One of the first moves Sheila Ford Hamp made when taking over as the primary owner of the Detroit Lions was this hiring of Lions great Chris Spielman as a special assistant to the president/CEO and chairperson. Spielman immediately became a trusted brain in the general manager and head coaching searches that led to the hire of Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell and was also on the frontline in the draft process.
Even though he sits near the top of the team hierarchy, he continues to be an ambassador for the organization he sweated and bled for eight seasons. During training camp, you often see him working hand and hand with the players and coaches. Still, he always had a soft spot for his former position as he typically gravitated towards the linebackers.
It is not every day you see someone who is this high on the totem pole out on the field running drills, but Spielman is not your everyday guy as he knows the grind when it comes to playing this game. He is the type of person who starts talking; you better listen to what he has to say. He has proven to be a great resource to the players and inside linebackers coach Mark DeLeone, who has built a strong relationship with the former Lion.
“Who could not have a great relationship with Chris Spielman? He’s the best,” DeLeone said via Dave Birkett of the Free Press. “No, I mean, I love him. I think for me, he’s a lot of things. He’s a friend, he’s a resource. He’s somebody who I count on day in and day out as somebody I can talk to, cause there are certain players who, no matter what era they played in, could play. Like, Chris is one of those guys, man. He understands the linebacker position.”
Unlike past years, there seems to be strong communication from top to bottom, making sure everyone is on the same page about what they are trying to accomplish. That is no different from the communication between DeLeone and Spielman, as they are in sync with one another.
“He’s an unbelievable person, and I think what Chris has done a great job of is listening to me coach, and if he does make a coaching point to a player, he knows it’s the same thing I’ve already said. I think we’re very aligned and very on the same page in that regard.”
The Lions linebacking corps has recently undergone significant changes, with the release of veteran Jamie Collins thrusting rookie Derrick Barnes into the starting lineup. With the injection of youth into the position group, coaching and player development are key to the organization’s future outlook. DeLeone and Spielman are right on the front line, hand-in-hand, and you better believe with these, anything is possible in the turnaround of this franchise.
“I feel like we do a lot of things together. We talk a lot about it together. I think from an on-the-field standpoint, he’s there as a sounding board as somebody who always for me like, I can’t see everything but he helps me cover the whole field.”