you seen Terrion come back this this spring and just some expectations for him going into what’s expected to be kind of a big jump year for I think I think um you know any expectation of anytime you get a a chance to have as many reps as he had it helps you you know that the only way you can get better is to to get a chance to rep and he understands how they’re attacking them and he found out about himself like what do I do best u how can I make those strength more stronger and then my weaknesses what do I do now this offseason to make him better and um you know just conversating throughout the process before he got back and then she grabbed me right now we was in the office watching tape just now so he is he is trying to be the best player he can be and that’s what it takes like you you have to work on your craft you have to find out how you can get better in the offseason and he’s working at that Imagine Pennis was incredibly frustrated with just the the stop start nature of his of his rookie year I think we all understand that he was on the verge of getting an opportunity to start there really early in the season. How do you how do you see the year two? I mean, is he going to be right back in that mix to scrap in for a Yeah, we the the thing I do like about how he came back was just his mindset. Like I you can tell that he he understood what went wrong last year. Um and and some things that you can’t can’t control are injuries. And for him, it’s just now how can I be stronger? What did I do last year? like being a rookie, training for the combine and doing all that. Now I get to really focus on myself and my craft a little bit more because you don’t have to worry about those things. But he understands and in our room it’s about competition anyway. You know what I’m saying? But we don’t care who gets a rep. A rep don’t care who get it at this time of year. But when you get it, you better make sure you’re doing the right things. And and that’s that’s our room anyway. Like you’re you’re going to have to prove it. You better come in here ready to compete. And I think we got a lot of good guys in there to go to go compete. Can you still see him as both inside and outside potentially? Um, well, you know, in this league you only can travel with so many, but right now we’re going to let him, you know, focus outside, you know, let him let him go compete out there. Amika has did a really good job. We have Avante who’s another position flex type of person. So, and I think that’ll help him as well. Speaking of, how impressed for you with what he was able to do now, uh, the first year here in Detroit, what what do you expect now here too with him? Oh, yeah. just like we talked about, that was his first um first time really playing Nickel full time and uh to see him improve from the first week to the last week shows you the capability that he had even when he was at the Raiders and you know he’s just a pro. Um love the way that he approached the game, love the way he came to meetings every day and I loved his energy. Like that’s the one thing that he has that from day one you knew he was going to be a guy that that brought that energy every day. and he he is a a true pro, a true football player. Back to Terry for a sec. When you guys target those areas of his game where he can improve, what are two that stand out to you? I think the biggest thing for me is tracking and locating the ball. Um I think as the season went, you saw some of the pass interferences go down. Um but but our our next step is how can we get the ball back to the offense? Like how can we transition from man the ball from from not from it being a PBU to an interception. And so that’s some of the things that we talked about and some of the things that we’re working on to see how we can improve it like where and when do I take a peek when I’m in phase go ahead and look like that those type of things that now he understands and he can play a little bit more play have a little bit more freedom and go take a chance and go make some plays. You had a lot of interceptions in your career. It it took you a few years to get the first. Um you know Terry didn’t get his first last year. You knew that was nonadam. I mean how from your experience what can you convey about being patient and and not you know taking unnecessary risk to get Yeah. I I think the biggest thing is like you know how it is once you touch it one time it’s going to they they they come in number come in bunches but you know when you play man a lot a lot of times your back is turned and so therefore a lot of times you know you’re not looking at the man you’re trying to go from transitioning from man to ball which a lot of times doesn’t go in your favor but I just think for him it’s just that growth you know being patient that they’ll come and when they come you know you got to create them other ways but when they come they’ll come in bunches first couple months been you know what It’s actually been as as smooth as you could possibly ask. It’s kind of been so far kind of a seamless transition coming in learning the the scheme here and kind of fitting in with the staff. So, and now we’re having uh interaction with the players. So, it’s been pretty smooth for so long. You know, why why was this the right time, the right opportunity for you in Detroit? You know what? It’s just kind It’s funny. I have to sit there and think about it because as long as I work, me and Todd work together to different spots we’ve been together. But sometimes just as a coach, you know, when it’s time to, you know what I’m saying? Sometime you have to move to keep your skills sharp, if that makes sense. You know, uh had a great experience there, but you know, the opportunity presented itself to come here and familiar with Dan and Shep and Shay and Carell. It was just kind of and you’re kind of talking about a pretty talented team, too. So it was just a a really great opportunity on that talent. You know, you’re you’re paring a a line with, you know, a premier pass rusher, a former first round pick in in Marcus, second round pick in Josh Lee’s a top defense tackle. I mean, when you see that that wealth of of talent? I mean, how compelling is that as you’re considering your your options around the league? Well, that that that had a lot to do with it. you know, it’s just a chance, you know, as a coach, you know, as long as I’ve been in this league, you kind of look for good opportunities and, you know, you walking in with some talented guys and guys you kind of like to work with and then that that had something to do with it. Then plus, you know, the culture coach Campbell’s created here and just a coach, you always want to learn. I got to where I was pretty familiar with Todd’s system, the way he does things and everything. It was great learning experience for me. Now, to get to experience the way Dan leads the team and the meetings and everything, it’s just a learning for me. You know, I was telling somebody, as long as I’ve been in this league, you still can learn. You know, you when you get to the point where you think you know it all, that’s when problems set in. So now I’m just kind of situation where I’m still learning the way we do things here, the way things, you know, and it’s, you know, at the end of the day, it’s still football. So, but it’s just the way you do it and try to get the results on Sunday. How is how’s the evening looking? Actually, really good. Just kind of to see, you know, I’m sitting here just imagining what this guy went through. one what he worked on to get back in case they made it to the end last year and then to see where he is right now is just this guy’s kind of he’s uh he’s a true pro. You uh I mean obviously you know medical you know will determine everything and and you know I think both Dan and Brad have already indicated he’ll be back you know but when how do you anticipate how much work does he need to get back to where he was on the field against? Well, the thing is once we know for sure where he is and everything, that will dictate itself, but our thing is we’ll do everything to make sure he’s ready to go week one. You know, what did you know about Dan from your previous experience with him? And I guess even from a distance here these last few years, what have you seen about what he’s built here? Well, the thing when I remember him as a player, it’s the exact same as I see him as a head coach. Tough, gritty, hard-nosed, blue collar, just hardworking. And then, you know, we were together in Dallas. I’ve watched him as a player at the tough grade. Then we were together at Miami and I’m coaching defensive ends and he was coaching tight end. So we go against each other every day. So it was just like then been and then I see South going against each other all the time. It’s just everything that you saw him as a player, as a position coach, it transferred to him being a head coach. He’s the same guy. The way he coaches the players, talks to the players, communicate with the players, communicate with the staff. He’s the same guy only better. You got all the talent coming back. You’ve also got a first round pick from Tyler Co in the fold. Just what do you like about him and how I mean how much of a bonus is that to the situation? Well, it really it really is. You know, one the thing is I think after watching the cutups in the tape, what they went through last year with so many bodies in and out because of the injury situation. Just good to see, you know, we can’t have enough depth. It just reiterates, you know, they they limit the league with 53 guys, but you can never have enough depth and enough quality depth to be able to get Tali and mix in with the guys that already, you know, that’s could only be a bonus. You brag about this. How do you feel about the depth that you have at the edge rush position right now to survive? Well, the thing is right now as we look at them and they running around one, I told them I did a couple of drills the other day cuz I didn’t really know them. So they I’m trying to get to know them and this and that, but I just I see a lot of lot of promising uh uh guys that will have great opportunity to step in. When you join a new organization, I guess what are what are the steps you take to to maybe get to know guys as people learn how they learn uh things of that nature? Well, this is really what this this time of the year is for because a lot of those guys have been here since we walked in day one and the player the vets came back into the building and just kind of talking. you know, you be someplace kind of we all understand right now this is voluntary, but you know, I’m sitting here looking I walk in a meeting room with every chair filled. So, you know, it’s just like, hey, they don’t really have to be here. So, my hat goes off to them for that. And then just kind of know they trying to learn me. I’m trying to learn them. And, you know, I’m coaching the guys that have played in a system longer than I’ve been coaching it. So, they helping me, too. So, no, but it’s been good so far. So, you know, it’s like one I’m trying to do things and asking them questions like it’s easier for me to learn than for them to learn cuz nobody going to hit me on Sunday. So, I’m trying to know, well, you know, I say it this way, but y’all used to say it that way. I can learn it that way. And so, it’s it’s uh it’s all about them at the end of the day. It’s about the players. So, one, you know, I’m trying to make the transition from me coming in to them as easy as they can. That way, they can play as fast as they can. First impressions of Kelvin Shepard and and his defense. I’m sorry. first impressions of of Calvin and and his defense. You know what? Well, that’s it’s interesting for me because I remember coaching Shep as a player and to see him now running the meetings with the coaches running the meeting with the player is just the leaps and bounds. I always thought he was a smart player. To see the growth at him over the years, the way he runs our meetings, the structure of our defense, the way he talks to the player is just I’m to really impressed. It’s just the things, you know, that we built upon and the things that and the openness and, you know, you kind of coming in and you’re sitting down with a team that won 15 games last year. So, the thing is, but they’re, you know, the eagerness, everybody is still in there. They’re trying to learn, can we do this better? Trying to do that better. That that that’s impressive. Casey, one of the defensive ends the team is expected to be counting on is Marcus Davenport. Just from your early time, what are you expecting from from him if he’s able to stay healthy all year? That’s the number one thing and I talked to him about it because that’s the thing is and I told him matter of fact the first meeting with I got to do everything to help him do that. This guy’s a tremendous player. You know, it’s just as you look at his career, it always been he’s this, he’s a dentist, this if we can keep him healthy, I think this guy, you know, this is another guy that stares me in the face every meeting room that doesn’t have to be, you know what I’m saying? He’s coming in here working and we just got to do what we can to get him through 16 17 games and see what happens, you know, cuz we think if he plays 17 plus games, we’re going to like the results. What can you do to help with that? A lot of that is just, you know, bad. Well, that’s the thing is it it is some of the things he getting hurt is just freaky bad. Like I’m sitting here watching the first few games before he got hurt and he was playing dominant and that you know is that’s it and sometime just that’s the way the cookie crumbles but where I can help him take some of them off of this let me do that maybe you got this let somebody else get that and try to because this guy’s will be a big asset to the defense switch that Kell is making now to coordinate. What were I guess the toughest parts about that for you? And do you have any advice for him as he makes that transition? You know what? And I told him that joking going to the field all the questions. You know, you don’t realize just as a front coach, you know, boom, you got this question, boom, you got that. But as a coordinator, you know, the front guy wants to do this, but you got to make sure it’s okay with the linebacker coach who going to be tied to the safety co. And it’s constant questions. It’s like you sit I as a front coach sometime you go in your office and you’re in your office. As a coordinator, you go in your office and everybody come to the door. So if they give a slot, well it is always something. So you know and then you know and then also you’re the one that’s standing up here when it don’t go well. You know what I’m saying? So it’s it’s it’s that is you know the thing just seeing the growth with him. If anybody’s ready for it, he is. How long did it take you to get used to that in New York and that you know what it was really good because of the relationship I had with Todd. I’ve been with him so long that I kind of knew what he wanted, how he wanted and we thought alike. So, you know, he you know, it’s like if he he was calling the game, he I knew what he was going to call. If I was calling the game, he knew what I was going to call. It didn’t really have to be any communication. All third and eight right here in the midfield. He’s calling this foringo this year once he gets healthy. Well, that’s the thing is, you know, the cutups and the plays that I seen, you can’t have enough interior rushers. You know what I’m saying? One, you want to keep guys fresh and stuff like that. So having him to mix in with that, it’s just funny to see how camp fall out and kind of see what you got cuz each every guy you can go through every guy on this roster interiorwise this and that. I can tell you that he he brings this, he brings that, he’s bring that. The key is going to be how we kind of mold it through at the end. Ask about after acclimating, learning, getting into the playbook for you. What’s then the next step for him and his development? Just continue the growth. You’re talking about an impressive young man from, you know, I have them introduce their self and come in. You’re talking about a guy been in the States eight years, come in to learn English and get drafted in the National Football League. That’s impressive. You know, you learn hard enough to learn English then you’re learn football lingo, stunt, trap, drop. But he’s hardworking. He takes a lot of notes and ask good questions and very energetic. He’s like brighteyed, bushy tail, can’t wait to get here. So, you know, so far it’s been really positive. You’ve seen teams build to a title, to a championship. What do you see in this building this time of year that shows you the hunger, the application, the commitment to getting to that ultimate goal? You just said the same words I would have said. You know, when I saw it in Tampa, I saw the same kind of things here. It’s offseason and everybody’s here. So, that’s the same thing. You know, you’re hungry because a lot of teams, you know, like we said, it’s voluntary, but people are here cuz they want to be here and they know it’s right there. And you kind of got the taste that last year this and that and I So now when you see that, you know, you got all the players buying in to one cause. That’s the key to winning. Everybody buying in and try to stay healthy. You know, that’s the that’s the key in this league. So you mentioned you like the depth a lot, but in your room you have, you know, players of kind of all experience levels for young guys, older guys. What do you like about the composition of that room and how they can maybe help each other grow? Really good. Cuz you got some really, really true vets. Because I’m coming in, I’m trying to figure out who the leaders of the room, but then you got Hutch there. You got DJ Reer, you got Davenport, you got McNeel played a lot of You got several guys that played a lot of football. You got forgetting about Levi. You see what I’m saying? You got a lot of guys in that room. You got a good level of vet guys and you got a good long energetic guys. So, the mix there is perfect. I really think you got a little experience. You’ve got a lot of versatility in that room. guys that can play a lot of different alignments inside and out. H with your coaching philosophy. Uh how do you view the value of versatility with your We need a lot of versatility because one, we want to be we want to be try to be as disruptive as we can be up front. So we want to be able to slug it out when we need to slug it out, shake and bake when we need to shake and bake. And you know, we do we ain’t opposed to dropping big guys, too. So we got to be able to do it all. So we we like that. Did ever strike you as a guy that could one day become a coordinator when you had him as a player? You know what? I I would say yes. And when I think about it, then when you see the progression and you just see now it was like it was about time. You knew it was time and just the different coaches you’ve been around from players to coach, you see the growth, you know, you like right now he’s ready for the next step. And so far in all our meetings with the coaches so far the offseason then when the players came in, you know, he hadn’t missed the beat. The way he lead the meetings with confidence and the players buy in and they believe in I think you know his time was now. Thanks guys. Thank you guys. So nice to meet you. Two all procaliber safeties. What’s what’s next for those guys? They got to get better, you know, find a way to get better. So, uh, yeah, they definitely had a great year, but we’re expecting even more from them this year. You, um, I guess exit interviews, they’re they’re leaving the building assuming give both of them to work, you know, things to work on. What was the the big thing for for each of those guys? Well, it it was more when they got back. So, cuz I like we like to go back, watch all the cutups. I mean, there were obviously some things that were in my mind, you know, but it’s it’s always good to kind of go back, watch the whole year and um they’ve both been outstanding. We kind of make tapes for each guy that and pull the critical things that they need to see, but also all the different uh techniques so they can go back and study themselves. So, it’s been pretty cool like, “Hey, BB, watch all your blitzes. I’ll watch them and then let’s talk about it the next morning because I think when they watch it instead of just telling them um I think you get more out of it, right? If they’re seeing the same thing that you’re seeing instead of you just saying, “Hey, this is what I saw. You need to get better at this. This, you know, they come back to you and say, “Hey, coach, I saw I was doing this. I agree. Let’s work on it this way.” I think I think you I think that’s a better chance to get better. You guys as a coaching staff learned pretty quick last year how important depth was. Not so much maybe at your position. Those guys, you know, played pretty much all year. I’m just curious when you look at it now just where your depth is at at that position at safety. Yeah. Um yeah, I mean we uh we we obviously lost Iffy and we gained Avante Maddox. So Avante will be an inside player similar to what he’s done his whole career as far as a nickel safety body. That’s what he’s done at Philly for for the years. And then after that, we got five young unproven hungry guys that there’s one spot. Go earn it. And um it’s exciting, you know, to uh to see those guys compete and obviously um the OTAAS, then the training camp practices and they’ll get the bulk of the work um throughout the four uh preseason games. So that’s we we’re waiting on one of them to pop. Hopefully two or three of them pop and we we end up in a great situation. Jim, a lot of turnover on this coaching staff this offseason, but obviously guy at the top remains the same. just in your first year coaching underneath Dan, what what did you learn about him? What did you come to appreciate the most? Um, everybody talks about it and to be honest, everywhere else I’ve been, it’s just been a buzzword, but the the culture aspect of things with Dan is incredible and um it’s all football. There’s no drama. Uh if you don’t love ball, you’re not going to fit in here whether you’re a coach or a player. So, and that’s who I kind of am as a person. So it so it’s easy for me and it’s it’s something that I’ve kind of sought after for most of my career. Um the only other guy that I felt like I’ve really been around that’s been like that was Rex when I was in New York. Um but uh Dan Dan knows what he wants. I think he does a good job in the interview process. I think he he’s not just looking for great football coaches. He’s looking for great people. And um I think he’s brought in a bunch of really good football coaches, a lot of really good people. Um, so it’s exciting. You know, you get to work with some new guys. You hear some new things, some different perspectives, and it allows you to grow as a coach. It allows you to grow schematically. So, I I I’ve enjoyed where we’re at so far. Jim, with uh Kirby, he obviously took his game to another level last year, but he was also one of the the vets in that secondary. How did you see him grow from a leadership standpoint? I know you weren’t here the year before, but maybe just over those over those couple months. Well, leadership, you know, I think we talked about this um some in my last press conference. You know, one of the things Kerb did last year was he had all the guys over his house on Thursday nights just to kind of create some group camaraderie and you know, he paid for a chef so they could eat dinner and just so those guys could kind of hang out together. Um just his leadership in the meeting room, you know, like, hey, make sure you write that down or re-emphasize a coaching point that he might know for a player. uh that’s that’s hard on the grass or I didn’t get that the first time around. So looking at a younger guy, hey, you get that like coach, can you go over that again? Or you know, he might ask questions that he knows the answers to that other guys might need to hear the answer again or in a different way. Um, as far as on the grass, um, everybody talks about the, uh, the ball production, which is obviously rare, but one of the things that I’m most proud of with him is I thought he did an unbelievable job in open field tackling last year, and it was even more impressive than I thought when I went back and watched the cutups. I mean, you’re really looking for two things when you’re known as a post safety. Obviously, a guy that can go get the ball and a guy that can erase mistakes when the ball pops. And I thought he did an outstanding job of that. And that was a huge point of emphasis for us um coming off of his season two years ago to last year and we worked it a lot at the end of practice and and it showed up on the field with Gio Manu. Last year we saw a guy that had just unbelievable physical traits and you knew with the level of competition that you know he was going to have some development before he was ready to contribute. Curious if if Ian Kenny kind of falls in that same ballpark. I mean he is the guy you said no who did you say the first? about Gio. I know the offensive Y. I’m just I mean just traits I think any safety would love to have in terms of size and athleticism, but coming from Grand Valley is a pretty massive jump, you know. I just I’m curious your initial impressions and what’s the ceiling with a a guy with those kind of physical abilities? Yeah, I didn’t know anything about the kid at all and he came to local day and he crushed it and I mean not just you know the coach like the DB coaches observed it. Fip ended up gravitating over, Dan ended up gravitating over. So we’re like who is this kid? And then we went back and we watched some of the tape and some of the stuff we saw at the local day was showing up physical, you know, could run, could obviously track the ball. Um so we’ve been impressed with him. He’s he’s in a little bit of a blender right now mentally because of how much defense we’ve thrown at him and what he’s used to at Grand Valley, but when we’re in the position drills, you can see the athletic ability. You can see him track a ball. So, he he’s a great developmental player right now that I’m hoping develops into a damn good player for us. What are some of the qualities you’re looking for? You mentioned maybe one spot for a couple guys competing there. What What are some of the qualities you’re looking for to to fill that spot? I think for us number one is versatility. Okay. So, um last year we and AG did a great job. If if something happened and Brian Branch was out of the game or Kirby was out of the game, we had to immediately adjust the game plan based off of what iffy’s skill set might be or what Brandon Joseph’s skill set might be. So, in an ideal world, you’re not going to get a backup safety, obviously, that can do all the things that Kirby and Brian Branch can do, but somebody who can play in the deep part of the field, somebody who can get down in the box and be physical and tackle in the run game. And then for us, where we’re different with what Brian gives us is the ability to play man coverage on tight ends and receivers, which is really, really rare. So, that that’s a hard skill set to find. Uh, but we’re going to ask our we’re going to ask our guys all through OTAAS’s training camp and in the preseason games. We’re going to ask our safeties to play man-to-man coverage on slot receivers, and we’re going to we’re going to see how they do. Dan Jackson might be one of the uh least wordy draft picks you you have. We didn’t get a whole lot out of him in the talking. Uh, I imagine you did know about him going into the draft, right? Yeah, I did study. I did a full evaluation on him. Did a Zoom interview with him. I met with him down uh at the combine in Indie. I It’s a great story. It is. And and he’s a smart kid and and you know, we talk about grit around here. There’s probably not a player that’s kind of gone through more of that in his college career than this guy. I mean, stays stays at Georgia through six years, earns the right to start on that defense. Um plays plays really good for them around a bunch of guys, you know, first round picks and um you know, so so I’m excited about him. He was kind of the alpha in the back seven that did most of the communication. Uh very very football smart. Uh got to make sure he’s not thinking too much cuz again we’ve thrown a lot at them and we’ve done that on purpose to to kind of force some of these guys to sink or swim. Uh but I’ve liked what he’s shown out there so far in the week that we’ve had them. You mentioned u you know Kirby’s open field tackling just catching your eye on the rewatch. I guess how often does that happen where something kind of catches your eye while you’re, you know, reviewing tape of your own players? As the season’s going on, you mean? Or just Yeah. Well, well, like right away, you know, just throughout a game or as you’re grading tape, you might, you know, you make little mental mental points to yourself like, oh, okay, they’re attacking us this way or they’re setting the protection this way. Maybe it’s because of be, you know, we got to do this to counter that. and you kind of have an idea and then sometimes you think you’re doing something good and you’re disguising stuff well or whatever and then you go back and you watch every time you were in quarters or every time you were in in in man-to-man coverage and you you watch it at, you know, and you try to do that during the season, but you don’t always have time. You see things, right? It’s you’re not you’re not under you’re not under a time constraint. you have more time to look at it and study it and then you kind of go back and so for the most part you’re good but sometimes things are you know like Kirby’s tackling I knew it was good I didn’t know it was as good as it was I mean it’s a pretty it’s a cut up that I’ll hold on to for the rest of my career because every time the ball popped Kirby got the guy on the ground I don’t know if he missed one of them just what you thought about his progression last year and what you’re expecting now yeah I mean he kind of came on he came onto the scene kind of late in training camp made some plays in the preseason season. Um kind of kind of was bounced back and forth on the roster, up on special teams, down, didn’t get much playing time on defense. But again, he’s one of those five that are fighting for a spot, and they’re all they got we got five guys fighting for their NFL lives. So, it it’s going to be highly competitive. He’s one of those guys. So, I’m just looking to see where his jump goes, you know, year two, because usually as a as a football player, that’s that’s your biggest jump in the NFL. Year one to year two. Brian, it felt like every couple weeks he was kind of catching a fine for maybe the lowering of the helmet or just the the hits. Um, I’m sure that’s something that he doesn’t want to have happen this year. So, I guess have you talked about that at all? Are you trying to coach that out of him without maybe taking away his aggression or I guess just what conversations have you had around? I have and I Jim got a custom bag order. It’s about that high off the ground and uh we’re going to live on that post practice so I can help him save some of his money. But um no, I mean that’s it’s it’s not anything. He’s not trying to hurt guys out there. I mean, a lot of times, as as you guys know, those are bang bang plays. And, you know, if I’m a DB, you know, I have I have my aiming point on where I’m about to strike a guy. And then if a guy catches and and then his aiming point drops, it ends up helmet to helmet or shoulder to helmet or shoulder to neck. And it’s that stuff’s a lot easier to coach in slow motion than it is at full speed. So, because I mean, you know, DBs, the answer is, oh yeah, just go low every time. Now, you’re hurting guys. So that’s we’ll work it. I did. That’s a real thing. Tim got that bag for me. So we’re going to use it. We’ll see if BB can punch a hole in it by by by the end of the season. So all good. All right, guys. Have a great weekend. Just to to get the promotion, you know, to to be running your own room now. What What does that mean to you? Um super excited um for the opportunity. Um super grateful for Dan Ship. Um for those guys thinking that much of me to um feel like I’m ready, you know. Um, I know some people think I’m relatively young or what what not, but you know, I’ve um worked extremely hard since I’ve started coaching um to prepare myself for this moment. You know, day in day out, week in week out. You know, it’s a 24/7 365 day grind, you know, to set myself up for this uh opportunity and moment uh right now. I think most of us remember you as a player. It wasn’t all that long ago. When did you know you wanted to go into coaching and can you walk us through how that came about that? Um, so it’s it’s it’s funny, right? Um, I feel like all of my coaches, um, from growing up, by the time I started playing college ball, you know, they thought that u, like, man, you know, very intelligent, you know, one day you could like you could see yourself coaching one day or whatever and, you know, we were going through training camp in 2022 and I remember AG was telling me like, man, you know, you’re going to be a coach one day, whatever, blah, blah, blah. I didn’t know that my playing days was slowly coming to an end. Um but you know after I got released you know met with Dan Brad AG you know and they um gave me the opportunity or told me you know like hey man you know there’s not any serious interest from teams out there man we think it’s a uh you bring value to this coaching staff and you know helping the players out and that time uh during training camp you know I was more of a backup and at that point you know we had drafted Malcolm uh D Barnes was going into year two and at that point kind of like felt like older brother or veteran, you know, who were helping those guys out or, you know, putting them on game about, you know, maybe things that I saw cuz obviously I was in year five at the time. So, um, it’s been a cool transition. One more thing on that. Was that hard to hear, you know, like, hey, maybe your career is done, but we want you. Was it was it refreshing or what? I don’t know. How’d you sort of Oh, no. It wasn’t It wasn’t hard at all. I mean, I think at that point, um, tell people, man, every box that any football player could want, I’ve checked, you know, from playing in Alabama, winning national championships, you get drafted, you make it to the league, you make plays in the league. So, I mean, I’ve checked all my boxes. And, you know, one thing I’m a big like making a difference in other people’s lives. So, what better opportunity to where now, you know, I want to be the coach maybe that I never had or, you know, I feel like I got a very unique perspective where, you know, I’ve been in the locker room where some of these guys I’ve played with and now, okay, I can see both sides of it and understand what they need and what they don’t need. What’s one or two things you picked up in your talks with AG that’ll help you now early in your coaching journey? Oh, man. Man, it’s AG, man. He’s he’s he’s so great. I think one thing that I’ve learned is poise from him. You know, one thing about AG, he was nothing could never get under his skin or nothing could never crack him. Um, you know, so whether if it was somebody blowing an assignment or it was um maybe somebody’s not on the same page, you know, he was a super even kill guy and you know, I think that that stands out a lot about him. And I think another thing is um a very people’s person, you know, um and that’s something that I think that’s so important. you know, he’s probably even better person and a better man than he is actually a coach. So, that’s two big things I really learned from him. Click for you as a coach. Like, when did you feel it start to click? Like, oh, this there’s a path. There’s a real path. Um, if you want to be honest, uh, it may be actually when I was uh my senior year of college, right? Broke my kneecap, was out for the season. Jeremy, well, not what was that LSU game? Jeremy Puit had just taken a job at Tennessee uh getting ready for um the playoff game. And so Puit’s on the road recruiting and stuff like that and okay, you know, we have a GA or whatever and I am hopping around, you know, basically being like the linebacker coach or the guys who I was just suiting up with then, you know, I thought it was you know, kind of cool or whatever. I mean, obviously you think that you’re going to play 10 years in the league and you know, sign a $100 million contract, but that’s not the case. But I think it was really training camp in 2022 when you’re a backup and you know you’re helping the guys that you know maybe that you’re competing with but they’re playing in front of you but you know you want for the coming goal of the team is to win. You know you want to make sure that they’re ready to go and better off. When you look at this this roster I mean do you do you see guys that have kind of that same mindset that you know you could see them coaching in the league someday? Um, I mean, you know, kind of like kind of really don’t look at it honestly. Um, but I think one thing, you know, we learned a lot from last year with all the injuries and stuff like that, how important depth is, you know, and that’s something I’m consistently preaching, you know, to the room to where I mean, hey, you know, we got to be just as good from the first guy all the way down to the last guy, you know, and that’s something that as a coach, you know, you want to prepare guys and that’s what we are called the coach for. So that way the players can think as much as they do as a coach as possible. With Jack Camp, where did you see him grow the most last year? And what is the next step for him look like? Um, I saw Jack has grown a lot from year one to year two. You see, u maybe less thinking out there, the game is slowing down for him. And now even going from year two to year three, um, you know, when you watch the self scout and stuff like that, you see, um, him really taking that next step. Like I said, big thing is like thinking, you know, I think from coming from college to the pros, you know, obviously college, their offenses are a little different, the field’s different, concepts are differently, you know, so now he’s getting his feet under him. I think the first thing is I know Jackson’s a big he’s a freaking works extremely hard a big student of the game you know and so now that we’re sitting back and we’re seeing things slowing down is that’s from a pass coverage perspective or even that’s from a run fit wise where I can see him taking the next steps now like already in the offseason from the questions he’s asking even going to the practice field you can see that okay things are slowing down tremendously for him. You just mentioned the the depth in your room. You have a lot of players in there who have contributed at this level. How do you just describe the the football acumen that’s in your your position room right now? Um ask that question one more time. Just with having so many players in your room who have contributed at this level, what’s the football IQ in that room right now? Um, I think, you know, having a lot of guys that played a lot of ball, I think it’s a great thing because one, I think when you have one, it elevates competition, right? And I think that’s where we’re all, it’s a game. Football is a game of competition. So, one, okay, everybody’s going to raise their level because, okay, they know the next man is going to force them to be better because, you know, okay, they’re not doing their job or they’re not playing at extremely high level. Okay, this next guy, he can do it just as much, you And if anything, right, um I think it, you know, sometimes it can preserve guys body. Um, you know, it’s great also because sometimes maybe you may not be in the game, but you know what? You able to learn from somebody else who’s in the game, make a mistake to make sure that you don’t make the same mistake. Been asked this question a couple times to figure out. Is Alex here in the spring right now? Um, Enzo, he’s a man, you talking about a fouryear, what? Four-year captain. Um, a leader on the team. got so much respect for the guy, man. You know, I’m just excited to like where he is and, you know, moving forward as he uh comes into his um this next year, this season. I’m expecting a big season for him. Is he taking part in the spring workouts right now? Your uh no comment on that. I think you could talk to coach Campbell about I’m not in charge of like the answering those type of questions. I think I’m like having Tashard Choice in the building. I don’t know if you knew him before, but just getting to know him. He said he and Shep might come to blows in training camp on the field. You’re so competitive. Just what’s it been like having his energy, his presence around? Oh, it’s been great. Um, T Choice, he’s actually been some a guy who I feel like I’ve known from a distance for quite some time. Um, just because of I mean, being around Ship, you know, him and Ship are really good friends. Um, and you know, every day, you know, 6:00 in the morning, he got the juice. You know, Ham Bone, where your juice at? You know, he’s the same guy every single day. So, I’m super ecstatic, you know, to um have him on the roster and I know that he’s going to do a great job with the running backs and I know his linebackers have to come ready to work every day at practice cuz I know he’s going to make sure those guys are ready to go. Having coached under Shep for the last few years, how’s that helped your transition? Maybe just knowing what he wants, how he teaches and things like that. Um it’s helped me out tremendously. Um I think one I think that um I think that he’s probably like one of the the better coaches that I had a chance to play for um as a player then. Okay, once you start working with him and okay, you start picking his brain even more and you start realize, man, like dang, like he’s he’s really sharp, you know, every day from when I first started coach or even from playing to coaching, you know, every day I’m feeling like I’m taking little nuggets from him, you know, that he’s a really he’s extremely great teacher u in football, you know, not just linebacker, but football, you know, dumbing things down, you know, making a complex symbol for guys and he’s even really good at that even for coaches as well. What is Grant’s skill set going to add to your ter? Oh, Grant, I remember when I um when I watched him as a free agent, you know, and I’m like, man, like this guy right here, man, he you turn on the tape, you talking about he’s all over the field, you know. Um the fury guy, tough, competitive, fast, you know, running hit. Um he’s going to bring great uh competition to the room. I mean, he can play man coverage. I mean, I say the biggest thing is he fits us, you know, he’s what we’re looking for from his personality to the style he plays. He’s for sure fits like everything that Shep is looking for and for sure everything Dan’s looking for. Just wondering if you could provide a little, I don’t know, insider look at at the last 12 months of of Derek Barnes’s career. You know, going into last year, he had that Sam lineback role. Seemed like he was destined for a big role. Uh, obviously the injury happens, but then, you know, he gets a big contract this off season. just what has he meant to the room? What what has that kind of journey been like for him? Um, you know, it’s I’m very unfortunate that the injury happened. Um, and you know, sometimes that we don’t know why things happen, but as bad as the injury was, I think a lot of good came out of that. Um, I think as you can see like over the years has progressed year in, year in, year in, year in. Okay. Now, okay, that injury sent him down allowed him to, okay, sit back and be even more of a student of the game. And now, okay, you fast forward now and it’s year five and okay, now you watch film and stuff like that with him. Okay, maybe things that he didn’t see last year, okay, he’s seeing it cuz he’s had that time to, okay, with that time he maximized, you know, he wasn’t just sitting on the couch feeling sorry for himself, you know, so he’s had a a chance to really mature and I think that this year it’s going to be a good season for him and he’s going to take his game to the next level. I mean, it’s credit to him for being a student of the game and maximizing the time when he wasn’t able to be on the field. Uh, you served multiple roles, not just here, but but elsewhere. Can you can you just kind of explain to us what how that’s evolved? What what you’re going to be doing this year is maybe a little bit different than the past, if at all. Um, I think it’s going to be a little bit more involved in the general game plan. you know, uh, taking kind of like how I supported Shep and did some things with Shep in the linebacker room and kind of hopefully expand that to fit the rest of the whole defense. You know, still going to be doing some of the OOLB stuff with Ham as well. Um, but in terms of just the larger big picture, kind of focusing more on supporting Shep and being a voice for him to bounce things off of and kind of help him put together the vision of what he wants the defense to look like. How how have you seen him grow into this new role now? I’m sorry. How have you seen Chef grow into this new role here as you How have I seen it? I mean, I’ve known, you know, you go back, he and I, you guys know, we go all the way back 2014 when he was a player for us in Miami, and you see him even back then walk in the door, there’s a leadership quality. There’s a there’s an approach, uh, a professionalism to how he comes to the job. And that kind of rubs off on the other guys around him. We saw it again when he came here in 2018, right? Coming in as a role, wound up starting a couple games, maybe a game or two for us. I remember we went out to Arizona and he played exceptional football for us. And I think that’s kind of uh how do I say that kind of bled over into how he coaches, right? You’ve guys seen how the linebackers run room has run the last couple years, the the intensity, the demands, the detail. And I think now we’re going to hopefully, you know, what we’re going to see is that’s going to spread to the whole defense and you you just when you’re around him, you know, you just he has that quality that the guys gravitate to and I think the players are going to go perform for him as well. You just mentioned uh the intensity from from AG now to Shep. I guess what what are the the biggest benefits to a defensive coordinator coming to work every day with that type of mindset? Well, first of all, I want to say like how grateful I am for having had the opportunity to be with AG for four years that you talk about an outstanding leader for the players, an outstanding coach for somebody like me who obviously, you know, I didn’t play pro football, but to see and learn from a guy like Aaron Glenn, the perspective he brings, the intensity, the game day, the management of the players, the organization of the coaches, and what a great example that is for I think Shep to follow. Now, the thing about it is we have a structure in place, right? We’re not going to probably not going to change anything dramatic. We’ve got players that are in their third, fourth year, but that’s the great thing about football is no two people see the game the same way, right? So, the perspective and the vision that Aaron Glenn had will be different than what Kelvin Shepard has. Kelvin Shep’s going to bring his version of how he wants it to look. Uh, and we’ll find out about that as it unfolds. You know, we haven’t even lined up with pads on yet, so we really don’t even know what we are. But that’s going to be the fun part of this process is watching a new guy grow into putting forth a vision and getting all of us coaches and players to go execute it for him. You look back at that 2014 Dolphins team. Is there anything surreal about now coaching for a team where Campbell’s the head coach and Shep is the DC? Well, I mean, Ben Johnson was one of our offensive assistants. You know, uh, you go back a couple years before that, Dave Fipp was our assistant special teams coordinator. You know, the volume of guys that came through that building all those years ago, you know, you look around the league, there’s a lot of highle coaches in a lot of high level positions, you know, that, you know, me, I’ve been fortunate enough to be with these guys and I’ve tried to learn as much as I can and help them any way I can to help our team win games. You’ve been around some really great players in your career from, you know, Willis in college to Wake to Taylor. I mean, how coaching these Hall of Fame allp procure players, you know, how how’s that helped you, you think, as a as a coach? Well, I think what you learn is the great ones want to be coached, right? If you have a player out there that doesn’t like coaching and doesn’t take coaching, I think that really limits their upside, but you also have to understand how to coach them. They’re not all coached the same way, you know, because you get them at different parts uh or different places in their career. I was very lucky to work with Patrick Willis when he was a young impressionable college linebacker. What a great experience that was for me as a young coach to learn how to coach a player like that while he’s still learning how to play football. Fast forward a number of years um in the assistant linebacker coach at Miami and all a sudden Jason Taylor’s in the room and you got to be careful, you know, like you coach him differently. you know, what am I going to do? Oh, here’s what you did wrong on the first 130 sacks of your career. Like, I mean, come on. Like, you know, so you you these guys have a certain built-in level of they’ve earned some respect from you as a coach that you got to work with them. You’re not coaching at them. You’re listening to their levels of input and then you kind of help them through maneuvering how they want to continue to get better. And so, like to me, the biggest thing that I’ve learned is you got to coach them all. You got to coach them hard and you want to do whatever you can to help them get better because if that’s what they believe they’ll do. Players will do whatever you ask. If they believe what you’re coaching is going to help them get better, they will absolutely go perform at the level you ask them to. Since you still will have a hand with the outside backers a little bit, uh Derek Barnes, what you think of kind of the way he started last season? How confident are you that he can just pick up coming off that injury where he first? Well, I think with every season, you know, we start over every year. Like that the idea that you just pick right up where you left off. I don’t think that’s like every team, every staff, every roster, you got to go back to square one and build from the ground up. And I think that’s the good thing for us with Derek. You know, it’s an absolute shame we didn’t get to see him on that trajectory because I thought the role that we have carved out for him is a very unique position where he’s on the ball, off the ball, he’s pressure, he’s covered. you know, he’s a very versatile, explosive player, and I’m excited to see that continue on past four games. You know, I think we all got robbed of that, and I think that’s going to be a very exciting thing to watch unfold over the course of the season. Building on that a little bit, um it seemed like during training camp, finding the a suitable backup for Derek was was a challenge. You know, you cycled through a lot of guys there and maybe even went into the season and didn’t really have the solution. Trevor ended up filling it a lot late in the season. um you know, but no no snaps before that. Uh why why is that position that so so challenging in this in this defense and do you think um you guys are better equipped to to find that solution behind Derek this year? Well, I don’t think it’s necessarily you’re looking for something behind Derek, right? We’re trying to put the best 11 guys we have in any situation. And then within the structure of what we do defensively, we got to let those players be in spots where we accentuate accentuate what they’re good at. Um, good English right there, too, by the way. Right. Um, uh, and so the role that that Sam linebacker has is, you know, you see it on the game film, right? He’s stacked off the ball. He’s on the end of the line of scrimmage. He’s walked out in the slot. That’s a lot of different jobs for one player to handle and it’s a very unique position to play. So therefore, in my opinion, like that’s that’s a hard position for us to fill as a with one player. That make sense? And so the the the idea that you’re going to have uh a player as unique as Derek Barnes is with his ability on the edge, his ability to pressure up the middle, his ability to drop in coverage, the idea that you would have a second player with that level of skill set sitting behind somebody on the depth chart. I I just I don’t see how that realistic that is that somebody with that level of skill set you’re going to want on the field as much as you can. You know, that’s not a oh, we got to have a a true backup. you know, we we work with the the players that we have and we figure out what they’re good at and that’s what we do with them. Cross bass with Casey Rogers in Miami. Uh what kind of coach is he and what does he bring to his staff? Uh Casey in my opinion is as an elite Dline coach as there is. You know, we’ve been fortunate enough the last two years here to have what in my opinion are the two best Dline coaches in this league, you know, and and that’s just those because those are the guys that I know well, you know, um and the level of detail, you can already see it with the meetings and stuff that we’ve been doing. Uh I think his track record speaks for itself. you know, he was very influential on me when I first came to the to the NFL in 2008. He he was the Dline coach that I worked with for seven years. So, a lot of what I know and what I see and what I think I’m going to see from Dline is based on what Casey has taught me over the years as a coach. So, when I see it put in practice with our players and the details, the alignments, the adjustments, the way those guys play, it doesn’t surprise me at all. Earlier you talked about, you know, Shep and AG seeing things through different lenses, which makes perfect sense. You know, I’m curious about your lens. You know, you had the the three, four year stretch and director of football research, a little bit of a mysterious title on our end, but I mean, do you do you have a a different way you see the game? Do you do you have an appreciation for analytics that maybe is a little bit more deeper than than some coaches? Like, what is your lens and how does it maybe differ from from some other guys in your profession? I guess my lens is h how do I say this? Um my lens is about coordination, right? X’s and O’s, you know, it’s it’s about players, not the scheme. And but there but to me, there’s a level of what you’re coaching on the Dline has to be coordinated with what you’re coaching at the linebacker position, which has to be coordinated with what you’re coaching in the secondary. And whether you want to be a 34 or 43 wide nine, whatever you want to call it, to me that stuff’s irrelevant. Is my perspective and what I try to look at is is what we’re doing coordinated. And when it is and you’ve coached your players and you’ve got good players and those guys go out and play hard, that’s typically when a defense works, right? If you have talent deficiencies, okay, that’s one thing. But if you’re not coordinated, if your Dline are playing a certain way and it doesn’t match with what your linebackers are doing, chances are there’s there’s going to be some disconnect and you might not perform as well. Um, as far as like analytics and know that stuff like I mean we’ve been doing that for forever in a day, right? We used to call it tendencies like I think you guys talked about a long time ago. So, uh, that that that’s kind of a week-by-eek thing because everybody we play, every offensive coordinator we play has different things that they do, calls that they make in certain situations. So, I don’t really have like a general view of that. I just my view is are we putting our players in position to succeed and is what we’re coaching coordinated at all levels of the defense. When do you not sign more? When do you know that it’s coordinated? Like what signs do you look for in your defense to know that? Is there a game last season you can point to that that illustrates perfect coordination in in your eyes? No, it it’s not about like this game with this play. It’s it’s how do things unfold, right? Uh when you have a successful play, you when you go look at right, we just spent the last first two months of the offseason watching every play. We look at what what we did on the film and when it’s successful, we’re trying to identify this is why it was successful. Look, we coached this guy to do this, this guy to do that, and that’s why we did it. When a play isn’t successful, we have to identify why wasn’t it successful. Is it because what we coached this guy to do is in conflict? We found a way that, oh, that might be in conflict with that guy. I I don’t know that there’s a specific point where you ever say, “Okay, we’ve got it all figured out. Everything’s coordinated from front to back.” It’s a constant evolutionary process. David, you mentioned uh felt like you were robbed from seeing what Derek could could do last season. He was obviously just one of the first dominoes to fall in a long frustrating injury season. You guys still won 15 games, but there is there a sense that the defense as a whole was robbed from maybe hitting its peak just because of the attrition and and maybe there’s something to prove this year. I mean, the reality of it is injuries are injuries. like it’s not something we can control and it’s, you know, you guys saw us go through last year, next man up, nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. Everybody’s going to smell blood in the water and try and come after us. So, we just got to each week you got to figure out, okay, who do we have? Who’s healthy? What can we do? And let’s go out there and perform. But to sit there and say, you know, you give a second thought about, oh, this guy’s hurt, that guy. We don’t have time for that. Like, we just like next guy, let’s go. This is the National Football League. Everybody’s trying to knock everybody else off and nobody’s going to feel sorry for you if you got injuries. You think dealing with that made you a better coach or better coaching staff? I think so. I I think it it it forces us to uh understand who we’re coaching, what we’re coaching, who we’re putting in what position to do what the things. Okay, we lose guy ex guy this guy. Well, the guy coming in behind him might not might be be able to have a different set of skills. So, let’s see what we can do to help him. You know, it forces us to kind of be more flexible as coaches and be less rigid.

Hear from Detroit Lions pass game coordinator/defensive backs Deshea Townsend, , run game coordinator/defensive line Kacy Rodgers, defensive assistant/safeties Jim O’Neil, linebackers coach Shaun Dion Hamilton and senior defensive assistant/outside linebackers coach David Corrao, as they meet with the media on May 15, 2025.

0:00 – 5:10 – Deshea Townsend
5:11 – 17:27 – Kacy Rodgers
17:28 – 29:05 – Jim O’Neil
29:06 – 40:14 – Shaun Dion Hamilton
40:15 – 53:48 – David Corrao

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