Detroit Lions announce several coaching changes for 2024 season

The Detroit Lions announced three new hirings, and it appears six coaches will not return in 2024.

On Wednesday, the Detroit Lions announced several coaching changes via an announcement and changes to their official website.

They confirmed previously reported hires of Deshea Townsend, who will be the Lions’ DBs coach and pass game coordinator (not CBs coach, as previously reported). They also confirmed the hiring of Terrell Williams as the next run game coordinator/defensive line coach.

Beyond that, they also announced the hiring of Jim O’Neil as a defensive assistant. O’Neil’s coaching days reach all the way back to 2001, when he was an assistant offensive line coach/tight ends coach for Albany. He would spend the next eight years working various coaching jobs in the college ranks before being hired as a defensive quality control coach for the New York Jets.

He eventually worked his way up to be defensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns (2014-15) and San Francisco 49ers (2016), before spending a few years with the Raiders as a defensive assistant and defensive backs coach. His most recent job was defensive coordinator for Northwestern, but he was fired from that position back in November of 2022.

Beyond those moves, there are several coaches who are no longer listed on the team’s website, mostly on the defensive side of the ball:

• Senior offensive assistant Jim Hostler
• Defensive quality control coach Wayne Blair
• DL coach John Scott Jr.
• CB coach Dre Bly
• DBs coach Brian Duker (hired by Dolphins)
• Senior defensive assistant John Fox

That leaves the Lions with a few vacancies still left on their coaching staff, including an offensive assistant role and a cornerbacks coach.