Notes: Detroit Lions shake up scouting staff

For the second time in three years, the Detroit Lions are making some significant changes to their scouting department. We already knew that Director of Pro Scouting Brendan Prophett was on his way out (he also accepted a job with the Giants already). On Saturday, the Lions announced a full shakeup of that department:

Dave Sears and Rob Lohman were both promoted from within. Sears served as the team’s assistant director of college scouting for the past two seasons, but has been part of the organization since 2007, first starting as a regional scout.

Lohman similarly was promoted from an assistant director position on the pro scouting side, where he served for the past three seasons. Noor Davis and Jordan Martin were new hires, while Justin Licker was promoted from scouting assistant to pro scout.

Back in 2017, the Lions made a pretty significant shakeup with their scouting staff, most notably promoting Kyle O’Brien to Vice President of Player Personnel.

• More contract details are out for Ezekiel Ansah’s one-year deal with the Seattle Seahawks:

• If you want more Ansah analysis, I joined the Field Gulls podcast over the weekend to recap his time in Detroit and explain what Seattle is getting.

• Pro Football Focus ranked the top 10 receivers from 2018 in contested catch percentage. Kenny Golladay cracked the list at No. 7:

• In Peter King’s latest power rankings, the Detroit Lions came in at... hold on, scrolling.... still scrolling... scrooooooooooling... oh, 27th.

• The Lions started installation on their new turf over the weekend:

• Matthew Stafford an under-the-radar MVP candidate for 2019? Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report thinks so.