Dan Campbell among top NFL coaches players want to play for

On Tuesday, The Athletic dropped their annual anonymous NFL player poll, and it’s full of a bunch of goodies. A total of 85 NFL players were surveyed on a wide variety of topics—several of which relate directly to the Detroit Lions.

Most relevant to Lions fans were the responses to the following question:

Which current coach, aside from your own, would you want to play for?

Lions coach Dan Campbell came in fourth in votes with 8.3% of the votes. He was only behind Steelers coach Mike Tomlin (26.4%), Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel (14.6%) and Chiefs coach Andy Reid (10.4%).

What an absolute shift in culture in two-and-a-half years in Detroit. Under Matt Patricia, the Lions were a team players wanted to avoid—even including several players who were already stuck in Detroit. Now, players want to come and play for Dan Campbell. Just imagine what that could mean when the Lions are jockeying for free agents next March.

“I appreciate coaches that are players’ coaches and get the best out of their players,” one anonymous player told The Athletic.

The Lions not only boast Campbell as a former player on their coaching staff, but they’ve gone out and filled their entire directory with former NFL players: Mark Brunell, Scottie Montgomery, J.T. Barrett, Hank Fraley, Steve Heiden, Antwaan Randle-El, Aaron Glenn, Dre Bly, Shaun Dion Hamilton, and Kelvin Sheppard.

The entire Athletic piece is worth your time, and there are a couple of other connections to Detroit. That includes the biggest trash talker in the NFL (I’m sure you can guess), Ford Field being listed among the worst stadiums to play in, and Jared Goff garnering some votes for best player in the game today.