Detroit Lions lose long-time front office member to Washington Commanders

The Washington Commanders may or may not have really wanted Ben Johnson (or Aaron Glenn) to be their next head coach, but they are getting someone from the Detroit Lions' organization.

As reported by ESPN's Adam Schefter and confirmed by the team, the Washington Commanders have hired Lions senior director of player personnel Lance Newmark as their assistant general manager.

Newmark will reunite with former Lions' general manager Martin Mayhew, who will now be a senior personnel executive for Washington and an advisor to general manager Adam Peters.

Through the Commanders, Newmark issued a statement.

"I could not be more excited about joining the Washington Commanders organization," said Newmark. "I have tremendous respect for Adam (Commanders GM Adam Peters), and believe strongly in him, and in his vision for this franchise. I cannot wait to join Adam, Coach Quinn, and the rest of the organization this week in the DMV. It was very clear in this process that Josh Harris is extremely committed to running a first class organization and building a championship caliber football team, which made this opportunity very special. His passion for returning this franchise to greatness is clear. I will always be thankful for my time in Detroit and cannot say enough good things about the Lions organization. I sincerely appreciate them allowing me to pursue this exciting opportunity in Washington." 

Detroit Lions lose long-time front office member Lance Newmark

Newmark had been with the Lions since 1998, across too many changes around him over those 26 years to possibly list. He started as an assistant and worked his way up through the scouting department, holding the titles of area scout (1994-2004), national scout (2005-2007), assistant director of college scouting (2008-2014), director of college scouting (2015-2016) and director of player personnel (2016-2021) before moving to his final position in 2022.

Newmark interviewed for the Lions' general manager job before Brad Holmes was hired in 2021. He played a key role in the draft and free agency, as well as helping to integrate analytics into college and pro scouting.

In terms of who replaces Newmark as Lions' senior director of player personnel, Jeremy Reisman of Pride of Detroit offered up director of pro scouting Rob Lohman and director of college scouting Brian Hudspeth as the top two internal candidates.