Detroit Lions Add Popular Former Offensive Lineman to Coaching Staff

Lions will have a familiar face on the coaching staff.

Lions offensive linemen Penei Sewell, left, and Dan Skipper talk during practice at minicamp | Kirthmon F. Dozier / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Detroit Lions have reportedly added a popular former offensive lineman to the coaching staff of Dan Campbell.

According to CBS Detroit, Dan Skipper has been hired, just weeks after retiring from the National Football League.

Following the conclusion of the 2025 season, the veteran offensive lineman expressed a medical injury would likely prevent him from playing further.

Against the Dallas Cowboys back in 2023, officials wiped out a two-point conversion, stating veteran Taylor Decker did not report properly, incorrectly believing it was Skipper.

"I think more than anything it just makes you mad, that's about it," Campbell said, when the Lions faced the Cowboys this season in primetime. "But all good. If you're a fan, that was a heck of a game, I know that."

Skipper has expressed repeatedly he felt the team did everything properly against the Cowboys. It was the latest in a series of blown calls by officials that have been quite costly to the Lions.

What occurred afterwards turned Skipper into a cult hero in Motown. Supporters at Ford Field would cheer loudly on each occasion that it was announced he was reporting eligible by the public address announcer.

"It just goes to show that when you roll with Detroit, there's no place better to be. It's one of those really special places that has been beaten down and thought of as a certain way, but you get here and it's not like that," Skipper said, via ESPN. "I think when people come, they're always just so shocked that it is what it is.

"That's the people, that's the things that this place has done, and it's changed so much. At this point, people talk s--t and I'm like, 'Show up' and they see it's a sweet place. This team, we try to embody what this city's about."

As a role player, fans also related to Skipper battling each and every season to make the roster.

"Looking back, it definitely changed a lot of things in my life. It's something to tell my kids about. It'll be a lot of fun one day," Skipper expressed. "I'm still bitter about it. There's still some lingering frustration that may not ever go away, but at this point it's pretty cool just how the city's rallied behind me really and made us feel at home and it's been awesome."

After retirement, the 31-year-old coached offensive linemen and tight ends at the East-West Shrine Bowl.