Sheldon White

Lions President Talks GM, Caldwell, Roles

November 20th, 2015 at 4:09pm CST by Luke Adams

New Lions president Rod Wood spoke to reporters at a press conference today, reiterating that he doesn’t have a football background and indicating at one point, “I would probably say that I’m not qualified to run any other NFL team, but I think I’m qualified to run this one,” according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press (Twitter link). The assertion, which sounds alarming on the surface, makes some sense when taking into account Wood’s connection to the Ford family, and his understanding of ownership’s wishes and goals, tweets Birkett.

Still, for an executive whose hiring has been scrutinized and questioned based on his lack of football experience, Wood perhaps should have chosen his words a little more carefully. While that quote may get most of the attention, the new team president had plenty more to say, so let’s round up some highlights….

According to Wood, the new general manager will be in charge of the Lions’ salary cap, and there will be a clear line of demarcation in responsibilities in the front office (Twitter links via Birkett). It will be “incredibly rare” for Wood to have input on any football personnel decisions — it will likely only happen if a signing or acquisition requires a significant financial investment.
The Lions’ advisory board, which consists of Wood and various members of the Ford family, doesn’t have a ton of football experience, as the new president acknowledged today. Wood suggested the Lions will employ an advisor for their GM search to help identify the right candidate (Twitter link via Birkett).
According to Wood, the team will use “every resource available to us” in its search for a general manager, and interim GM Sheldon White will be a candidate (Twitter link via Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com). Identifying a candidate with “a history of successful roster building” will be a priority, tweets Birkett.
The new general manager will be the one to make the call on Jim Caldwell‘s future with the club, per Birkett (Twitter link). That doesn’t bode particularly well for Caldwell, since new GMs often prefer to bring in their own head coaches.
Wood admitted that he was involved in discussions on whether or not to fire former GM Martin Mayhew and president Tom Lewand (Twitter link via Birkett). While it would be unfair to accuse Wood of any ulterior motives, it seems to me like a conflict of interest for the team to solicit his opinion on whether to fire someone he ultimately replaced.
Selling the team isn’t an option for the Fords in the near future, according to Wood, who declined to comment on a succession plan for ownership (Twitter link via Birkett).

Lions Interim GM On Outlook, Stafford, Johnson

November 14th, 2015 at 9:04am CST by Ben Levine

Lions interim general manager Sheldon White made his first public comments yesterday since the team let go of former GM Martin Mayhew and president Tom Lewand. The executive was at the podium to discuss the team’s acquisition of defensive lineman C.J. Wilson, but he predictably ended up answering questions regarding his job and the organization.

We’ve compiled some of the notable quotes below, all via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press and Chris Wesseling of NFL.com…

On his main priority as general manager:

“We have to win. Will I be a candidate (for the GM job full-time)? I can give you the best way to be a candidate is to win games. Obviously, if we don’t, then I won’t be a candidate. But if we win these games and we find ways to get better and improve our roster, maybe I will be.”

On his “interim tag,” and how he’s envisioning the future:

“I love the clarity that Mrs. Ford told me. She told me she’s hiring me as the interim general manager, but the reality of it is, this isn’t a Supreme Court justice appointment. The only person with a lifetime appointment in this building is our owner, and so the way I look at everybody, we’re all interim general managers, we’re interim coaches, we’re interim players. Eventually, it’ll be over, and we’ll be telling stories.”

On acquiring players for the rest of the season:

“There’s somebody out there, and we’ll see them. And it may be our team or some other team, but there’s some player out there that can help us win, help a team win, and they’re going to before the end of the year. It’s our job to grind it and find those guys. Are they on the street? Are they on practice squads? Are they in our building already and we just need to give them an opportunity to play?”

On the future of two of his team’s biggest stars: Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford:

“Those guys are awesome. They’re awesome. The things that I have to do on my end, in my opinion those guys are ultra-talented. I have to continue to surround them and continue to build our roster and you’ll see all the talents that those guys have. And they are unbelievable.”

NFC North Notes: Wallace, Lions, Megatron

November 13th, 2015 at 6:44pm CST by Zachary Links

Mike Wallace knows that his hefty contract could make this a one-and-done season with the Vikings, as Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press writes. Wallace is making $9.9MM this year and due to earn $11.5MM in 2016, but next year’s salary is not guaranteed. Meanwhile, Minnesota is pretty stacked at wide receiver, a stable that includes rookie Stefon Diggs.

“I’m not stupid. I’m a pretty smart guy. I understand everything,” Wallace said. “When you go to look at that, that’s a lot of money to leave out there that you want to get, but you have to make plays to get those numbers up. We’ll see.”

So far, Wallace has just 27 receptions for 296 yards. At that pace, his 54 catches would be fewest since his rookie year, and 592 yards would be a career-low. Diggs, meanwhile, has 28 catches for 461 yards despite being inactive for the first three of Minnesota’s eight games.

Here’s more from the NFC North:

Lions interim GM Sheldon White was non-committal when asked about the futures of Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford, as Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press writes. Stafford, 27, has struggled for most of the season and the Lions can get out from his deal this offseason with just an $11MM cap hit. Johnson, 30, is one of the most talented receivers in the game, but at his age he’s likely not worth the ~$16MM salary he’s due to make next year, a rate that comes with a whopping $24MM cap hit.
Contrary to published reports, two people familiar with the situation told Larry Lage of The Associated Press that the Lions have not hired a firm to assist them with their search for new executives.
In a separate piece, Birkett wonders if ex-Lions GM Martin Mayhew could get another chance to be a GM elsewhere. For what it’s worth, former Lions senior personnel executive Shack Harris feels that Mayhew should get another shot.
Per Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com (via Twitter), the Packers tried out several defensive players today, including cornerbacks Donald Celiscar and Joel Ross, linebacker Derrick Mathews, and defensive end B.J. McBryde.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Lions Fire Martin Mayhew, Tom Lewand

November 5th, 2015 at 1:11pm CST by Luke Adams

1:11pm: Speaking to the media this afternoon, Martha Ford announced that Sheldon White, the Lions’ director of pro personnel, will act as interim general manager. Allison Maki will be the acting COO, and there will be no changes to the coaching staff at this time, per Ford (link via Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com). The team will soon begin a search for candidates to fill the positions permanently.

11:16am: The Lions’ front office received a major shake-up today, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, who reports (via Twitter) that the organization has parted ways with general manager Martin Mayhew and president Tom Lewand.

Just 10 days ago, the Lions made significant changes to their coaching staff, firing offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and a pair of offensive line coaches. Detroit had hoped the changes to the offensive coaching staff would jump-start the team, but reports in the wake of those moves suggested it was possible those wouldn’t be the last ones made by the team this season.

Albert Breer of the NFL Network noted at the time (via Twitter) that there had been “rumblings around the league about larger-scale changes in Detroit,” since Martha Ford is now in charge of the ownership group, and observers weren’t sure what to expect from her. It now appears those rumblings were well-founded, as ownership is making large-scale changes to the organizational structure.

While teams typically wait until the offseason to replace general managers and other decision-makers in the front office, the Lions had been one of the most underachieving teams in the NFL this season, and it appeared to be just a matter of time before the other shoe dropped. Coming off an 11-5 campaign that earned them a playoff berth in 2014, the Lions are off to a league-worst 1-7 start this year, and have been outscored by 96 points in just eight games.

According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter), there’s a “total wipeout” happening in Detroit today, with bosses “going through the building deciding who stays and goes.” So it appears Mayhew and Lewand won’t be the only casualties.

For now, head coach Jim Caldwell still has his job, though he’s hardly a lock to keep it. The Lions may want to identify a new general manager before replacing Caldwell, to give that new GM an opportunity to make the decision on Caldwell’s future, and potentially to hire his own man for the job.

Matt Miller of Bleacher Report tweets that one “hot” name for the Lions’ GM vacancy – at least on an interim basis – is Brian Xanders, who is currently a senior personnel executive for the club. Whoever takes over that role will have several key decisions to make in the coming months, including deciding whether to extend Haloti Ngata, and possibly addressing Matthew Stafford‘s and Calvin Johnson‘s contracts. Stafford has been extremely inconsistent this season and is owed a non-guaranteed $17MM base salary in 2016, while Megatron’s cap number is set to leap to $24MM+.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NFC East Notes: Giants, Phillips, Eagles

January 5th, 2015 at 2:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Giants head coach Tom Coughlin is still evaluating his coaching staff, and has yet to make any formal announcements, but a source tells Newsday’s Tom Rock that it appears defensive coordinator Perry Fewell and special teams coordinator Tom Quinn will return to New York for the 2015 season. Fewell, in particular, was considered a candidate to be fired, though Coughlin strongly defended the DC at his end-of-season press conference, suggesting that he felt players responded to Fewell.

According to Rock, there may still be minor changes coming to the rest of the coaching staff, but it seems Fewell and Quinn are safe. Here’s more from around the NFC East:

There’s a “strong sense” in Washington that Wade Phillips is positioned to become the team’s next defensive coordinator, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com, who tweets that the former Cowboys head coach has “ample support.”
As Chip Kelly looks to hire a new general manager in Philadelphia, one executive who figures to draw interest is Lions vice president of pro personnel Sheldon White, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter). Rapoport indicates that White is expected to interview for the Eagles‘ job.
Andrew Kulp of CSNPhilly.com makes a case for why the Eagles ought to strongly consider extending quarterback Nick Foles this offseason. Foles’ rookie contract is set to expire after the 2015 campaign.