DETROIT, MI - OCTOBER 18: Former Detroit Lions, Barry Sanders during the Pro Football Hall of Fame half time show at the NFL game against the Chicago Bears at Ford Field on October 18, 2015 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)The Detroit Lions are currently one of several NFL franchises in search of a new head coach.
Detroit fired head coach Matt Patricia late in the regular season. The Lions are now looking for a new head coach and have been connected to some notable candidates.
Former Lions great Barry Sanders shared some details of the search during an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio on Wednesday.
Sanders revealed that he is involved in the team’s coaching search process, but it’s being led by Chris Spielman.
“From what I understand, there’s definitely some college coaches involved in our process of who Chris is actually looking at,” Sanders said. “You know, so he’s taking a good look at both. And so to answer your question, there’s some great college coaches out there that could step in and do the job, and obviously there’s some offensive and defensive coordinators in the league as well that are being looked at, so that’s kind of how we’re looking at it.”
Pro Football Talk shared some of the “known” candidates:
Known candidates include Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, interim head coach Darell Bevell, 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, and Saints assistant head coach/tight ends coach Dan Campbell. If college coaches are talking to the Lions, their names haven’t emerged yet.
Iowa State’s Matt Campbell and Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell could be two of the college football coaches involved, though that remains to be seen.
The Lions are coming off a disappointing 5-11 season in 2020.
