Detroit Lions approval poll: Sheila Ford Hamp (July 2021)

It’s hard to believe, but Detroit Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp has now been on the job for a full year. On June 23 of last year, her mother, Martha Firestone Ford, stepped down as principal owner of the team and handed over the reigns to Sheila.

Though she had been involved in the team for years, I’m not sure anything could have prepared her for the rookie season she had as Lions owner. She watched as Matt Patricia smothered any last remaining hope for the Midwest Patriots regime, fired both him and general manager Bob Quinn a few days after Thanksgiving, oversaw an entire reimagining of front-office structure, had to deal with a franchise quarterback wanting out of Detroit, then handled an offseason with a first-time head coach, first-time general manager—all as a first-year owner.

I have to imagine it was a whirlwind for Ford Hamp, but she’s come out the other end. For now, there is stability within the Lions franchise, which likely means she can take a backseat for a while and see how things play out.

That means it’s a perfect time to give our opinion on how she has done so far. We polled our audience back in January to see what fans thought of Ford Hamp, and the results were cautiously optimistic. A total of 45 percent of fans gave her a B grade for her first seven months on the job, while 17 percent gave her an A and 23 percent gave her a C. In all, it averaged to a 2.57 GPA— or a B-/C+.

Since then, we’ve found out that Ford Hamp has been more involved in the team than her predecessor, sitting in on meetings about free agency—while also giving everyone the space to do their jobs without meddling. It seems the workplace environment, as a whole, is very harmonious, but, of course, they’ve yet to face any true adversity yet.

So one year into her job, do you approve of everything that Sheila Ford Hamp is doing as Detroit Lions owner?

Vote in the poll below: