Detroit Lions: Sheila Hamp’s commitment is not Ford first
By Robert Jones
A new sheriff in town
The Detroit Lions never suffered from William Clay Ford Sr not being involved. It just never prospered under his stewardship.
When Martha Firestone Ford took over the reins after Mr. Fords passing in 2014, she brought a different touch. She was less patient as displayed by when she cleaned house in 2015 by firing team president Tom Lewand and general manager Martin Mayhew.
Martha wasn’t influential in player personnel decisions and mostly allowed her front office and coaches to do their jobs. Her biggest downfall was accepting the advice of former NFL general manager Ernie Accorsi as the league’s advocate to hire Bob Quinn.
We all know how that played out.
But there is a new sheriff in town now. Sheila was named the Lions principal owner last offseason and after accepting what was becoming increasingly more evident with each passing week of the season, she marched former head coach Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn out to the alley behind their Allen Park facility for a post-Thanksgiving massacre.
In essence, Sheila started her offseason right then. Despite the Lions having to play out the string, Sheila added Chris Spielman in an advisory role and started the interviewing process with eligible candidates that were not employed by any other teams at that time.
This of course continued after the Lions season was over as Sheila and her staff searched for who they felt were the right candidates to fill the important positions of general manager and head coach.
In the end, popular candidates like Ed Dodds and Robert Saleh were bypassed for Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell.
The shotgun marriage between Holmes and Campbell had raised some eyebrows but after the way Holmes handled the Matthew Stafford trade, I think the whole Lions fan base is now ready to give this pairing a chance to show what they got.
It has been a good offseason so far for Sheila Ford Hamp, but it hasn’t stopped there. She continues to be very involved in the direction Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell are leading this franchise. But in a good way.