The Detroit Lions made waves last week by helping start the ongoing recent conversation on race in sports, and it’s clear they have strong feelings about that continuing.
Sunday, while speaking with other assistants, Brayden Coombs made a pretty powerful statement about where he believes the Lions are at as a team. As he said, he was so proud of the team for being united and continuing to get their message across in a strong way.
Special teams coordinator Brayden Coombs ended his press conference by saying how proud he is of the Lions’ players for the leadership they’ve shown this week.
“I’m so glad that they’re not sticking to sports and ‘shutting up and dribbling,’ because they have so much to share.”
Afterward on social media, Coombs continued to make even more powerful statements, outlining why he believes what he does and offering a solid rebuttal to folks whom might disagree.
It’s never been in the job description of a police officer to play judge, jury, and executioner. There are (or should be) several steps between making the decision to detain someone, and shooting them, particularly when it’s 4 on 1
We’re committed to continuing to push this dialogue, and working collectively to effect change in our schools, our communities, and for our kids’ generations. In the meantime, please stop killing unarmed black men. We’re tired of it. #blacklivesmatter
Last week, the Lions sat out practice in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting, then had a demonstration in which they explained that things such as this cannot continue to happen. That’s been the consistent message out of Allen Park for the week, and Coombs continues it with his thoughtful commentary on the matter.
Lions Lauded for Protests by Media
Recently, the words and actions of the Lions were discussed on a Sports Illustrated podcast with Conor Orr and Jenny Vrentas. As they said, the team did a nice job to be timely and relevant with their demonstration. Additionally, they were first.
.@ConorOrr & @JennyVrentas discuss the Detroit Lions skipping their practice in the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake.
Listen: t.co/8sVaZW0NJ8
Orr said:
“I thought this was a good job by the Lions. We’ve talked about the value of being first and not forced to do something, and I think this was a good job by the Lions’ staff by reacting immediately to something, sensing that there was an issue that players were passionate about and giving them the platform to speak out about it.”
Vrentas agreed:
“I thought this was a powerful stand for the Lions. We’re so used to these discussions, football can’t be moved, don’t do anything that bothers football and keep your thoughts out of sports. Here was a day they decided to cancel practice, they recognized their players are human beings and that it would be difficult to practice on a day after seeing that video, especially as a Black man in America. Matt Patricia listened to his players, they adjusted and instead of forcing them to just go through the day as you would as if nothing happened, they also used the opportunity to issue a powerful statement.”
This week, the Lions and Matt Patricia have been praised for their nimble response which is great to see. It’s clear the team had the first passionate stance and were able to act on it right away.
Brayden Coombs Biography
This past offseason team revealed they had hired 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.
More than that, Coombs is showing himself to be a positive force for good on the team.
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Lions Assistant Coach Reveals Powerful Stance on Racial Injustice