Discussion: Which of the new Detroit Lions coaches excites you the most?

There are plenty of new up-and-coming players to be excited about because the Detroit Lions have lost a lot of their coaches.

This offseason, the Detroit Lions lost their defensive and offensive coordinators to head coaching positions, but that was only the beginning. The Lions are letting go of a significant number of their employees because those coaches brought along a number of assistants from their respective staffs for promotions.

But new faces bring with them new possibilities. There are many reasons to be excited about this new staff, but the Lions will undoubtedly miss their coordinators—they were hired away for a reason.

Question of the Day: What excites you the most about the new Detroit Lions coach?

I can think of a few that immediately spring to mind.John Morton, the new offensive coordinator, has big shoes to fill, but I’m excited about his ability to develop Bo Nix into an NFL-caliber quarterback in the first season. Former Stanford head coach David Shaw, who worked with Morton as a senior personnel executive in Denver last season and will now be the Lions’ passing game coordinator, followed Morton to Detroit. Shaw contributes a wealth of expertise and accomplishments. After observing what Kelvin Sheppard has done with the linebackers unit, it’s difficult not to get excited about the new defensive coordinator.

My response is that while I’m excited about those hires, Bruce Gradkowski is the one that truly catches my attention. The hire didn’t draw much attention because he doesn’t have a fancy title like Morton or Shaw (yet). Gradkowski, on the other hand, was the offensive coordinator for the St. Louis Battlehawks, who over the previous two spring league football seasons had one of the top offenses.

Gradkowski has been a full-time coach for just four years, the first two of which were in high school. Since then, he has advanced swiftly through the college and professional ranks, and he is currently working as an assistant in a good company in Detroit.

It should not be surprising that he had such a successful coaching debut. Gradkowski played backup for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals for the latter part of his career. If you’re not a smart player, you don’t stay as long as he did as a backup, especially in a city like Pittsburgh. Guys like that (think Kellen Moore) typically make excellent coaches.

We might not immediately observe quantifiable improvements. Just as we’ll never know how much of Ben Johnson’s success came from a guy like Tanner Engstrand, it’s always difficult to gauge how much of a team’s success comes from its coordinators as opposed to their assistants. Gradkowski, though, is unquestionably headed toward becoming an offensive coordinator in the NFL. Gradkowski might end up being the next Ben Johnson if things don’t work out with Morton, but ideally we won’t have to find out that way.

All of the Lions’ coaching changes and rumors can be followed here.Which new employee excites you the most? Tell us in the comments section.