Lions are under the impression they can steal Kevin Colbert from the Steelers
By Josh Hill
It appears the Detroit Lions are starting off their search for a new general manager by taking some gigantic swings.
When you’re a franchise that has made the playoffs exactly three times in the last two decade, drastic measures need to be taken.
That’s what the Detroit Lions appear to be doing as they once again attempt to fill the top front office job with the right executive. The Lions have tried and failed for the better part of their entire existence to be a winning franchise but have flounder every opportunity and can’t seem to get out of their own way.
According to Jason La Canfora from CBS Sports, the Lions have their sights set on hiring Kevin Colbert away from the Steelers this offseason to potential correct almost a century of wrongs.
Should Colbert leave Pittsburgh for Detroit, he’d have an opportunity to hand-pick a head coach and have complete control over all aspect of the front office. This could create a dream scenario for Lions fans where they go from Matt Patricia to an era led by Colbert and someone like Robert Saleh.
NFL Rumors: Will Kevin Colbert leave Steelers for Lions GM job?
While it’s a nice idea if you’re in Detroit, the liklihood of such a thing actually happens seems very low.
“A large and vocal contingent of the Lions alumni are proponents of Colbert’s and believe he is uniquely positioned to get the long-suffering franchise back on track,” La Canfora reports. “But that effort will be in vain.”
You don’t say. It doesn’t take a genius to draw the conclusion that someone with as decorated a career as Colbert has could be the guy who finally fixes the Lions.
Then again, the Lions are more closely associated with wasting the prime of generational talent than they are doing anything else, so fixing the franchise is a steep hill to climb.
Detroit seemingly knows this, as in addition to Colbert the Lions are taking a big swing at trying to land Seattle’s John Schneider.
The big swings are transparently a reaction to what appears to be a final straw stretch the franchise just endured. The Lions won just 14 games after firing Jim Caldwell in 2017 and replacing him with Matt Patricia. Bare in mind that Caldwell won almost as games in his first season as Patricia did his entire tenure, and posted just one losing season during his four years with the Lions. You’d have to go back almost 50 years to find a Lions coach with a higher winning percentage than Caldwell had, so to say it’s been a downward spiral is put it lightly.
So while it seems ambitious and lofty for the Lions to try and jump to the front of the rebuild line by hiring away a premiere executive to run its franchise, it’s not hard to understand the desperation.