Detroit Lions haven’t asked to interview Todd Bowles yet
Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Todd Bowles is one of the top coaching candidates on the open market, and he’s already received interest from a few teams. The Cleveland Browns, who fired Rob Chudzinski on Sunday, have already requested an interview with Bowles, and the Minnesota Vikings are rumored to be interested. Yesterday, the NFL Network’s Albert Breer reported that the Lions asked the Cardinals to interview Bowles, but that’s actually not the case.
Per a tweet from Breer, there was a “mix-up” and the Lions haven’t contacted the Cardinals about interviewing their defensive coordinator. However, it does seem like there’s plenty of smoke here, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to hear news that the Lions are interviewing Bowles for the head coaching vacancy.
The Lions wisely decided to fire Jim Schwartz, who led a disappointing end-of-season collapse that costed the team a playoff bid. Although they had more talent and less injuries than the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears, the Lions were still unable to get the job done, and Schwartz’s lack of discipline and inability to help the offense progress led to his firing. Martin Mayhew is staying, and that’s all for the better. But fans will be hoping that he can make the right hire here, and it will be interesting to see if going with another defensive-minded coach is the best idea. I think the Lions need to go for a coach who works well with QBs, but Bowles is likely just a “Rooney Rule” candidate anyway.
We’ll see if there is significant interest between both sides, and it will be interesting to see if Bowles is interested in any of these opportunities. While he doesn’t have head coaching experience, he is one of the better defensive coordinators in the league.