After spending over a decade as head coach at his alma mater, Stanford, David Shaw made his way back to the pros as a senior personnel advisor for the Broncos last year.
But Shaw has put his coaching hat back on for 2025, as he’ll serve as Detroit’s passing game coordinator.
It’s been two decades since Shaw was last an NFL coach, though he’s apparently had several opportunities to return to the league. Shaw told reporters on Tuesday that on average, he “probably turned down three” NFL interviews a year during his first decade as Stanford’s head coach.
“I had a great job and I wanted to get the most out of it,” Shaw said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “So that was the thing for me was I always wanted to go back to the NFL, but so much of is about timing and I loved what I was doing. I loved where I was doing it and I loved who I was doing it with.
“And for a decade, we were a top-10 winning team, which not only Stanford but no academically high-ranking team has ever had a run like that. And I wanted to finish that run, knowing that whatever was next was going to be next.”
Now Shaw is with Detroit, coaching alongside offensive coordinator John Morton — who called Shaw his best friend. The two first worked together with the Raiders back in 1998, and Morton said landing Shaw is “a big deal for me because he’s my soundboard.”
With the Lions, Shaw says he doesn’t want to “disturb any of the positives” from the last few years when the offense was led by now-Bears head coach Ben Johnson.
“We’re not saying we’re going to come back and do a carbon copy of last year,” Shaw said. “Last year’s dead. It’s gone. It’s in the history books. We got a chance to write another chapter, so we’re not going to be ogling at what happened last year.
“We’re also not going to be held to it, either. Brand new year, different players, different coaches, different opponents. So it’s really taking stock in who we have and what we have and make sure that we get the most out of everybody in the building. Coaches, players, everybody.”
The Lions brought John Morton back to the franchise to replace the departed Ben Johnson as offensive coordinator for 2025.
Morton had spent a year with Detroit under head coach Dan Campbell as the club’s senior offensive assistant in 2022, so he’s familiar with the scheme and personnel.
Having ranked in the top five in points and yards in each of the last three seasons, Morton isn’t trying to disturb the groove in his first season as OC.
“I mean, I’m not changing much,” Morton said in a Tuesday press conference, via Shawn Windsor of the Detroit Free Press. “Why? It’s working, right? So that would be the smartest thing to do.”
Detroit finished No. 1 in scoring for only the second time in franchise history and the first time since 1954 last year. So, it makes sense that Morton isn’t trying to change the general scheme.
But because he’s not Johnson, there are things he’ll inherently do differently.
“It’s just about techniques and certain things, [like] how I talk, how I see it, how I’m teaching them the concepts. Why we’re calling [a certain play],” Morton said. “That might be something they’ve never heard before because I’m teaching everybody [the same way] you teach the quarterback. I think that’s important. Like, why are we running this play? They should know.”
But other than that, Morton wants to fit in with what has already been established.
“It’s just me learning, that’s the biggest thing,” Morton said. “I mean, as a staff, as an offensive staff, we’re doing this together. The only way to win a Super Bowl is if everybody’s on the same page.”
The Lions signed undrafted free agent Keith Cooper on Tuesday, the team announced.
The University of Houston edge rusher participated in the Lions’ rookie minicamp as a tryout player.
Cooper spent three seasons at Tulane before transferring to UH, where he had 46 tackles, nine tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks last season.
In his 51-game collegiate career, Cooper totaled 119 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, 14 sacks, eight passes defensed, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
The Lions waived offensive lineman Leif Fautanu in a corresponding move. The Arizona State center, who played 54 college games, signed with the team after going undrafted.
Wide receiver Jameson Williams will have a new number for the 2025 season and one of his coaches is predicting new heights for him on the field as well.
Offensive coordinator John Morton spoke to reporters on Tuesday and said that the 2022 first-round pick has had an “unbelievable” offseason. That effort has Morton predicting even bigger things from a player who had 58 catches for 1,001 yards and seven touchdowns last season.
“I’m so excited to see him this year because it’s gonna be a breakout year,” Morton said, via Colton Pouncy of TheAthletic.com.
The Lions exercised their option on Williams’s contract for the 2026 season, so he’s guaranteed $15.493 million for his fifth NFL season. If he breaks out in the manner that Morton suggests, he’ll be in line for a lot more than that in a long-term extension.
The Vikings’ short-straw road trip to Europe for back-to-back games against the Steelers in Ireland and the Browns in London comes with a competitive advantage. Minnesota will have two fewer traditional road games than they would have had in 2025.
Like all NFC teams in the odd-numbered years, the Vikings have eight home games and nine road games. By playing two of those games on a neutral site, the Vikings will have only seven true road games.
With none of the other NFC North teams selected for international road games in 2025, the Lions, Bears, and Packers will each have nine usual road games.
The Rams, Commanders, and Falcons are the only other NFC teams that will have a neutral-site road game.
So, yes, although the Vikings’ schedule will be disrupted by playing two games on consecutive Sundays on foreign soil, they will entire truly hostile territory two fewer times than the rest of the division, and most of the conference. And while it won’t matter if the Vikings lose both games, they’re getting an enhanced opportunity to win by not having the play in Pittsburgh or Cleveland. Especially if either or both of those games otherwise would have been scheduled for later in the season, when weather could be a factor.
The dome-team Lions, in contrast, will play their two AFC North road games at Baltimore and Cincinnati. If either or both happen after Halloween, the elements could add to the overall difficulty — along with the fact that they’ll be facing the Ravens and Bengals in their normal home environments.
When it’s time to convert the final standings into a seven-team playoff tree, the Vikings could have an edge. It won’t matter if they aren’t generally “good” in 2025. If they’re good enough to compete for a postseason berth, the two games on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean could be the difference between winning the division or finishing second — or between making the playoffs or missing out.
The Saints are signing free agent wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones, Nick Underhill of neworleans.football reports.
Peoples-Jones had a tryout at the team’s rookie minicamp over the weekend.
He joins a wide receivers room that includes Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Brandin Cooks, Bub Means, Dante Pettis and Cedrick Wilson.
Peoples-Jones, 26, spent last season on the Lions’ practice squad but did not appear in a game.
The Browns made him a sixth-round pick in 2020 before trading him to Detroit at the trade deadline in 2023. In 58 career games — 31 of them starts — Peoples-Jones has 122 receptions for 1,895 yards and eight touchdowns. He also has three special teams tackles and a 7.9-yard average and a touchdown on 61 punt returns and a 21.1-yard average on 18 kickoff returns.
Add the Lions to the list of teams that have started signing their draft picks.
Four of the team’s seven selections are now under contract. They are fifth-round guard Miles Frazier, sixth-round defensive lineman Ahmed Hassanein, seventh-round safety Dan Jackson, and seventh-round wide receiver Dominic Lovett.
Jackson and Lovett were also teammates at Georgia while Frazier will be seeing time at center in addition to guard this offseason.
The Lions also announced that they have signed 10 undrafted rookie free agents. They are Arizona State center Leif Fautanu, Texas cornerback Gavin Holmes, Indiana tight end Zach Horton, UMass wide receiver Jakobie Keeney-James, Grand Valley State safety Ian Kennelly, Syracuse wide receiver Jackson Meeks, North Dakota State guard Mason Miller, Ole Miss tight end Caden Prieskorn, Boston College running back Kye Robichaux, and Ohio running back Anthony Tyus III.
The Lions used two of their seven draft picks on guards, taking Tate Ratledge in the second round and Miles Frazier in the fifth. Neither has ever played center. In Detroit, one or both of them might.
Lions GM Brad Holmes said offensive line coach Hank Fraley will try both rookie guards out at center and see if they have potential there.
“Hank, he’ll cross-train all those guys,” Holmes said, via DetroitLions.com. “So, if they’ve only been at guard, he’s going to put a ball between their legs and see if they can snap. But again, Hank’s not going to put somebody in a tough position either, so he’s going to be able to assess if they have the right makeup and mentality and communicative skills. That’s a big part of just — it’s not about just being able to snap, I mean, you have to have elite communication skills, not just as a starter, but even as a backup.”
The Lions aren’t looking to replace the center they have in Frank Ragnow, but it never hurts to develop depth at any position. And both Ratledge and Frazier said they’re open to playing center or tackle instead of guard if that’s what the team needs them to do. Ratledge and Frazier will most likely be competing with each other for the starting job at right guard, but it’s possible that both rookies could be on the field together if the Lions’ line proves to have other needs.
Saquon Barkley’s big season with the Eagles has led to renewed talk that NFL teams can ride a running back to the Super Bowl. Or in the case of the Lions, perhaps ride two running backs to the Super Bowl.
Barry Sanders, who won only one playoff game during his Hall of Fame career with the Lions, told USA Today that he thinks the combination of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery can give the Lions a championship offense, revolving around its running game.
“They’re the best duo in the NFL and there’s no reason that’s going to change any time soon,” Sanders said. “If a Super Bowl is in our future, in our near future, you would think those two guys would be a big part of it.”
Sanders said he’s been a fan of Montgomery’s since before the Lions signed him, and that Gibbs showed when Montgomery missed time with a knee injury last season that he’s also more than capable of being a No. 1 running back.
“David Montgomery, he’s been a great running back in the NFL for many years, and he just added to that coming over from the Bears and putting him with this Lions offensive line,” Sanders said. “And then, you see what Jahmyr Gibbs was able to do last season, really from the time, the last two years that he’s been here, but I felt like last year was more of a breakout season for him.”
It was the Lions’ best regular season in almost 70 years, but it fizzled in the playoffs. If the Lions are ever going to get over the hump in the postseason, Sanders thinks it will be on the back of their running game.
The Lions will be getting an early start to training camp because they are playing in the Hall of Fame Game against the Chargers this summer and it appears that has led to a change in plans for their offseason program.
When the NFL initially announced key offseason dates for all 32 teams earlier this year, they said the Lions would host their mandatory minicamp from June 10-12. The Lions released an updated schedule while announcing their rookie minicamp dates on Wednesday and it no longer shows a mandatory minicamp on the schedule.
The minicamp was the final activity on the Lions’ schedule, so the move will give the team’s players more time to rest before reporting to camp ahead of the Hall of Fame Game. The reporting date is not known yet, but the game will be played on July 31.
That minicamp was the only mandatory work of the offseason for the Lions. Their rookie minicamp will be held from May 9-11 and they will have their organized team activities later in the month and in early June.
