Getty Giff Smith in his headshot for the 2011 Bills.
The Detroit Lions have been hitting the ground running after it was revealed that Dan Campbell would be their next head coach, and the next element to come are some assistant coach and staff hires.
Friday, it was revealed by Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press that the Lions would be hiring long time Los Angeles Chargers’ defensive line coach Giff Smith to the same position. Smith has worked with the Chargers since 2016, and has had a hand in developing some important young players up front for the team.
The Lions are expected to hire former Chargers DL coach Giff Smith for the same position on Dan Campbell’s new staff.
Smith will now join Aaron Glenn, who signed on as the team’s defensive coordinator late this week, as the first hires of the Campbell era in Detroit. After these hires, Campbell has the rest of his offensive staff as well as a few more defensive coaches to get in the mix.
Giff Smith Biography
After working as a college coach from 1991-2009 with Arkansas, Georgia, Georgia State and Tulane, Smith made the jump to the pros and began his coaching career with the Buffalo Bills from 2010-2012. While in Buffalo, Smith is credited with helping the emergence of one of the elite lineman in franchise history there in Kyle Williams. After his stop in Buffalo, Smith worked with the Tennessee Titans from 2014-2015 where he worked with Jurrell Smith. Following that stop, he landed with the Chargers which was his longest stay in the league to this point. Smith helped aid in the development of Melvin Ingram and Joey Bosa, two of the most explosive pass rushers in the last few seasons.
At 52, Smith isn’t that old by coaching standards, so he could be a good teacher for the Lions to have moving forward as they try and get tougher up front in the trenches. That was a major sore spot for the last staff, so Smith has his work cut out for him in Detroit.
Lions Lose Darrell Bevell to Jaguars
While many Lions fans wanted to see Bevell remain with the team in an offensive coordinator role, it was also revealed that he would be leaving the team for the Jacksonville Jaguars. That’s a huge opportunity for Bevell with an up and coming team.
The #Jaguars are expected to hire Darrell Bevell as their offensive coordinator, sources tell me and @MikeGarafolo. Several teams made a push to hire Bevell, who finished last season as the #Lions‘ interim coach, but it looks like he’ll land with Urban Meyer.
Bevell has been an offensive coordinator lifer in the league for a while, first with the Minnesota Vikings and then with the Seattle Seahawks. In Seattle, Bevell got plenty of love for what he was able to do with Russell Wilson and the talented offense he had, and even won a Super Bowl while coming within an eyelash of winning another. In spite of this, Bevell never got the love as a head coach candidate and was removed from his role in Seattle. After taking some time off, Bevell was tapped to take over for Jim Bob Cooter in Detroit by Matt Patricia. It’s the role he’s held ever since. This year, he took over as interim coach for the Lions and led the team to a 1-4 record down the stretch.
Obviously, it will be interesting to see what Bevell does in Jacksonville with Urban Meyer. The likelihood is he will have Trevor Lawrence to coach starting this spring.