Getty Antwaan Randle El celebrates in a Super Bowl.
The Detroit Lions have been waiting a bit through the Super Bowl to round out the hires for their staff, and have hired a member of the newly-minted champions to coach a key position on the team.
According to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, the Lions will be hiring Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offensive assistant Antwaan Randle El as wideout coach. The move will be a promotion for Randle El, who worked on the Tampa Bay staff and will now get to be a position coach in Detroit. That comes after a notable playing career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Randle El joins the Lions after spending time learning the ropes under Bruce Arians and the Buccaneers staff. He wll come to Detroit fresh off a Super Bowl LV title, and the hope is he can use what he learned with a solid offense there to help the Lions be even better on that side of the ball.
Detroit figures to have young wideouts in the mix, and Randle El could be just the guy to mold them given his league experience.
Antwaan Randle El Career Stats
Randle El will check off the former player box that the Lions seem to have in terms of coaching this offseason. The wideout turned quarterback starred and won a title in Pittsburgh, claiming Super Bowl XL. Randle El put up 4,467 receiving yards and 15 receiving scores as a player in the league and was a first-team All-Pro in 2005. The former college quarterback also threw 6 touchdowns in his career. After being drafted by the Steelers, Randle El joined the Washington Football Team from 2006-2009 and then signed again with the Steelers in 2010 before ending his career following Super Bowl XLV in 2011.
Even though he’s a former player first, Randle El does have some coaching experience to draw on, joining the Tamopa Bay staff in 2019 and 2020 and claiming Super Bowl LV. He’ll now get a big promotion to join Detroit to impart some wisdom on the team’s offensive staff and wide receivers.
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Lions Building Solid Coaching Staff
Bringing Randle El into the mix is yet another solid coaching move for the Lion given what he’s done in the league. With Anthony Lynn now coming into the mix as offensive coordinator and the Lions officially revealing they have hired Aaron Glenn to be their new defensive coordinator, the team’s top coaches are now firmly in the mix. From here on out, Campbell will have to go about filling out the position coach list moving forward. They have added a few big time names in Duce Staley, Aubrey Pleasant and Mark Brunell, which is a good start as it relates position coaches. Dave Fipp also joined to coach special teams. Dom Capers recently joined as a senior defensive assistant. Clearly, Campbell is on a roll in terms of attracting some big name talent to Detroit as these hires prove. The players have guys who have been there and done that leading them, which is significant to note. Capers will add that ability to the defense given all he’s seen in the NFL. It should only help Glenn and the team’s defense to improve.
Randle El adds another strong coach to the mix in what’s become a very stout staff with plenty of league experience playing football.
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