:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/58356919/846019038.jpg.0.jpg)
Though the hire has yet to be officially announced, Detroit Lions defensive line coach Kris Kocurek has accepted the job of the same title with the Miami Dolphins. The news comes from Kocurek’s wife’s Facebook Page (via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press).
“(It’s been) an amazing 9 years with the Detroit Lions, Michigan you will always be my home but It’s time,” Amy Kocurek wrote on the social media platform. “We are excited to announce and proud say that Kris will now be the Defensive Line Coach of the Miami Dolphins.”
Kocurek had been with the Detroit Lions since 2009, when Jim Schwartz was brought in to transform one of the worst defenses in league history into one of the best. By the year 2014, Kocurek had been instrumental in creating a force of a defensive line, led by Ezekiel Ansah, Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley.
But now that Bob Quinn is in town and Jim Caldwell is not, it’s clear there are big sweeping changes coming across the entire defensive staff. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin has left for Cincinnati and he took defensive line assistant Matt Raich with him.
Detroit still has five defensive coaches still under contract—DBs/CBs coach Tony Oden, DBs/S coach Alan Williams, defensive quality control coach Steven Williams, LBs coach Bill Sheridan, and defensive assistant George Godsey—but that could change once new head coach Matt Patricia is officially hired.