The Detroit Lions coaching staff was depleted by departures after their postseason loss to the Washington, with seven assistants creating new branches on Dan Campbell's coaching tree. The process to fill all those spots is ongoing, with notable outside hires (David Shaw and Bruce Gradkowski) being made and interviews (reported or otherwise) going on.
According to Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports, the Lions are expected to hire Iowa State assistant head coach and running backs coach Tyler Roehl as an offensive assistant. There has been no announcement by the team as of this writing.
Who is Tyler Roehl?: A look at the new Lions' coach's resume
Roehl spent this past season under Matt Campbell at Iowa State after first agreeing to be Eddie George's associate head coach and offensive coordinator at Tennessee State.
Before that, Roehl spent 10 seasons as an assistant at his alma mater, North Dakota State, with the last half of that time as the offensive coordinator as well as tight ends coach and fullbacks coach. The Bison won seven FCS national championships when he was on staff.
The Bison had a top-10 scoring offense in FCS in two of Roehl's five seasons as offensive coordinator, and they were never below 20th.
2019: 37.3 points per game (ninth)
2020: 29.9 points per game (18th)
2021: 33.9 points per game (13th)
2022: 34.3 points per game (20th)
2023: 38.1 points per game (third)
The 39-year old Roehl spent one season (2009) as an NFL running back with the Seattle Seahawks before getting into coaching as the running backs coach at Concordia College (MN) in 2010. He went back to his alma mater as a graduate assistant in 2011, then he spent two seasons as an assistant at Moorhead (MN) High School before going back to NDSU for that long stint.
Roehl's exact role and title on the Lions' coaching staff is to be determined. But the loss of tight ends coach Steve Heiden to Aaron Glenn's staff with the New York Jets creates an opening there that Roehl would seem most likely to fill on Dan Campbell's refurbished coaching staff.