While the big part of the NFL coaching search is done, teams are still out there making coaching hires. The one thing I've noticed is that the league may be taking up a strategy the Detroit Lions have employed for a few years now. That's hiring former players to be coaches. On top of that, it's hiring former players that essentially just got done playing.
The Chargers just hired Nick Hardwick who played last in 2014, The Commanders hired Sharrif Floyd who played last in 2017 and the Patriots just hired Dont'a Foreman who last played in 2021.
This got me thinking about who on this Lions roster could be the next guy to be on a coaching staff and who could do it relatively soon. I have my answer and it's quarterback David Blough.
Blough has been in the league since 2019. He's played for four different teams, but he keeps getting brought back to the Lions. When you see a guy that barely plays keep getting brought back to a team, you start to think there's a reason for that. That reason is usually that they're smart and they're a good guy to have around.
There are some players out there that can see the game and understand it in ways that others can't. Guys that just process what's happening on the field in a different way. Sometimes those guys just aren't able execute it. A lot of times those are the type of people who wind up being coaches. Think Sean Payton or Kellen Moore for example. Two career backup quarterbacks that turned into really good coaches because of the way they see and understand the game.
Blough is that guy for Detroit and he's already sort of flexing that coaching muscle. Lions rookie Hendon Hooker referred to him as a player coach in December. He said that because of the way that Blough sees and processes the game.
This is also something that Blough has talked about wanting to do before. In 2018 he was college quarterback at Perdue and was helping out with running passing drills at the Manning Passing Academy when he caught the eye of coaching legend Mike Shanahan and had a conversation with him.
"We sat down for a few minutes and what I remember most about the conversation is saying to him, 'I hope I get an opportunity to pursue this (coaching) and get anywhere close to where you've been in your career and in this game,'" Blough said to Shanahan. The response David got back from the multiple time Super Bowl winning head coach was "Oh you will be, based on how I've been watching you with your team of young players here, you have the skills to do this if you want to."
Who knows when Blough will consider making that move. He's still just 28-years-old and as far as being a player, the Lions did not sign him to a futures deal. He is currently a free agent. Something tells me that we haven't seen the last of him though. When he wants to, he should make for a pretty good coach.
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