Two Detroit Lions Coaches Attending 2026 Accelerator Program

When the NFL conducts its front office and coaching accelerator program beginning Monday, two members of the Detroit Lions coaching staff will be in attendance.

The league selected 16 coaches and 18 front office members to participate in the event. Among that crop of hopeful head coaches and general managers will be Lions' passing game coordinator Mike Kafka and passing game specialist David Shaw.

Coaches and front office hopefuls will participate in this from May 18-20 in Orlando, Florida. The program was paused last season.

According to a memo sent from the league to all 32 teams, via ESPN, "The May accelerator is intended to focus on advancing talent from underrepresented groups, while remaining open to qualified senior-level candidates of all backgrounds."

Shaw is entering his second season on the Lions' staff under head coach Dan Campbell, while Kafka will be entering his first. Previously, Kafka had been the offensive coordinator for the New York Giants and served as the team's interim head coach late in the year after the firing of Brian Daboll.

It has been a quick rise up the coaching ranks for Kafka, who started in 2017 on staff with the Kansas City Chiefs as a quality control coach. He would rise up to the rank of passing game coordinator by the 2021 season, and departed to become the Giants' offensive coordinator the following year when Daboll was hired.

"Kafka, interim head coach, OC, coached quarterbacks," Campbell told play-by-play broadcaster Dan Miller during an interview at the annual league meetings in late-March. "I just feel like the sky is the limit for him. He’s been a great addition, he’s gonna be a great addition moving forward.”

Meanwhile, Shaw returned to the sidelines coaching after spending some time in the front office of the Denver Broncos. Prior to taking an executive role, Shaw had been the head coach of Stanford at the collegiate level.

Shaw has NFL coaching experience prior to Detroit, as he began as a Philadelphia Eagles quality control coach in 1997.

He would spend four seasons with the now-Las Vegas Raiders organization under Jon Gruden, and also spent some time with the Baltimore Ravens organization before transitioning to the collegiate level and working with Jim Harbaugh.

The Lions will begin their offseason organized team activities later this month, with the first session set for May 27-29.

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