Thursday open thread: Grade the Lions’ 2019 coaching hires

While the Detroit Lions haven’t made any significant personnel moves since their 2018 season ended, they have undergone a pretty dramatic shift when it comes to their front office and coaching staff. They’ve swapped salary cap gurus, they got themselves a new offensive coordinator, a new special teams coordinator, and Matthew Stafford has yet another quarterbacks coach.

Detroit isn’t quite done yet, as Tuesday retirement of running backs coach David Walker produced yet another coaching vacancy. However, we now have a pretty good idea of what kind of staff the team is trying to create.

So today’s Question of the Day is:

What grade do you give the entirety of the Lions’ coaching and front office moves this offseason?

My answer: I give it all a solid B.

While it’s a little hard to sell a more run-heavy offense in Detroit when they have a passer like Matthew Stafford, I do appreciate the job Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia have done going a little outside their comfort zone, hiring people they haven’t worked directly with but still align with their overall vision for the team.

Both offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and quarterbacks coach Sean Ryan are respected across the league, and both come with pretty decent resumes in recent history. These weren’t particularly risky hires, which you could either view as a positive or negative, but in my opinion, I’m pretty glad they didn’t just go for “the next Sean McVay” as if those are just hiding in the shadows.

You could say the same about special teams coordinator John Bonamego—a respected NFL mind who has a boatload of experience, but just a modicum of success. Again, not very risky, but not very flashy, either.

Overall, the Lions got some experienced, respected guys who all seem to be pushing in the same direction. That kind of harmony could go a long ways in Detroit. Let’s just hope the strategy they all adhere to is the right one.

Your turn.