The Detroit Lions are entering a new era without longtime quarterback Matthew Stafford, who was dealt to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for Jared Goff and a bevy of draft picks.
Not only will Detroit’s offensive attack look different, but their coaching staff received a facelift with the hiring of Dan Campbell and subsequent hiring of several assistants.
NFL rules prevent Campbell from discussing the acquisition of Goff until the new League calendar year, which begins March 17. However, he did note that Detroit’s offensive attack will be based around the skills of their quarterback.
“There’s overall things that A-Lynn and myself believe in. But ultimately, this was going to be built around the quarterback anyway,” Campbell told ESPN on Sunday. “And so depending on, let’s say you were able to go get our boy from Clemson [Trevor Lawrence], well, we’re going to be running a lot more gun runs, things that he was familiar with, things that he did at Clemson. If it’s not, then you’re looking at someone that is more like Stafford and you can still do your gun stuff, you could still do under center, you could still do a little more traditional.
“So the schemes are going to be things that we feel like fit that player because he’s the one.”
According to sources, the Lions have reportedly decided that Goff will indeed be their starter in 2021.
For Campbell and the rest of the new coaching staff, they’ll be looking to put their players in the best position to succeed.
“[Lynn’s] like me in that of course we want to find ways to run the ball because there is a toughness about it,” Campbell said. “If it’s an 8-man box and we want to run the ball, we’re going to find a way to run it into an 8-man box because there are ways to do that. Now, you got to have some tough guys and they got to understand that. But he’s just like me in regards to, if you’re not going to take our ‘X’ out of the game, and you’re going to play off eight yards and you’re telling me we can throw hitches the whole game and let him run, then we’re going to throw it out there.
“We’re not so far into the Stone Age to where it’s like we’re going to run it 40 times.”
