Lions assistant general manager Ray Agnew is a legit candidate for Chargers' GM job

The Los Angeles Chargers are resetting their football operation after last week's firing of head coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco. In terms of who from the Detroit Lions they could be eyeing to fill those jobs, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is an easy top candidate to be their next head coach.

The idea the Chargers could aim high in their general manager search, and see if Brad Holmes wants to leave the Lions was offered up late last week by Ryan Ermanni of Fox 2 and Woodward Sports. There's about a .0001 percent chance Holmes would entertain the idea, but it couldn't hurt to see, right?

But there is a far more realistic candidate within the Lions' front office to be the Chargers' next general manager.

Lions assistant general manager Ray Agnew a legit candidate to be next Chargers' general manager

Ray Agnew followed Holmes from the Rams to the Lions in 2021, going from director of pro personnel from the Rams (2017-20200 to the assistant general manager post in Detroit.

Pro Football Focus put Agnew on their list of top general manager candidates for the next hiring cycle a few weeks ago.

"Agnew may not be the young upshot executive that teams seem to prefer recently for general manager hires, but his lengthy football career and clear trust from Lions general manager Brad Holmes should go a long way. The Rams built a Super Bowl winner largely with external additions during the time Agnew was the director of pro personnel, and we’ve also seen him now help Holmes build the Lions in a very different manner.'

Agnew, at 55 years old, is not a "young upshot" along the lines a lot of teams might prefer to hire as a general manager. But he has been a key part of two very different types of roster builds--the all-in "F-them picks" approach the Rams had, and the rebuild that was the mode at the start of his tenure with the Lions.

On that note, Daniel Popper of The Athletic put Agnew on his list of general manager candidates for the Chargers.

If Agnew becomes the Chargers' next general manager, it's fair to assume Johnson firmly becomes a top candidate to be the new head coach. As Mike Payton of AtoZ Sports put out there, if Agnew hires Johnson, who might Johnson take with him from the Lions' coaching staff?

It's all hypothetical right now. But the price of success is assistant coaches and non-GM front office people getting regarded as candidates for a promotion elsewhere. Agnew is right next to Johnson as a candidate to leave the Lions for prominent job in another organization after the season.