Coordinator review: Sheppard at ease in new role, talks blitz philosophy and hypes up Hutchinson

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Allen Park — Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard met with the media for the first time this training camp. Here are some highlights from his high-energy media session.

Secondary a primary strength

Framed around an impressively dominant seven-on-seven period for his unit earlier in the week, Sheppard was asked how he feels the team’s back seven is coming together.

Without hesitation, the coordinator said he feels the secondary is shaping up to be one of the roster’s strengths.

“I believe that’s the strength of not only the defense, but that’s one of the deepest spots on the team,” Sheppard said. “That’s going to be a luxury to us this season, as far as moving people around, being able to create different matchups that we want to dictate, not what the offense is trying to dictate.”

Sheppard specifically highlighted the improvement of second-year cornerback Terrion Arnold, who had come hot out of the gate in his second training camp before exiting Thursday’s practice with a leg injury.

“He’s come in, not only this offseason but this training camp, looking like a different guy,” Sheppard said. “His body’s more developed, but also from the neck up, the mental aspect of the game, he’s seeing it faster. He’s feeling the routes faster.”

We'll know more about Arnold's injury when Dan Campbell talks on Friday, but NFL insider Jordan Schultz is reporting it's a minor calf issue.

Pressure remains a priority

As noted in Tuesday’s training camp observations, Detroit’s defense hasn’t been shy about utilizing the blitz. We probably shouldn’t be surprised. Under former coordinator Aaron Glenn, the team ranked second in the league in blitz rate in 2024, sending an extra rusher on 34.6% of passing plays.

Before naming Sheppard as Glenn’s replacement, Lions coach Dan Campbell emphasized wanting the next person in the coordinator chair to maintain the team's aggressive approach.

“It’s very important,” Sheppard said. “We’re going to be aggressive. I think (those) who have been around here since I came know I’m an aggressive guy. My mentality is to get after you, play in and play out.

“But also, you have to be calculated,” Sheppard said. “There has to be a ‘why’ behind it. More importantly, the players have to understand the ‘why’ behind it, why I’m asking them to do certain things. You have to make it all look the same, pre-snap reads versus post-snap reads and things like that. Like I said, these guys are bought in so the more they can handle, the more we’ll do.”

Like a duck to water

Talking about Sheppard’s first few months on the job, veteran linebacker Alex Anzalone noted how naturally his former position coach has taken to the larger role.

“Sometimes, when you get a new coach or a first-year coach, you can tell a little bit,” Anzalone said. “But with him, you can't tell at all. It's like he's built for it.”

Sheppard was asked how the reality of the coordinator role was matching up with his expectations coming into his first year on the job. His sentiments matched Anzalone’s observations in the sense that things have come naturally.

“I want to give credit to Dan Campbell and Aaron Glenn, because it’s exactly what I thought it would be,” Sheppard said. “I’m humbly saying that. I don’t feel overwhelmed.

“I got asked by somebody close to me yesterday, ‘Do you feel overwhelmed? Do you feel discomfort?’ I’ve never felt that, and that's a blessing to be able to say that in my first year, in my first six months of doing this,” Sheppard continued.”

Sheppard noted that a big component of the seamless transition has been the coaches around him. Starting at the lowest rungs, Sheppard recognized quality control coaches August Mangin and Caleb Collins. Sheppard and Mangin were roommates at LSU, while Collins was working at the school when Sheppard returned to begin his coaching career.

Sheppard continued the roll call of acknowledgments through the entire defensive coaching staff, praising how well the group works collaboratively.

“It’s not like it’s a rookie staff by any means,” Sheppard said. “Two guys on my staff are former coordinators, and it’s an open floor. I told the players the other day in the defensive unit meeting, this isn’t my stuff I’m saying. This is our stuff. I’m not ever going to stand up here and say I’m some genius guru and I invented football. I have allowed my staff to have ownership in their respective positions. I allow input from everyone, from top to bottom. If there’s a why behind it, it's going in (the playbook). These guys know that, so I think that allows them to work harder.

“The trust is there,” Sheppard said. “There’s no looking over your shoulder. I don’t have to go in position rooms and wonder what’s being said. I know it’s one voice. When you have that lefel of comfortability within your staff, I’m able to do more of my coordinator stuff versus looking over people’s shoulders.”

Measured expectations

Unprompted, Sheppard said he’s excited by rookie defensive lineman Ahmed Hassanein, even if the young edge rusher is still figuring out his A, B and C gap responsibilities.

Sheppard also knows he’ll get a far better feel for the high-motor Hassanein on Friday, when the team dons pads for the first time this offseason.

“I don’t think his game could be seen until the pads are on,” Sheppard said. “With the way he plays, the mentality he plays with, the effort he plays with, he’s everything we’re about here.”

Still, Sheppard was quick to temper expectations for the sixth-round pick out of Boise State.

“It’s just that development piece to learn and curve,” Sheppard said. “That’s why I don’t want people to start saying ‘Is he the answer?’. Guys, this guy is a rookie. He just started playing football six years ago. He just (re-)learned the English language six, seven years ago, so let’s not turn this guy into Lawrence Taylor.

"He’s a rookie, he’s on the developmental swing, but he’s been afforded the opportunity to work with one of the best, if not the best (defensive line coach) in the league in my opinion in Kacy Rodgers," Sheppard said. "I’m already seeing it. I saw it in the spring. But that guy’s all in. Whatever his potential is, (he’ll be) able to reach it because he’s going to work at it that way.”

Better than ever?

There’s some understandable anxiety about how quickly Aidan Hutchinson will be able to regain his form as an elite edge rusher coming back from last year’s broken leg. Sheppard is happy to quell those concerns.

“Listen, I’m not saying anything about numbers, statistics, any of that, but I see a better player than we had last year,” Sheppard said. “You might be like, Whoa!’ That’s the same thing I said when I saw him out there. I’m like, ‘Whoa'!’ But if you know Hutch, which all of you do, and the way he works, the way he attacked his rehab, a week after the surgery, he’s in here trying to work out and things like that. It’s not a surprise.

“Now it’s about going out in live action, getting those hits, taking those blows, building those mental pieces back,” Sheppard said. “In live action, you can only build that throughout training camp with the pads on, live reps when we do have that setting here. The joint practices will be really good for Hutch, going against a foreign opponent where you don’t kind of know, it’s not as controlled and things like that. But I see a better player, quite frankly, and I’m looking for Hutch to have a big season.”

Pressure on punchouts

There’s been a noticeable uptick in Detroit’s defenders trying to punch the ball free from ball carriers to start camp. Sheppard acknowledged it’s been a point of emphasis. He's trying to elevate the entire roster to match some of the team’s more effective players at jarring the ball free.

“I was one of those position coaches yelling at my room, ‘We need to get the ball back,’” Sheppard said. “When you turn on the tape this spring in the self scout, some guys stuck out: Amik (Robertson), Brian Branch, Jack Campbell. I told the defense, guys shouldn’t stick out. It should be the opposite. You should be the anomaly if you’re not touching the ball, if you’re not finishing on the ball.

“I call it biting the football every play,” Sheppard said. “It shouldn’t be three guys sticking out because they’re finishing on the ball. So that kind of has been the mindset. …We need to turn into a pack of wild dogs. When people turn on our tape, they know, you better tuck the ball and you better get down if the defense is around you.”