Detroit Lions hire new new Senior Director of Football Administration

Last month, senior director of football administration Brandon Sosna became the second member of the Detroit Lions front office to take a new position with the Washington Commanders this offseason. Sosna was a lead man in contract negotiations, so his role in the extensions that got done this offseason with Amon-Ra St. Brown, Penei Sewell and Jared Goff can't be understated.

According to ESPN's Seth Walder, the Lions are hiring Charlie Adkins as their new Senior Director of Football Administration. Adkins has spent the last seven years with the Arizona Cardinals, most recently as manager of football analytics and research. Prior to being in the analytics and research department, where he spent the last five years, Adkins was a football operations analyst for the Cardinals.

Lions hire Charlie Adkins to replace Brandon Sosna

Adkins had a hand in several areas during his tenure with the Cardinals. He provided then-head coach Kliff Kingsbury with analytical data to help with play calling, and he was literally shown as a prominent figure in the Cardinals' war room last year. At about the 4:25 mark of the linked clip, Adkins is shown helping get their trade up with the Lions done.

Cardinals' general manager Monti Ossenfort noted the role Adkins played in their first-round maneuvering during the 2023 draft.

"Some of the guys that I leaned on heavily, Dave Sears, Charlie Adkins and Rob Kissel did an unbelievable job of prepping us for the trade scenarios and even more so when it came time once we did the trade back,” Ossenfort said.

The Cardinals and Lions front offices are having a little back and forth when it comes to hiring each other's people. Arizona hired assistant general manager Dave Sears away from the Lions last offseason, while the Lions hired director of health and performance Brett Fischer after he had a long tenure with the Cardinals. Now Adkins is also leaving Arizona for Detroit.