Washington Commanders to hire Detroit Lions lead contract negotiator Brandon Sosna
The Detroit Lions have lost another key member of their front office.
The Washington Commanders named Lions senior director of football administration Brandon Sosna their new senior vice president of football operations, the team announced Monday.
Sosna had been the Lions’ lead contract negotiator for more than a year and earned praise from general manager Brad Holmes this spring for his work in free agency.
“It's been really cool to see his growth in this role,” Holmes said in March. “Last year was kind of his first free agency and I thought he did a phenomenal job, and this year he knocked it out of the park again. So just with all these deals, me and Dan (Campbell) can kind of just communicate with him just these guys that we're targeting, but Sosna’s getting those deals done, along with Mike Disner.”
Disner was promoted to chief operating officer in May of 2022, shortly after Sosna joined the team from USC.
Sosna oversaw the management of the Lions’ salary cap and helped negotiate long-term extensions for Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Penei Sewell this offseason.
Birkett: After a spring of big-money deals, who's next in line for new contract with Detroit Lions?
“Me and Sosna, we just work side-by-side, man,” Holmes said this spring, explaining the Lions’ front office structure. “Just with the communication, the players that we’re looking to acquire at all levels, starter-level, backup-level guys. Like we talked about there’s a Plan A, there’s a Plan B, a Plan C, and it’s just consistent communication.
“And that’s the great thing about Brandon is Brandon, man, he’s about as elite of a communicator as I’ve been around, and he’s a grinder. And he’s a grinder just like I am, just like a lot of guys in our building is, and so it’s just that communication, collaboration year-round where it’s to the point Brandon almost pretty much kind of has a very good feel of what we’re thinking already. So he’s very proactive in that sense, but that’s pretty much how it works and we just kind of constantly, me constantly communicate and then he just kind of closes the deals.”
The Commanders previously hired Lions senior director of player personnel Lance Newmark as assistant general manager this offseason and interviewed Lions coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn for their head coaching job.
Johnson eventually pulled out of the running for a job that went to former Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn.
The Lions have become a model franchise, improving from 3-13-1 to 12-5 in three seasons and other teams have tried to replicate their success this offseason. Along with the Commanders’ hires, the Tennessee Titans realigned their organizational structure to mirror the Lions’, and consulted with the organization during a head coaching search this offseason that ended with the hire of one-time Lions assistant Brian Callahan.
The Lions are expected to add former Las Vegas Raiders director of pro personnel Dwayne Joseph and ex-Titans scout Tom Roth to their scouting staff, according to InsideTheLeague.com.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Washington Commanders to hire Detroit Lions exec Brandon Sosna
