Steve Heiden had a parallel NFL career with Dan Campbell. Both were tight ends, each selected in the third round of the 1999 NFL draft. Heiden and Campbell were each listed at 6-foot-5, with Campbell five pounds heavier at a listed 270.
They were never teammates, but they definitely had respect for one another as contemporaries. That has carried over into the coaching careers of both men.
Earlier this offseason, Campbell hired Heiden to become the TE coach for the Lions. It was a chance Heiden was thrilled to get. The new assistant spoke to the media on Wednesday about how happy he was to serve under Campbell in Detroit.
“The opportunity for Dan (Campbell) to call me after the season, I jumped at the opportunity,” said Heiden. “I thought this place was a fit for me. To be honest, in my mind, a destination for me. I wanted to be here; this is a place I want to be. I felt like I knew what Dan was all about and that was really kind of the direction I wanted to go with my career. This is the place I wanted to be.”
As for Heiden’s coaching style with the tight ends? He sure sounds like Campbell,
“(playing TE) is still about physicality first, and you go into the game with that mindset. That’s the approach … I still think you can win a bunch of games in this league by being more physical than the opponent.”
The Lions currently have Brock Wright, James Mitchell and Shane Zylstra on the roster at tight end. Heiden is looking for each to keep contributing “in their own ways”, something he thought the group did well in 2022.
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