Odds of Louis Riddick Getting Lions General Manager Job
From the Monday Night Football booth to the front office in the Motor City ... could it happen for Louis Riddick?
The present ESPN analyst is reportedly set to interview for the Lions' general manager vacancy Friday.
Before joining ESPN, he spent a decade-plus inside a couple of NFL front offices.
He got his start in the player evaluation/executive world as a pro scout with the then-Washington Redskins in 2001. He was then promoted to director of pro personnel, a position which he held for three years (2005-07).
He then moved on to Philadelphia, where he served as a scout (2008), as the assistant director of pro personnel (2009) and lastly, as the director of pro personnel (2010-13).
Through all of it, he gained tons of valuable football acumen, which has only been enhanced by his time working at the Worldwide Leader in Sports.
Now, whether or not his vast amount of experiences are enough for him to land the Detroit GM job is another question.
Based on Lions principal owner Sheila Ford Hamp's recent comments about what she's looking for in Bob Quinn's replacement, the fact that Riddick's never been an NFL general manager before might hurt his candidacy.
As Hamp said in an internal memo to team employees Monday,
"We (Hamp and team president Rod Wood) are already deeply into researching top candidates for head coach and GM, and, as the recent internal memo stated, have already interviewed several in-house candidates for the GM job. This process will play out over the next six weeks or so, with the result being a well-vetted and proven head coach/GM team that can finally take the Lions where we all so earnestly wish to go -- to the top!"
If Hamp's definition of a "well-vetted and proven head coach/GM team" is a duo that has previous experience(s) in those respective jobs, then it all but eliminates Riddick from legitimate consideration for the team's GM opening.
It leads me to speculate that ex-general managers Thomas Dimitroff (former GM with the Falcons), Scott Pioli (former GM with the Chiefs) and Rick Smith (former GM with the Texans) -- all of whom are reportedly set to interview with Hamp & Co. next week -- possess better odds than Riddick of becoming the next Detroit front-office "head honcho."
It's not to take anything away from Riddick's qualifications, as I believe you can make the argument that he should be higher on the Lions' priority list than all three of the aforementioned former NFL GMs.
However, based on the potential requirement of past GM experience, it significantly lowers his odds of landing the gig.
At this point, I give Riddick a 10 percent chance of getting the Detroit general manager job.
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Detroit Lions to Interview Scott Pioli Next Week for General Manager
Magic Johnson Urges Lions to Hire Louis Riddick
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