Detroit Lions to officially coach 2020 Senior Bowl

The Senior Bowl committee announced on Thursday that the Detroit Lions will join the Cincinnati Bengals in coaching the two teams at the 2020 Senior Bowl this year.

Teams are given priority to coach the college all-star game based off of their 2019 records, starting with the worst teams. However, if there is a big change to the coaching staff, they are not eligible to coach the week of practices and the game. That turned out to be the case for Washington, who had the second-worst record in the NFL, giving the Lions the opportunity.

This is the first time the Lions staff will coach the event since 2013, when Jim Schwartz and his staff went down to Mobile and got a closer look at players like Ezekiel Ansah, among other.

Earlier this week, Lions general manager Bob Quinn said the team would be excited about the opportunity to coach the event.

“If we get that call here in the next couple of days, we’ll be excited about,” Patricia said. “Mobile is a great place to visit. I usually spend four days, what’s a couple of more?”

Likewise, head coach Matt Patricia noted the value of the event when it comes to player evaluation.

“I know the Senior Bowl actually has a lot of great benefits to it (for) the coaches that have coached it before, from that aspect of it,” Patricia said. “Obviously, having an opportunity to spend time with those guys kind of in those settings is great.”

Notable players that could appear in the Senior Bowl include Auburn defensive tackle Derrick Brown, Alabama cornerback Trevon Diggs and Notre Dame edge defender Julian Okwara. However, none of those players have yet accepted an invite. For a list of accepted invitations thus far, click here.

UPDATE: Apparently Executive Director of the Senior Bowl Jim Nagy said that Derrick Brown declined his Senior Bowl invite, so Detroit isn’t likely to get an up-close look at whoever they pick at No. 3.