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Mar. 5—Since hiring Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell as the team’s new general manager and head coach, respectively, the Detroit Lions have overhauled the coaching staff.
But the holdover front office personnel had largely remained unchanged ahead of free-agency and the draft, save for senior personnel executive Jimmy Raye’s exit at the end of January.
That changed at the end of this week when the franchise and Kyle O’Brien, vice president of player personnel, parted ways.
Brought in from Jacksonville in 2016, O’Brien served as the No. 2 in command behind former general manager Bob Quinn, overseeing both the college and pro scouting departments.
In Jacksonville, O’Brien worked as the team’s college scouting director. He also previously had stops as a scout in Kansas City (2012) and New England (2002-11). O’Brien was one of three internal candidates for Detroit’s GM vacancy following Quinn’s dismissal.
The departure wasn’t unexpected given Holmes hired Rams pro personnel director Ray Agnew to serve as his assistant GM, which is essentially the same job held by O’Brien, just with a different title.
“He’s just been an amazing, valuable asset,” Holmes said about Agnew earlier this week. “He’s been able to — probably to sum it up — he’s been able to make it an even (more) accelerated process in terms of laying out what our vision is and what I’ve wanted to be the vision from a personnel standpoint. He’s been excellent in that regard and it’s been in line with what the culture is going to be in terms of what Dan and I vowed to fulfill with (owner) Sheila’s (Ford Hamp) vision for what the culture is. He’s been an excellent fit from a culture standpoint.
“Obviously, with entering free agency preparation and his experience on the pro personnel side of things, he’s been (a) tremendous value for someone as myself,” Homles said. “So, that’s been awesome.”
Additional changes to Detroit’s front office could be coming later in the offseason. The majority of contracts in that department, including the scouting staff, run through the draft.
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Twitter: @Justin_Rogers
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