Dan Campbell said at the NFL combine last week he was close to making one final hire to round out his defensive coach staff. With the combine set to conclude Sunday with defensive back workouts, that deal appears to be done.
The Detroit Lions are hiring Lamar defensive line coach Cameron Davis as assistant defensive line coach, the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches announced on Twitter.
Davis started his coaching career as assistant defensive line coach at Diablo Valley College and worked as a graduate assistant at Texas A&M and Kentucky before joining Lamar in 2020.
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Campbell confirmed the departure of linebackers coach Mark DeLeone last week and announced a reshuffling of some roles on his defensive staff.
With the Lions moving to more of an even-front defensive scheme, outside linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard will coach inside linebackers in 2022; Dave Corrao, the team’s director of football research since 2018, will work with outside linebackers; and defensive line coach Todd Wash will take on a more all-encompassing role up front.
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The Lions still could make one addition to their offensive staff after promoting offensive quality control assistant Tanner Engstrand to tight ends coach. Engstrand worked with tight ends during the second half of last season, after tight ends coach Ben Johnson became more heavily involved as pass game coordinator.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.