ALLEN PARK -- Kelvin Sheppard is getting used to life at the head of the table in his room as Detroit Lions defensive coordinator.
But he’s got the help of trusted, veteran coaches on his staff, including a few who even coached him during his playing days. The respect and belief in Sheppard’s ability to handle the new responsibilities run deep among that staff and those who know him.
Kacy Rodgers, the team’s new defensive line coach and run game coordinator, was on the staff in Miami when Sheppard was playing for the Dolphins.
“To see him now running the meetings with the coaches, running the meeting with the players, it is just -- the leaps and bounds,” Rodgers said. “I always thought he was a smart player. To see the growth in him over the years -- the way he runs our meetings, the structure of our defenses, the way he talks to the players -- is just, I’m really impressed.
“It is just the things that we built upon and the things that -- and the openness -- and you’re kind of coming in and you’re sitting down with a team that won 15 games last year. But the eagerness, everybody’s still in there trying to learn: Can we do this better? Trying to do that better. That’s impressive.”
Sheppard has a ton of confidence in himself to handle the role, too. He’s been training for this transition for a couple of years, with head coach Dan Campbell and ex-defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn making it a point to increase his responsibilities and time in front of the full defense.
He says one of the main differences in the promotion is that everyone is looking to you for answers on the field, and not just the linebackers. But Sheppard feels the respect of the players and staff around him, and that hasn’t changed, and it motivates him to keep going.
“I don’t think a role should deem the respect that you get, and that’s not just in this field,” Sheppard said. “Like, I don’t think the janitor should be treated any different than Mrs. Sheila (Ford Hamp). That’s how I was raised. That’s what I believe in.
“So me moving up in rank in my job is not gonna change who I am, and I think people and the players feel that and they see it, and that’s where the authenticity piece picks up over a title.”
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Senior defensive assistant and outside linebackers coach David Corrao was on that 2014-15 Miami staff, too, as an assistant linebackers coach. Corrao has been with the Lions in a variety of roles for seven years, watching every step of Sheppard’s rise.
Corrao said that you could feel Sheppard’s presence and leadership qualities way back in 2014. He says the professional approach he takes to the job has always influenced those around him.
“We saw it again when he came here in 2018, coming in as a role (player), wound up starting a couple of games for us,” Corrao said of Sheppard’s playing days in Detroit. “And that bled into how he coaches. You guys have seen how the linebackers room has been run the last couple of years, the intensity, the demands, the detail.
“And I think now what we’re going to see is that it’s going to spread to the whole defense. When you’re around him, he has that quality that the guys gravitate to, and I think the players are going to go perform for him as well.”
And much like on the offensive side of the ball, the Lions aren’t looking to reinvent the wheel with either of their new coordinators.
There is a structure and scheme in place, and it’s the one Sheppard -- and a lot of the players -- has spent the last four seasons running under Glenn. But, as Corrao says, one of “the great things about football (is that) no two people see the game the same way.”
“So the perspective and the vision that Aaron Glenn had will be different than what Kelvin Sheppard has,” Corrao said. “Shep is going to bring his version of how he wants it to look, and we’ll find out about that as it unfolds. We haven’t lined up with pads on yet, so we don’t even know what we are.
“But that’s going to be the fun part of the process, is watching a new guy grow into putting forth a vision and getting all of us coaches and players to go execute it for him.”