The Detroit Lions have a new special teams coordinator, and he comes to the team from the AFC and the Cincinnati Bengals.
Saturday, the team revealed they had hired Brayden Coombs to be their next special teams coordinator. Coombs comes to Detroit having worked for the Bengals for seven years. He joined the staff shortly after college and had worked with the team since then. At the end of this season, Coombs’ deal expired, making him coaching’s version of a free agent.
Here’s a bit more on Coombs’ biography from the Lions press release on the hire at DetroitLions.com:
“Coombs comes to Detroit after spending the previous 10 seasons (2010-19) with the Cincinnati Bengals, including the last seven seasons as the team’s assistant special teams coach. During his time in Cincinnati, he served various capacities in addition to his role with special teams, including offensive assistant (2012), quality control (2013-15), defensive quality control (2016-17) and offensive quality control (2018). He originally joined the Bengals staff in 2009 as a coaching intern.
A former wide receiver at Miami (Ohio) University, Coombs played for the RedHawks for four years and earned a degree in business.
Coombs is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Alexia, have a daughter, Harper, and two sons, Cam and KJ.”
Additionally, Coombs’ father Kerry Coombs was a long time assistant for the Ohio State Buckeyes, so he has some excellent football bloodlines to draw back on.
Brayden Coombs Replaces John Bonamego
The Lions just replaced their special teams staff last season, but Bonamego ended up being one and done. The reason? Inconsistency on Detroit’s special teams. There’s been breakdowns and penalties everywhere and it doesn’t seem as if the team has improved. Jamal Agnew, Matt Prater and Sam Martin have kept Bonamego from looking much worse, but other issues have persisted and the team hasn’t been great on this side of the ball. That should have make Patricia motivated to change voices again, and in the end, that’s just what he did.
In Coombs, the Lions hired someone who is opposite of Bonamego in that he is much younger. While he might not have as much age on his side, he is someone who has done a good job with the position group in the league when he has coached.
Brayden Coombs Excelled With Bengals Special Teams
The good news for Lions fans? While the Bengals were miserable in 2019 on the field in terms of their record, it was hardly Coombs’ fault. The team’s special teams group was a bright spot, as Justin Rogers of the Detroit News pointed out.
On Detroit’s new special teams coordinator, Brayden Coombs, the Bengals might have had the worst record in football, but their special teams were a bright spot. The unit was ranked first by Football Outsiders and fifth by Pro Football Focus. Coombs wasn’t fired, his deal expired.
In Randy Bullock and Kevin Huber, Coombs worked with two solid special teams players that made a difference on the field for their team. He will gain that in Detroit as well.
Coombs’ job will be to deal with a special teams group which has made too many mistakes in terms of penalties and inconsistencies on the field. Getting that cleaned up will be job one for a guy who has done a decent job for a while with the Bengals.
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Lions Reveal New Special Teams Coordinator Hire