Well, that certainly wasn’t the move I thought the Detroit Lions would make right before Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline.
But firing Aubrey Pleasant, the team’s defensive backs coach and defensive pass-game coordinator, on Monday was clearly a move coach Dan Campbell felt he had to make. And it clearly bothered him.
Shortly after the Free Press broke the story, Campbell stood at the lectern and was emotional as he explained his decision to move on from Pleasant because, “We’re in a production-based business and after seven weeks. it’s just …”
Campbell had trouble finishing that thought, so I’ll finish it for him. It’s just … godawful. Tua Tagovaiola had the best passing day of his career Sunday in Miami’s 31-27 win at Ford Field, completing 80.6% of his passes for 382 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.
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Less than 24 hours later, the architect of the one of the NFL’s worst pass defenses, who helped make that possible, was gone.
Now the question is: Who’s the next to follow Pleasant out the door?
If we’re talking about coaches, I wouldn’t expect any more departures until after the season, unless someone decides to go full Brayden Coombs.
But if we’re talking players, the Lions are stuck in a tough spot because “the Lions,” in this case, means two people: Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes. They took their spot on the hot seat after the Lions blew a 27-17 halftime lead in losing their fifth straight game.
Now the Lions are 1-6 and the walls are closing in. Owner Sheila Hamp felt it necessary to speak with reporters last week in an attempt to lower the temperature and give Campbell and Holmes a vote of confidence, albeit without ensuring their job security this season.
And she was right not to, because, as both men know, this is indeed “a production-based business,” and so far, neither has produced much.
That means something has to change. The most obvious path to change is through roster manipulation. The Lions traditionally don’t make their GM available to reporters before the trade deadline, so answering questions that were better suited for Holmes fell to Campbell on Monday.
Campbell wouldn’t say if having the NFL’s worst record dictated the Lions should be in sell mode; he instead said his job is “to make the most of what we’ve got here, which is plenty to compete with, I believe.”
I asked Campbell, based on his experience as a player, if a team trading away players signaled to remaining players that the team had given up.
“No,” Campbell said, “I never felt that way.”
Every player is different, and Campbell was always a head-down, lunch-pail grinder who might not have known what day of the week it was during most seasons. I think I got three grunts out of him when he played for the Lions. But most players know that trading away key players means the team doesn’t expect much the rest of the season.
Right now, I’m sure every Lions fan thinks the same thing: Trade away the entire team, starting with Hamp.
I get it. Frustration begets anger, and anger begets a whole lot of bad things.
That’s why you have me, treasured Free Press reader: I’m here to give you an unemotional, clear-eyed idea of what the Lions might, and should, do.
Even though Campbell said Holmes is “looking into anything and everything,” a fire sale isn’t happening. You can’t keep the rebuild going if you’re tearing down the house.
But the Lions could acquire more draft picks for next year, which would give Campbell and Holmes their best chance to make a leap in Year 3 of their tenure — assuming they last that long.
Of course, on a 1-6 team, there are only so many players who command a worthwhile return. The Lions only have three players of significant value they would consider trading: tight end T.J. Hockenson, left tackle Taylor Decker and running back D’Andre Swift.
The problem is that trading away these players immediately makes the Lions a worse team. And when you’re 1-6 and your coach keeps saying the team is close and you have half of your remaining games at home, do you really want to make your team worse, give fans more reason to stay away and increase the chances of losing out completely?
I would only part with Swift. He’s a talented and electric player when he’s healthy, but that’s been all too rare. Jamaal Williams is the starter anyway, and if the Lions get an unlikely good offer — say, a third-rounder — they have to jump at it. But they won’t. Who’s begging for a banged-up running back?
The real question isn’t about which player could be moved, but rather which executive is making the move? Because this is Holmes’ domain and, as such, he needs to show his value to the team. He needs to make something happen that can help the team, either now or in April.
The Lions are in excellent position for next year’s draft with two first-round picks — as the standings sit now, those would be Nos. 1 and 14 overall (thanks, Rams!) — plus their own second-rounder, giving them potentially three of the first 33 picks. They don’t have to acquire more picks, but if Holmes does nothing to help his coach and his struggling team win and put more butts in the seats for his owner, well, why is he here then?
The dynamic between a coach and a GM is a fascinating one that varies depending on the team. After the Matt Patricia/Bob Quinn era, Hamp demanded better communication and teamwork from her coach and GM, and Campbell said Monday communication was at the core of their talks about trades and roster moves.
“We communicate on a daily basis, multiple times a day on everything,” he said. “And so, man, if he’s got something he presents it to me, and he tells me what he’s thinking. He asks what I think and — but there again, I would say what he does a real good job of is, he looks at it through my eyes, and I look at it through his eyes.
“And so I would say, at the end of the day, we take each other’s opinion and then whether we make a move or don’t make a move, we’re both lockstep with each other.”
So let me propose something else at the trade deadline. The Lions should be sellers and buyers: Sell if the return is reasonable and buy if they can find help, especially on defense, at a reasonable price.
But they should do something, because if the only move Holmes and Campbell make is to fire an assistant coach while keeping all the players who aren’t producing in a production-based business, then the only move they’ll have truly made is inching themselves closer to the exit and a spot on the curb next to Pleasant.
Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.