Lions Could Hire Their Head Coach Before Their General Manager

Team president Rod Wood says Detroit Lions' hiring process does not require the GM to be hired prior to the head coach.

Detroit Lions team president Rod Wood discussed the interview process for the organization's head coach and general manager searches during his season-ending video conference Tuesday morning.  

He noted that the Lions' process does not require the general manager to be hired prior to the head coach. 

"It doesn’t require us to hire a general manager first. It may work out that way, because we’re a little bit ahead on the general manager search relative to the head coach search," he said. "But, if we find the perfect head coach and we’ve not yet found the general manager, we’re not going to wait on the coach. We’re in competition with other teams who are interviewing some of the same people, and it’s important to get the right coach. And, if that means we have to hire a coach first, that’s what we’ll do."

The Matthew Stafford dilemma

Wood was asked if a candidate would be excluded based on the way in which they desire to handle Stafford's future with the organization.

“I don’t have a preference. We’ll see. We’re certainly talking about our entire roster, including Matthew, with everybody that we’re interviewing for both positions," Wood said. "He’s our quarterback. He’s a very important player, very important position. But, again, when we have people in the building to weigh in on those decisions, that’s when we’ll be able to talk more about it. Certainly, everybody that we talked to admires Matthew from afar, as much as we admire him inside the building.”

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