Detroit Lions' Deshea Townsend admired Aaron Glenn as a player, followed him to coach

INDIANAPOLIS — As an undersized cornerback, Deshea Townsend took a special interest in Aaron Glenn when he reached the NFL.

He studied tape of Glenn, another small-in-stature defensive back who played much bigger than his size, got to know him casually as a player and even marveled up close one time when Glenn returned two interceptions for touchdowns to lead the Houston Texans to a win over Townsend's Pittsburgh Steelers in a game in which the Steelers held the Texans to 47 net yards.

"It’s just those moments where you remember guys and stuff like that," Townsend said Wednesday at the NFL combine. "But yeah, (47) yards of offense and we lose is pretty, pretty good."

Twenty-six years after he broke into the NFL as a fourth-round pick out of Alabama, Townsend is following Glenn's footsteps in another way — and joining him on staff as the Detroit Lions' new secondary coach and defensive pass game coordinator.

Townsend said his relationship with Glenn, entering his fourth season as Lions defensive coordinator, was part of the draw of coming to Detroit, where he'll be the team's third defensive backs coach in as many seasons.

Aubrey Pleasant was fired midway through his second season with the Lions in 2022, and Brian Duker lasted one season in the role before he and cornerbacks coach Dre Bly were dismissed earlier this year. The Lions ranked 27th in pass defense last season at 247.4 yards per game allowed.

Townsend played 12 seasons with the Steelers and one more with the Indianapolis Colts, and has spent the past decade coaching for five different NFL teams and in college at Mississippi State. Last year, he served as pass game coordinator and cornerbacks coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars, who were 26th in passing yards allowed.

"There’s enough stress alone in covering a go ball," Townsend said. "I got some gray hair that I dyed, so I didn’t have that a couple years ago, but it’s enough stress alone in getting your guys to go play at a high level that you don’t want to go in a building and be around bad people. And that was the most important part for me is just the guys that have given me an opportunity to come on board with them are good people. They got the same vision and I can see us pulling the rope the same way."

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Hired Feb. 19, Townsend said he hasn't much time yet to study a Lions secondary that includes several familiar faces but is bracing for turnover this offseason.

The Lions return starters Brian Branch, Cam Sutton and Kerby Joseph in 2024, but need another starting cornerback and could lose C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Emmanuel Moseley to free agency. Townsend was secondary coach with the Chicago Bears in 2020 when the Bears drafted Kindle Vildor out of Georgia Southern, and he said he studied Branch and Joseph among others coming in the draft.

Vildor, who finished last season as the Lions' No. 2 cornerback, will be an unrestricted free agent in March but could return.

"I got here last Monday so you can imagine how much time I had (to get to know the group)," Townsend said. "They threw a bunch of players on me, they threw some free agents at me, so I just know them just by passing and just some of the guys. If they made it to the NFL, there’s a reason that they did. It’s my job to make sure I can try to (get the most out of them)."

Lions coach Dan Campbell said Tuesday that Townsend's experience and familiarity with Glenn will help him "be able to deliver exactly what A.G. wants in the back end," and it was clear listening to Townsend talk Wednesday that he and Glenn share a similar philosophy when it comes to defense.

Townsend said he wants physical cornerbacks who are wired the right way mentally.

"If you won’t tackle, you won’t play," he said.

He said his goal is to make every player "one play better," which will in turn help the defense. And he said he holds himself to the same high standards as a coach that enabled him to have a long playing career.

"When I get in the room, I tell the young guys it’s your job to take the starters’ job, and the starters, it’s your job to hold them off," Townsend said. "And that’s the same way in coaching. You got to make sure you’re doing your best at every opportunity, you have to prove yourself daily and I wouldn’t expect anything different from myself that I expect from them."

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions DBs coach Deshea Townsend: If you won't tackle, you won't play