The Lions have a brand new power structure, having recently hired Brad Holmes as general manager and Dan Campbell as head coach. Now, Detroit is adding a more experienced voice to the mix, with Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reporting that the team is expected to hire John Dorsey as a senior personnel executive (Twitter link). Dorsey, 60, had been working as a consultant for the Eagles.
Dorsey, who drew interest from the Texans for their GM post before Houston elected to hire Nick Caserio, has served as general manager for both the Chiefs and Browns. Neither of those tenures ended on a particularly positive note, but that wasn’t due to Dorsey’s abilities as a talent evaluator. His reputation in that area is sterling, and he is largely responsible for the construction of the current iteration of the Browns — who nearly advanced to the AFC Championship Game this year — and for Kansas City’s starry corps of Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, and Travis Kelce.
In addition to his drafting of Mahomes and Cleveland QB Baker Mayfield while serving as a general manager, Dorsey was the Packers’ director of college scouting when Green Bay drafted Aaron Rodgers in 2005. And as a young scout in 1994, he recommended that the Packers sign Kurt Warner as a UDFA.
His eye for quarterback talent is especially important this year, as the Lions are preparing to trade Matthew Stafford and may well turn to the draft for his replacement. Plus, Dorsey’s experience should be an asset to Holmes, who is getting his first shot as a GM after working as the Rams’ director of college scouting for the past eight seasons.
Campbell will also have a major role in personnel decisions, as Justin Rogers of the Detroit News writes. Rather than a traditional HC-GM-owner structure, Holmes, Campbell, and vice president of football operations Mike Disner will report directly to president Rod Wood and owner Sheila Ford Hamp.
Glenn, Lynn, Dorsey, I have to say I’m loving it so far. If duce leaves philly as reported, hopefully he comes here as a back coach
This is huge
And the Eagles are still a disfunctional organization.They could have changed his job description so he would stay and be a voice of reason against Howie’s dumb a$$ moves.
dysfunctional but we still won a Super Bowl
Three years ago without a constant power struggle in your front office and a roster Roseman didn’t put together. Roseman sucks as a talent evaluator
As an eagles fan Im grateful, but watching them has been real hard lately.
I wonder how much fun Lane Johnson is having now.
This is a great move. Get to leverage his QB and draft knowledge without the communication/collaboration issues that got him fired in KC & CLE. Also shows Shelia Hemp is willing to spend for talent. Dorsey comes to the Lions as an advisor because he’s getting paid enough to not care about running the show. He’s certainly not going to give them a discount.
Dorsey and Colts GM Ballard are very close friends so the Stafford to Indy rumors can only heat up
And both are great at talent evaluation and are not afraid to explore free agency/trades for additions. It would be VEEEERY interesting to me to hear that conversation between those two regarding Stafford, whether a deal is feasible for Indy (I’m not sure that it is) or not.