Getty Duce Staley chats with Eli Manning after a game.
The Detroit Lions are assembling one of the best staffs of the NFL offseason, and they have added another huge name to the mix with direct NFL experience.
Detroit will be hiring former running back Duce Staley to their coaching staff. The news was broken first by Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports who revealed that the former Philadelphia Eagles coach would be making the jump to Detroit for the future.
Longtime Eagles assistant coach Duce Staley will join Dan Campbell’s staff
According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, the Lions will be adding Staley as their running backs coach as well as giving him the title of assistant head coach to Dan Campbell.
Duce Staley is joining the #Lions’ coaching staff as assistant head coach/running backs, per source.
Obviously, the addition of Staley is huge for the Lions given not only their need for a running back coach, but thanks to his presence as well. Staley was long one of the most popular staff members in Philadelphia, and had recently interviewed to receive the Eagles’ head coaching job that ended up going to Nick Siriani. The move to ignore Staley at the end of the process didn’t sit well with many fans who wanted to see the former Philadelphia legend coach the team. It didn’t happen, however, and Staley will now be taking his talents to Detroit.
Duce Staley Career Stats
Fans will remember Staley for the hard-charging career he had with the Philadelphia Eagles. From 1997-2003, Staley was a running back for the Eagles before joining the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2004-2006. He captured Super Bowl XL with the Steelers in Detroit, and then transitioned into a coaching role in Philadelphia starting in 2011 when he became a quality control coach for special teams. Starting in 2013, he was named the running backs coach and picked up the title of assistant head coach in 2018, which he held until his departure in 2020.
During his time with the Eagles, Staley helped in the development of multiple key running backs including LeSean McCoy, Miles Sanders, Jay Ajayi, LeGarrette Blount and others. The running game was a huge reason the Eagles captured Super Bowl LII and now, Staley will be asked to bring that experience to Detroit for D’Andre Swift and their young running game.
Lions Coaching Staff Taking Shape
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. Detroit will have plenty of holes to fill there in addition to needing a special teams coordinator. The defensive position coach staff will be one that needs to see more names in the coming days, but Campbell will have plenty of time to network and figure it out. Clearly, he is on a roll in terms of attracting some big name talent to Detroit.
Now that both coordinators have been chosen and the Lions have another elite name coming into the mix, Campbell can go about looking for new staff members at other spots.
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Lions Add Dynamic Former NFL Running Back to Key Staff Role: Report