Detroit Lions: How will Brayden Coombs affect special teams?

How will new special teams coordinator Brayden Coombs help out and improve the group for the Detroit Lions this year?

Often times the special teams unit is a forgotten group until they do something atrociously bad that makes everyone stand up and complain. Whether it be a shanked punt, a missed field goal, or botched hold. The Detroit Lions have been on the better side of that debate as of late.

This offseason, the Lions brought in Brayden Coombs to coach that unit. The 33-year old is the youngest special teams coordinator in the NFL and the fourth youngest coordinator in the league.

Coombs previously worked with the Cincinnati Bengals who were ranked first in DVOA last year, that according to Football Outsiders. But how will the older veterans on the unit respect the youthful Coombs as a coach and take in the information he’s trying to bring to the team?

Here’s what Coombs told MLive.com back in January as he believes the vets will back him once they realize he can improve their game.

"“I’m going to prove that as fast as a I can. With my work, with my teaching, and hopefully [the players] can see that pretty quickly and we can have some success together.”"

Detroit Lions’ Brayden Coombs is following his father’s footsteps

Coombs is the son of a long time defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs who recently worked for the Tennessee Titans in 2018 and 2019. Kerry has a reputation of being a very vocal and high energy guy. Brayden plans on bring that same type of speed and intensity his father does.

The Detroit Lions have been praised by others in the league for the hiring of Brayden Coombs. Some believe that he could move to other coaching positions very quickly. He’s a brilliant young mind who’s got to work behind an even better special team’s coordinator Darrin Simmons for majority of his career in Cincinnati.

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During his time with the Bengals, they were traditionally one of the better teams in the league on special teams. Always ranking in the top ten of DVOA except in 2016 and 2017. Even though the win column didn’t show it, having success on special teams is a big deal. Seven of the top fifteen teams in DVOA last year were in the playoffs.

It’s going to be an interesting training camp for Brayden Coombs and the special teams. Especially considering the fact that the Detroit Lions currently don’t have a starting punter on the team. Hopefully the new energy brought about by Coombs will bring new life to the special teams and their players.