Notes: Lions DB coach Aubrey Pleasant makes ‘NFL head coaching candidates to watch’ list

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero produces a yearly article listing the up-and-coming coaches that could earn a head coaching job sometime in the future. His lists have been impressively accurate, as Pelissero notes in this year’s version of his list.

“And in the previous four cycles, over half of all head-coaching hires (14 of 27) came from that year’s edition of this list,” Pelissero wrote this week.

In this year’s list, which features 13 main coaches and nearly 60 “others to watch,” Detroit Lions defensive back coach Aubrey Pleasant gets a shoutout in the latter list. Pelissero doesn’t go into detail about Pleasant, but it’s a nice honor for the young coach.

Pleasant was dealt a tough hand in Detroit, as the Lions have had to start several inexperienced cornerbacks due to injury. However, undrafted rookies like Jerry Jacobs, AJ Parker and Mark Gilbert have all held their own and played with confidence despite limited experience.

“(Pleasant’s) been great and it was one of the reasons that we wanted him here,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said on Wednesday. “He’s always been able to develop young talent. I brought it up when we hired him, he’s developed a lot of young talent, guys that nobody’s ever heard of, but then he’s also been able to take some of these really elite guys like (Jalen) Ramsey and (Aqib) Talib and those guys and get some of the most productive years out of those guys as well.”

• The Detroit Lions are the biggest cowards in the league when it comes to third-and-long on offense—and it’s not even close:

• Justin Rogers of the Detroit News did a film breakdown ($) of the good (running game) and the bad (passing game) from the Lions' offense vs. the Steelers.

• Hey, Pro Bowl voting is open! There probably aren’t a lot of Lions players worth voting for, but safety Tracy Walker is arguably one. Here he is pleading you to vote for him. You can do so here. Look at that smile. You don’t want to disappoint him now, do you?

• Kyle Meinke of MLive talked about the Lions’ future at quarterback in his latest mailbag column.

• Charles Harris was mic’d up for Lions vs. Steelers. See the “Sights and Sounds” segment from the Detroit Lions:

• Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com took a closer look at Week 11 by seeing what the Cleveland Browns are talking about, including Baker Mayfield’s health, and their shuffling at the running back position with Nick Chubb still on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

• Yeah... soo.....