Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell knew he wanted to gain some experience with his coaching staff, and on Saturday he did so by hiring former Los Angeles Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn as the team’s offensive coordinator, sources told Dan. Graziano from ESPN.
52-year-old Lynn was with the Chargers from 2017 to ’20 with a record of 33-31. Before that, he was the Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator for a season in 2016.
He and Campbell are also familiar with each other. Lynn was the running backs coach in Dallas in 2005 when Campbell put an end to the team.
“What’s more important to me than anything, as an offensive coordinator, is someone who I think has the vision of the crime the way I do,” Campbell said Thursday. Just as to, ‘Listen, I’m not going to stick to what you want to call the terminology. I’m not going to depend on the style of the system you want to implement. ‘
“I’m more into, ‘Man, show me what nuts and bolts you believe in.’ ”
One thing Campbell emphasized in his introductory press conference is ensuring that his coordinators – the team officially announced Aaron Glenn as their defensive coordinator on Saturday – can identify and exploit matchup mismatches.
At Buffalo in 2016, Lynn had the best offense in the NFL, averaging 164.4 yards per game and 5.35 yards per carry with LeSean McCoy as his main back. Lynn has also shown that he wants to throw. His Chargers team was sixth in the league last season in passing yards per game (270.6) with a rookie quarterback, Justin Herbert, behind center for most of the season and had the No. 6 passing foul in 2019 (276.6 yards per game).
Lynn will also likely be working with a new quarterback in 2021, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Matthew Stafford has filed for a trade from Detroit – the only place he’s played in his career after being called up as No. 1 in 2009.