The Dan Campbell effect is making a difference this offseason
By Robert Jones
Dan Campbell is spreading hope
There has been no shortage of positive feedback from the holdover players. Much like how it was predicted that coaches would flock to Detroit for an opportunity to be on Dan Campbell’s staff, players have also been excited to get a chance to play for him.
And we’re not just talking about those players who were already on the roster when Campbell arrived.
Ask former Packer running back Jamaal Williams about his impression of Dan Campbell after talking to him. Or how about kicker Randy Bullock or Quinton Dunbar or Dean Marlowe or any of the free agents that chose Detroit as their next football home.
Campbell relates to players and they want to play for him. In 2015 when Campbell was named the interim head for the Miami Dolphins after they fired Joe Philbin four games into the season, the entire attitude of the team changed.
But here’s the kicker, it wasn’t because he went easy on the players to win over the locker room like so many interim head coaches do. He worked that team hard but his players still loved playing for him.
Many of the free agents the Lions have signed have been to one-year contracts. Campbell has been honest with them saying this is an opportunity for them to earn a long-term contract to stay in the Motor City or to showcase their abilities for a big payday elsewhere.
This ‘meathead’ has been funny, charismatic, and honest with players, the media, and fans. I think the whole city of Detroit knows where we stand with Dan Campbell. Unlike the previous regime that looked down on us for questioning their methods and most of all, their results, Campbell has been the poster boy for a positive new era.
An era we all hope bears the sweet fruits of victory. There will be a lot of work that needs to be done before this franchise is ready to be actual contenders, but in a city that is witnessing all four of their major sports teams rebuild at once, hope is a commodity that the fans need.
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Hope is something Dan Campbell spread in that first knee-biting press conference and continues to go out in the community to spread today. He has filled his staff and players with it and a once gloomy locker room seems destined to be filled with a new spirit, a new culture.
The only way to explain it is to call it the Dan Campbell effect.