Things are moving quickly for the Detroit Lions coaching staff now that their season is over. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is gone, defensive line coach Terrell Williams might be too and offensive line coach Hank Fraley looks like a serious candidate for another team's offensive coordinator post. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn might have a head coaching job by the time you're reading this.
NFL policy, essentially in an effort to encourage and incentive the development of minority candidates to pursue bigger jobs with other teams, in 2020 created "Resolution JC-2a", within the Rooney Rule, which says the following:
"The employer-club of a minority employee who has been hired by another club as its Head Coach or Primary Football Executive shall receive Draft choice compensation in the form of a compensatory Draft pick in the third round in each of the next two Drafts for an employee hired as either a Head Coach or Primary Football Executive.”
Lions get draft pick compensation if (when) Aaron Glenn leaves for a head coaching job
So if, or truly when, Glenn leaves for a head coaching job, the Lions will get a compensatory third-round pick in each of the next two drafts. Those picks will come after the typical compensatory picks are awarded in that round, attached to free agency losses from the prior offseason.
For 2025 there are only three projected 2025 third-round compensatory picks (via Over The Cap), so the Lions would be in line to have a pick in the top-100 overall if Glenn takes a head coaching job. It would also give them back a third-round pick this year, as they traded their original third-rounder to the New York Jets in the deal to move up and take offensive lineman Giovanni Manu in last year's draft.
In 2026, the Lions would get another third-round pick, likely in the same range (around pick No. 100 overall, give or take) for Glenn having taken a head coaching job.
Losing Glenn won't be ideal, but it is inevitable to happen. The Lions will get some draft pick compensation for his departure, which will be broadly helpful to keeping the cupboard of young talent stocked.