New Lions Front Office: 'Everybody Wants to Be Heard'

Lions team president Rod Wood shared that Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes have personally invited owner Sheila Ford Hamp to meetings.

When it was first made known that Detroit Lions principal owner Sheila Ford Hamp was sitting in on personnel meetings, many Lions fans wondered why it was the case.  

A multitude of fans, in fact, thought that it wasn't necessary since general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell are the ones responsible for the team's roster-building decisions -- and not Hamp. 

But, as Detroit team president Rod Wood explained during a video conference with local media Wednesday, Holmes and Campbell have made it a priority to include Hamp and Wood in meetings. 

“I know there was a lot made about Sheila (Ford Hamp) sitting in on some of those meetings, and I think it’s important to make sure you guys understand that she was sitting in because she was invited to sit in and I was invited to sit in by Dan (Campbell) and Brad (Holmes)," Wood told reporters.

He added, "That’s part of the culture; they want us around, and they want us to be aware of what’s going on. I’m not saying that that wasn’t the case before. But, it wasn’t a change from her seat to want to drop in on things; she was invited to participate. I think that’s a good way of building the culture that we wanted. I think everybody wants to be heard, everybody wants to be included, and that starts at the top with Sheila, all the way down.”

Former Lions linebacker Chris Spielman, a special assistant to Wood in Detroit's front office, talked about Hamp attending free-agency meetings during an interview on 97.1 The Ticket (WXYT-FM) in late February. 

"Sheila has been involved by being in all these personnel meetings. She's sat in two days of offensive free-agency meetings and two days of defensive free-agency meetings," Spielman said.

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During Wood's media session Wednesday, he also acknowledged that the formation of the franchise's current culture was shaped by experiences with the past Lions regime -- led by Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia.  

“I’m not going to comment on the perception of the prior culture and whatever it’s labeled. I just know that going through that experience informed us on what the culture (is) we wanted," Wood said. "I’ll put it that way and how we pursued the candidates that we ended up hiring for our head coach and general manager."

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