Updated Jan. 19, 2026, 5:14 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
Detroit Lions<\/a> defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard will interview on Monday<\/a> with the Miami Dolphins<\/a> for its head coach vacancy.<\/p>\n It’s an in-person interview for Sheppard with the Dolphins<\/a> on the first day that employed in-person interviews are permitted for assistants who are under contract with other teams. If the Dolphins were to hire Sheppard as its next head coach, that would net the Lions a third-round compensatory pick in consecutive NFL drafts.<\/p>\n The NFL draft compensation is in accordance with a proposal that passed in 2020 by NFL owners<\/a> to reward teams for developing minority coaches and front office executives who go on to become head coaches and general managers for other organizations.<\/p>\n According to the resolution, a team is eligible to receive draft pick compensation if the candidate in question has been employed by the employer-club for a minimum of two years. There can be no break in employment between teams.<\/p>\n In Sheppard’s case, both of those conditions would be met. Sheppard joined the Lions’ organization in 2021 as its outside linebackers coach. Sheppard then served as Detroit’s linebackers coach from 2022-24 before taking over as the Lions’ defensive coordinator in 2025 after Aaron Glenn accepted the New York Jets<\/a> head coaching job before last season.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n The Dolphins will also hold in-person interviews with Green Bay Packers<\/a> defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley and Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> defensive coordinator Patrick Graham on Monday. Hafley is the Dolphins’ reported frontrunner<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Hafley “blew everyone away in his initial virtual interview.”<\/p>\n Monday’s in-person interviews with Sheppard and Graham would also satisfy the NFL’s Rooney Rule<\/a> and pave the way for the Dolphins to finalize Hafley as its next head coach if Miami is intent on heading in that direction. The NFL’s Rooney Rule requires that clubs must conduct two in-person interviews with external diverse candidates for any head coach opening.<\/p>\n Sheppard, 38, just completed his first season as the Lions<\/a> defensive coordinator. Detroit ended 2025 with the NFL’s No. 18 total defense (331.9 yards per game), with its No. 14 rushing defense (114.5 rushing yards per game) with its No. 20 passing defense (217.4 passing yards per game) and with its No. 22 scoring defense (24.3 points per game).<\/p>\n In 2025, Lions linebacker Jack Campbell just earned his\u00a0first Pro Bowl<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0All-Pro nods<\/a>\u00a0and star edge rusher\u00a0Aidan Hutchinson set a new career-high<\/a>\u00a0with 14.5 sacks.<\/p>\n In 2024, Detroit boasted the NFL’s top third-down defense (32.4%) and the No. 2 fourth-down defense (41.4%). The Lions allowed just 20.1 points per game in 2024 to rank seventh in the league.<\/p>\n Sheppard has familiarity with the Dolphins organization, having played two seasons for Miami in 2014-15. During his time in Miami, Sheppard played in 30 games, made 14 starts and recorded 129 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, one forced fumble, and two pass deflections.<\/p>\n For more\u00a0Lions<\/a>\u00a0coverage, follow us on X,\u00a0@TheLionsWire<\/a>, and give our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0page a like.\u00a0Follow Josh on X,\u00a0@JoshOnLions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated Jan. 19, 2026, 5:14 p.m. ET Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard will interview on Monday with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":693388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[95878,146,113,2506,7,147,6,52959,96502,97086,95882,96242,96693,95951,95896,95888,95895,95899,96071,95884,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-693387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-lions","11":"tag-detroitlions","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-lions","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnfllions","16":"tag-sstsnlions","17":"tag-tagaidan-hutchinson","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagdetroit-lions","20":"tag-tagjack-campbell","21":"tag-tagmiami-dolphins","22":"tag-tagnational-sports","23":"tag-tagnfl","24":"tag-tagnfl-hub","25":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","26":"tag-tagsmg-timely","27":"tag-tagsports-coaching-training","28":"tag-tagsports-news","29":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115932392668912310","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}