In an interview on the Split Division Podcast earlier this week, former NFL scout Daniel Kelly spoke a lot of praise for the Detroit Lions and head coach Matt Patricia.
Kelly began his NFL career as an intern with the Minnesota Vikings and eventually worked his way up to being a scout for the New York Jets in the late nineties, in a front office that included both Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick.
Kelly had much to say on Patricia, who coached under Belichick in New England. One thing he pointed out is that Patricia has, in fact, brought a lot of Belichick’s tendencies to Detroit. While that may not show up yet on gamedays, Kelly seems to think that the Lions are heading in the right direction.
“I love what Matt Patrica is doing there.” says Kelly. “I love the toughness, I love the discipline.”
He later followed up with more of the same optimism.
“I just think that there’s a lot of good things they’re doing in Detroit.”
When asked about a certain position or specific traits the Lions are in need of, Kelly immediately responded with “a big-time running back.”
The Lions are heading into the season with oft-injured Kerryon Johnson and rookie second-round pick D’Andre Swift. If Johnson can stay healthy, he and Swift could prove to be the playmaking duo that Detroit desperately needs in the backfield.
Kelly’s shared his thoughts about the offensive line. He said plain and simple that the Lions’ offensive line was “average” in 2019, and that the team could use an upgrade on the right side of the line.
The Lions have parted ways with Graham Glasgow and Rick Wagner this past offseason, and brought in Halapoulivaati Vaitai to replace Wagner at right tackle. At guard, there is an open competition between a slew of players including rookies Jonah Jackson and Logan Stenberg, as well as former starters such as Kenny Wiggins, Oday Aboushi, Joshua Garnett, Russell Bodine and Caleb Benenoch.
When discussing the defense, Kelly did make some harsh remarks on one player in particular.
“Will Harris. I think that he was a big, big problem back there for them. I thought he was a problem. I didn’t like him at all.”
He explained that Harris, a third-round pick in 2019, was a below-average player when lined up at free safety.
Detroit did have to shuffle the safety position around quite a bit due to the trading of Quandre Diggs, as well as multiple injuries in the position group. Regardless, Harris did struggle quite a bit, giving up three touchdowns and an average passer rating of 125.7 on 668 defensive snaps. The rookie also missed six tackles.
Overall, Kelly stated that he was very excited about the direction that the team is heading in, and even made a bold prediction.
“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised, if Stafford can stay healthy, to see the Lions make some real noise in that division as a dark-horse team.”
Listen to the entirety of the interview on the Split Division Podcast.