Kelvin Sheppard Reveals He Has Been Studying Top NFL Defenses

Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard is eager to grow in his second year helming the defense.

After being promoted to replace Aaron Glenn, who departed to become the head coach of the New York Jets, Sheppard had some ups and downs throughout his first year leading the defense. There were injuries that hampered the personnel he had, namely the absence of All-Pro Kerby Joseph from Week 7 through the end of the year.

Early in the year, the defense was able to make it worse. However, as injuries began to compound and the team ran into some tougher offenses late in the year, the defense was unable to measure up to some of the tests they faced.

They finished the year ranking 22nd in points allowed and 18th in yards allowed defensively. As a result, Sheppard has gone back to the drawing board and studied some of the best defenses in the league in an effort to improve the unit and his leadership over it.

"You want to know what the people at the highest level within your career are doing. So I stepped back and I pulled the top five defenses," Sheppard said in an interview with FOX 2 Tuesday. " But, what you also gotta do is understand who you are, and who they are. We can’t go play a certain style that some of these teams play, whether that be the personnel, complementary football and what we’re trying to do here knowing the offense that we have, so on and so forth. There are things I looked at."

From a stylistic standpoint, Sheppard is looking to determine the best direction to take both with his personnel and his scheme. To find the answers, he looked at teams like the reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.

Seattle was able to earn the Lombardi Trophy thanks to a dominant defensive performance against the New England Patriots, where they used a variety of different looks to keep young quarterback Drake Maye guessing throughout the game. This was a common theme throughout the season for the Seahawks and a huge part of their success.

In addition to scheme, he was looking to see how teams created turnovers, stopped the run and how they mixed playing base defense versus nickel.

By doing this, he's hoping to create a better product for the Lions' defensively. The result could be some schematic changes for Detroit, with Sheppard believing these moves will be made for the betterment of the defense.

"I looked at Seattle, I looked at Houston, I looked at Jacksonville. A lot of these teams that ranked high, whether that be turnover category, total defense, or whatever, but limiting points is the goal here. And what did they do? And if something that’s applicable to us was there, we apply it," Sheppard added. "I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t kind of pick and prong in some things that felt like what we do within our core principles. We apply it, and I think it’s going to make us better."

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