Pros and Cons of Joe Brady Becoming Next Lions Offensive Coordinator
If you've watched even just a quarter of Detroit Lions football this season, you'd know that the team has mightily struggled scoring the football.
In fact, the Lions have scored north of 20 points just twice through 12 games this season, and are averaging a lowly 16.9 points per game (the fourth-lowest amount of points in the league).
Undoubtedly, Detroit needs to make it a priority to upgrade its offense -- and in a variety of ways -- this offseason. One of the ways to do so is by hiring a new offensive play-caller.
Lions offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn and head coach Dan Campbell have both come under heavy criticism for their play-calling deficiencies in 2021, and have proven that they're ill-equipped to be full-time NFL OCs moving forward. Thus, a change needs to be made, which likely will result in the dismissal of Lynn at season's end.
One name that has garnered some attention as a potential replacement for Lynn is Joe Brady.
Brady, who was recently let go as the offensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers, spent less than two full seasons in Carolina prior to his dismissal on Sunday.
While his short tenure with the Panthers is a bit of a red flag, Brady, who is just 32 years old, was a hot-shot offensive assistant as recently as this past offseason. It's been reported that he interviewed for as many as five NFL head coaching vacancies during the 2021 offseason.
His claim to fame is having served as the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach during the LSU Tigers' national championship-winning campaign in 2019. During his lone season in Baton Rouge, he helped mold now Cincinnati Bengals signal-caller Joe Burrow into a Heisman Trophy winner, which helped Brady win the Broyles Award for the best assistant coach in college football.
The Tigers racked up tons of points and yards during the aforementioned season, averaging 568.9 yards of total offense a game and 48.4 points per contest.
Then, there's this: Under Brady's guidance, Burrow broke multiple NCAA FBS records, including most touchdown passes (60) and highest passer rating (202.0) for a single season.
While it's true Brady didn't enjoy nearly as much success during his stint with the Panthers, his time in LSU is beyond impressive, and at this point, the Lions would take half of the offensive production he helped create at LSU and be satisfied.
If I were Detroit general manager Brad Holmes, I'd be pursuing Brady this offseason to replace Lynn as the Lions' offensive coordinator.
