Sean Payton’s influence an undercurrent in Dan Campbell’s first Lions presser

It didn’t take Dan Campbell long to step out of Sean Payton’s shadow. The former New Orleans Saints tight ends coach reveled in his first press conference as head coach of the Detroit Lions, sending shockwaves throughout social media for his enthusiastic tough-guy act. But too many observers hooked onto the wrong cues, like his spiel on biting opponents’ knee caps and punching them in the face.

That was all for show; Campbell admitted as much, noting that the reporters covering the team have heard it all before and that it’s really more to help him connect with his players and set the tone with potential free agents, few of whom have even met him before. The really interesting information popped up whenever Campbell took a second to breathe and discuss the X’s and O’s of football.

And that’s where we saw what he’s learned from Payton the last few years. Campbell stressed a need to put his best players in positions to use their best skills. One of the first names he discussed was D’Andre Swift, Detroit’s 35th overall draft pick in 2020 who the last Lions staff played behind a declining Adrian Peterson.

Campbell likened Swift to Alvin Kamara, saying of his vision for a play-caller: “I want a coordinator who knows how to get Swift in space, use him in the slot,” getting his dynamic running back matched up with linebackers in coverage. Swift averaged 1.58 yards per routes run last year, good for fifth-best in the league among running backs with 50 or more targets (per Pro Football Focus), but he only lined up in the slot 11 times all season, and just once in the Lions’ final four games. Having seen the damage Kamara can do firsthand (a league-leading 2.19 yards per routes run in 2020), Campbell is smart to see an area the Lions can improve quickly.

And that isn’t something he came up with on the fly for his introduction to Lions faithful. That versatility is vital to creating mismatches against defenders, which is one of Payton’s core philosophies on offense. Campbell illustrated the idea to the Athletic’s Jeff Duncan: “We’re just trying to get Mike Thomas on your worst guy. We’re trying to get Alvin Kamara on one of your linebackers. We’re trying to get Jared Cook on your freakin’ donkey, and we’ll see if you can cover him. That’s what we do.”

The strategy has worked for decades in New Orleans, and now Campbell wants to import it to Detroit. The Lions have a great quarterback in Matthew Stafford, but his supporting cast is nothing to sleep on. Wide receiver Kenny Golladay had a down year because of injuries but still managed to average 16.9 yards per catch. Tight end T.J. Hockenson was voted into the Pro Bowl after catching 67 passes for 723 yards. There’s plenty of pass-catching talent for Campbell to work with, and he’s clearly eager to maximize it.

So don’t get distracted by the buzz words, coach-speak, and flashbacks to his Oklahoma drills as Miami Dolphins interim coach. There’s more at work here than you’ll see in a blurb on Twitter, and it shouldn’t shock anyone if Campbell ends up saying the dumb things while doing the smart things. Maybe he’ll become the first branch of Payton’s coaching tree to really come into bloom.

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