Under defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard, the Detroit Lions are about to employ a new defensive identity as the former linebacker is determined to build a nasty, tenacious, and relentless unit.
On January 30, 2025, Kelvin Sheppard was promoted from linebackers coach to defensive coordinator after Aaron Glenn left to become the New York Jets’ head coach. Prior to this elevation, Sheppard was hired on February 3, 2021, as the team’s outside linebackers coach under head coach Dan Campbell.
However, in 2022, Sheppard went from coaching the outside linebackers to the entire linebackers unit, and ever since then, he has shown fiery leadership and passion for the game and his team.
Kelvin Sheppard: “I Want a ‘Nasty, Tenacious’ Defense for the Detroit Lions”
Talking to Dan Miller of FOX 2 Detroit, the defensive coordinator’s No. 1 philosophy on defense is that players play “together and for one another.”
“So that togetherness and so many things trickle from there. Relentless effort—non-negotiable,” Shepard said. “That’s things I say: the coaches aren’t coaching effort. You’ll stand out if you’re lax on this defense. And then just nasty, tenacious, finishing, scratching, clawing, fighting for every blade of grass that’s out there. And I think if we’re able to do those things, everything else—you notice I didn’t say one stat. I didn’t say one accolade. Because if you do all those things and you focus on those things, then the bigger picture things will come from that. But that, to me, will be the DNA of who we are as a unit.”
For Kelvin Sheppard, his years of experience as a defensive staff, including his new defensive line coach/run game coordinator Kacy Rodgers, who has previous DC stints, will help him grow into the role. His priority is to ensure that his defense unit is strongly built from the front line outward.
Lions DC Kelvin Sheppard wants "nasty, tenacious" D in Detroithttps://t.co/iaOMyaFlLG pic.twitter.com/Yg4665lknO
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) February 19, 2025
“Everything you do on defense starts with the front,” Sheppard said. “Just look at the final guys in the championship game. And everybody knows. This is not [as if] I’m telling some secret. It starts with the trenches in both the run and pass game.
Kelvin Sheppard continued: Everybody is so pass-happy nowadays, but if you watch these games, it’s a lot of people going back to the roots of football, and that’s toughness in the trenches. You better have that. It starts there. I always say, ‘You have to earn the right to rush the passer.’ It doesn’t matter if you can get off the ball and be this glorified DPR, pass-rushing type player if you don’t earn the right to get to those pass-rushing downs. So, just making sure we find that fine balance in guys that can play the run and the pass, and just making sure they gel with who we want to be because that supersedes everything.”
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