When he was hired as Detroit Lions in late-January of 2021, a lot of NFL fans had some knowledge of Dan Campbell's playing career as an NFL tight end. His time as the interim head coach of the Miami Dolphins in 2015 might have landed in people's memories too. There were certainly NFL followers who knew he had spent years on the New Orleans Saints' coaching staff under Sean Payton.
Skepticism about Campbell as a head coach was easy though, and his introductory press conferencedid nothing to curtail that doubt. Talk of "biting knee caps" had some people thinking he was some kind of neanderthal, and he wouldn't be long for the job given the Lions' dismal history.
What Campbell was able to convey during that introduction, as clumsy as it seemed, was a rare level of genuineness. "Biting knee caps" was a metaphor for the type of team he would have, and the culture he would be the face of. He was speaking to the players as much as he was the media and anyone else who watched, and time would tell if that message translated.
Roughly a season and half into his tenure, Campbell had a 4-17-1 record as Lions' head coach and it was not outlandish to wonder about his job security. But from there in 2022, the team went 8-2 to finish above .500.
In 2023, the Lions won their first division title since 1991 and two playoff games. In 2024, they went 15-2 during the regular season despite a ridiculous amount of injuries to the defense. While this season was disappointing, they finished above .500 for the fourth straight season
Dan Campbell gets lofty acknowledgment among recent head coaching hires
ESPN's Bill Barnwell has ranked the 37 head coaching hires in the NFL over the last five years, going back to the year Campbell was hired and not including those who have been hired this year so far. However there might be a bit of recency bias (the Super Bowl head coaches, Mike Macdonald and Mike Vrabel, are No. 3 and No. 4 respectively), Campbell was No. 1 on the list.
"It's worth noting just how low the Lions were before Campbell arrived. Detroit had gone 14-33-1 under Matt Patricia and interim coach Darrell Bevell. It hadn't won a playoff game since 1991. One of the first things new general manager Brad Holmes did was trade Matthew Stafford to the Rams for two first-round picks and Jared Goff, who was essentially a salary dump from an organization that had completely lost faith in the 2016 first overall pick. The only significant player from the roster Campbell inherited who is still on the team in 2025 is offensive tackle Taylor Decker. This has been a complete rebuild in Detroit."
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Campbell is one of two head coaches hired in 2021 who is still in his post today, and he is now the sixth-longest tenured head coach in the league with the turnover we've seen this year.
Barnwell finished his placement of Campbell as the best head coaching hire of the five hiring cycles before this one with an interesting thought.
"If you had to predict a single hire from the past five years to still be in their current job 15 years from now, who would you pick? My choice would be Campbell, who has become the face of the franchise in Detroit."
Campbell will turn 50 in April, so the idea he could be the Lions' head coach well into the future is not ridiculous. In any case, after no one though he could do it, he has fostered the turnaround in Detroit and set a new bar of expectations.