{"id":14506,"date":"2025-02-18T12:39:52","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T12:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506"},"modified":"2025-02-18T12:39:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T12:39:52","slug":"breaking-news-kelvin-sheppards-defense-will-play-together-with-relentless-effort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING NEWS : Kelvin Sheppard’s Defense Will Play Together with ‘Relentless Effort’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\"Detroit<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The Detroit Lions will be equipped with two new coordinators for the 2025 season: John Morton (offense) and Kelvin Sheppard (defense).<\/p>\n

Sheppard, a former NFL linebacker who played with the Lions in 2018, joined Dan Campbell’s coaching staff in 2021 as the team’s outside linebackers coach. He proceeded to spend the past three seasons coaching Detroit’s entire linebacking unit.<\/p>\n

Then this January, Sheppard was promoted to defensive coordinator, replacing Aaron Glenn, who departed to become the head coach of the N.Y. Jets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means everything to me (to be named defensive coordinator). It\u2019s the reason I chose to stay here over other opportunities,\u201d Sheppard told Fox 2’s Dan Miller Monday. \u201cIt would\u2019ve been almost impossible to take another job, no matter what. I told him that day, cause he said, \u2018Now Shep, looking ahead, that day\u2019s about to come where I\u2019m not gonna be able to keep you.\u2019 I said, \u2018Maybe by that time, there will be a system where we can have two head coaches and I\u2019ll be your head coach B here.\u2019 I owe a lot to Dan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheppard first got to know Campbell when the two were each a part of the Miami Dolphins organization. Sheppard was a member of the Dolphins\u2019 roster from 2014-15, while Campbell was Miami’s tight ends coach and later interim head coach in 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cNumber one, the belief system he\u2019s had in me since day one when I met him in 2014 as a player. That\u2019s carried over into the coaching career, he\u2019s one of the first people that told me I should take a shot at this thing. He saw it in me as a player,\u201d Sheppard said. \u201cYou can say what you want, but the belief system, and other people try to say, \u2018I don\u2019t care about what other people think about me,\u2019 but that\u2019s not true. That\u2019s not human nature. You are gonna care about what other people think about you. Why do you want to be good or great at anything? It\u2019s because you\u2019re judged amongst your peers. Well, judged amongst your peers means you care what others think. Because if you didn\u2019t, you wouldn\u2019t care about your performance. So it does mean a lot. I\u2019m confident in myself, I\u2019m confident in my ability. But, having a man of his stature stand in front and behind me and say, \u2018You\u2019ve got this, you can do it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheppard, 37, is a fiery coach just like his predecessor and mentor, Glenn. Glenn served as the Lions\u2019 defensive coordinator from 2021-24, and never got in the way of Sheppard coaching the linebackers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m deeply indebted to Aaron Glenn, deeply,\u201d the former linebackers coach said of Glenn. \u201cYeah, Dan was pushing for me, he wanted me on the staff. But, it was A.G. who had to say yeah. I remember the day I flew here. It\u2019s crazy, it\u2019s the office that I have now. My son says, \u2018You have A.G\u2019s office?\u2019 I said, \u2018That\u2019s what you\u2019re worried about? The office with the couch?\u2019 In 2021 flying here in February, or it might\u2019ve been late-January of 2021. Sitting with A.G., I never met him. Obviously I knew of him, Hall of Fame career and all that. I\u2019ve heard about him as a coach and all that, and everyone loves being around him, but I had no prior relationships or anything like that with A.G.<\/p>\n

\u201cSitting in there with him for four or five hours, we just jelled from the start. From talking life, talking ball, similar upbringings, things like that. He said, after that four hours, \u2018Shep, you didn\u2019t know this, but I left the room and said Dan, I don\u2019t care what he\u2019s coaching, but he\u2019s gonna be on my staff.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheppard will be tasked with elevating the play of the Lions\u2019 defense. It’s a unit that features a variety of young talent, including the likes of cornerbacks Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw and safeties Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph.<\/p>\n

Sheppard believes that Arnold, a rookie in 2024, is ready to take the next step this upcoming season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a young nucleus, a young core. But somebody that jumps out at me is Terrion Arnold,\u201d Sheppard expressed to Miller. \u201cThere\u2019s so much meat on that bone that he don\u2019t even know. He called me a couple days ago playing around. I said, \u2018Where you at?\u2019 (He was) down in Florida. I said, \u2018You better enjoy it because when you get back, next time you see me, we\u2019re getting back to work.\u2019 He said, \u2018Absolutely coach, I know how you roll.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

You can expect Detroit’s defense to remain a gritty and tenacious unit under Sheppard’s leadership. And as Sheppard made clear Monday, a defense shaped in his image will also be expected to play \u201ctogether\u201d and with a \u201crelentless effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one unit, and we\u2019re gonna move as one in everything we do. That\u2019s number one. So that togetherness, and so many things trickle from there,\u201d Sheppard expressed. \u201cAbsolutely relentless effort, non-negotiable. That\u2019s one thing I say, the coaches aren\u2019t coaching effort. You\u2019ll stand out if your effort lacks on this defense, and then just nasty, tenacious finishing. Scratching, clawing, fighting for every blade of grass that\u2019s out there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if we\u2019re able to do those things, everything else \u2014 like, you\u2019ll notice I didn\u2019t say one stat, I didn\u2019t say one accolade. Because if you do all those things and you focus on those things, then the bigger-picture things will come from that. But that, to me, will be the DNA of who we are as a unit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sheppard’s defense will be a ‘relentless’ and ‘tenacious’ unit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-detroit-lions"],"yoast_head":"\nBREAKING NEWS : Kelvin Sheppard's Defense Will Play Together with 'Relentless Effort' - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING NEWS : Kelvin Sheppard's Defense Will Play Together with 'Relentless Effort' - Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sheppard's defense will be a 'relentless' and 'tenacious' unit.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-18T12:39:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/lion-35.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506\",\"name\":\"BREAKING NEWS : Kelvin Sheppard's Defense Will Play Together with 'Relentless Effort' - Breaking News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/lion-35.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-18T12:39:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-18T12:39:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/lion-35.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/lion-35.png\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BREAKING NEWS : Kelvin Sheppard’s Defense Will Play Together with ‘Relentless Effort’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"Breaking News\",\"description\":\"Explore top US sports stories, and live updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15\",\"name\":\"MrKen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MrKen\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BREAKING NEWS : Kelvin Sheppard's Defense Will Play Together with 'Relentless Effort' - Breaking News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BREAKING NEWS : Kelvin Sheppard's Defense Will Play Together with 'Relentless Effort' - Breaking News","og_description":"Sheppard's defense will be a 'relentless' and 'tenacious' unit.","og_url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506","og_site_name":"Breaking News","article_published_time":"2025-02-18T12:39:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/lion-35.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"MrKen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MrKen","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506","name":"BREAKING NEWS : Kelvin Sheppard's Defense Will Play Together with 'Relentless Effort' - Breaking News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/lion-35.png","datePublished":"2025-02-18T12:39:52+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-18T12:39:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/lion-35.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/lion-35.png","width":1080,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14506#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BREAKING NEWS : Kelvin Sheppard’s Defense Will Play Together with ‘Relentless Effort’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/","name":"Breaking News","description":"Explore top US sports stories, and live updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15","name":"MrKen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MrKen"},"url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14506"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14509,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14506\/revisions\/14509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}