Dan Campbell: Lions' Coaches Already 'Trash Talking'

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell is happy with the coaching staff and its competitiveness.

Despite a plethora of attention being focused on the head coach of an NFL team, the real secret to success is having quality assistant and positional coaches. 

For the Detroit Lions, the new coaching staff is comprised of a solid mix of experienced football coaches and ex-players.

Over the course of three days, the Allen Park practice facility hosted a rookie minicamp. It provided supporters and the media a first glimpse of the new coaching staff and the 2021 draft class, minus offensive lineman Penei Sewell. 

New Lions head coach Dan Campbell was impressed immediately with the high expectations of his coaches. It became evident during minicamp that their vision of how and when corrections needed to be made were very similar to his own. 

"We’re doing our walk-through, and we’re going through the scheme side of it. And you see something, and it starts to burn at you a little bit, like alright, 'I’m going to clean this up. I’m the head coach. I’m going to clean this up.' When you go to clean it up and all of a sudden here comes A-Lynn (Anthony Lynn) and he’s all over it. Or there’s AG (Aaron Glenn) and he’s all over it or here comes Duce (Staley) and he’s all over it. It’s like, ‘Whoa, alright.’ That’s how you know you’ve got the right guys, because even little details, the position coaches, the same thing," Campbell said. 

He added, "I know we’re only two days into this, but when you start seeing and you’re looking for the fine details of things and you’re getting ready to say something and you have a coach who jumps in and he’s already ahead of you on it, that’s where you know you have the right guys, because they see it like you do." 

It is never really known how a team of coaches will work together until they are tasked with organizing practices and competing against the other side of the football. 

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For Detroit's coaches, the chemistry was reportedly "outstanding" all throughout the three-day rookie minicamp. 

"Listen, it’s a walk-through. But, I can tell you this, I’ve got a feeling you guys are going to get a show in training camp some days, because I already know this from AG, he’s competitive as hell. He’s pretty mild-mannered, and he knows how to teach, great guy. But, man, when you put him in an environment to where it’s competitive, he’s a little pitbull now, and he explodes. And, guess what, A-Lynn’s not backing down to anything either. There’s already been a lot of trash talking between both sides, and I’m talking about Aubrey (Pleasant) and (Antwaan Randle) El. That’s a good thing. It’s going to start with the coaches, and it’ll bleed to the players. These guys are going to compete and scratch and claw for everything. I’m telling you, the coaches are going to do it."

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