Lions hire former Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator Dom Capers as senior defensive assistant



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While remaining in the NFC North, Dom Capers will change teams in 2021. After spending the 2020 season as the Vikings’ senior defensive assistant, Capers has accepted the same role with the Lions, the team announced. Friday.

Capers, 70, also played that role in Jacksonville during the 2019 season. The first head coach in Carolina Panthers history, Capers is preparing to begin his 33rd season in the NFL after entering the league. with the Saints in 1986. Capers, who was also the first head coach in Texans history, won a Super Bowl as the Packers’ defensive coordinator in 2010.

After serving as the Saints’ defensive back coach from 1986 to 1991, Capers was named Bill Cowher’s first defensive coordinator in Pittsburgh in 1992. That season, the Steelers went from 22nd to 2nd in the NFL in defense, so that Pittsburgh has won at least 11 games. in one season for the first time since 1979. The Steelers defense continued to be one of the top units in the NFL over the next two years before Capers left Pittsburgh to lead the Panthers expansion in 1995.

In 1996, Capers led the Panthers to the NFC Championship Game in their second year of existence. His success in Carolina didn’t last long, however, as Capers was sacked after losing consecutive seasons. He quickly resurfaced in Jacksonville, as the team’s defensive coordinator in 1999 while helping the Jaguars boast the best defense in the league en route to an AFC championship appearance.

Capers coached his second expansion team in 2002, as the head coach of the Texans for four seasons. He then spent two seasons as Miami’s defensive coordinator before accepting the same position with the Packers, winning a Super Bowl in his second season at Green Bay. After nearly a decade with the Packers, he was not selected by former Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy after the 2017 season. Mike Pettine, who replaced Capers at Green Bay, will not see his contract renewed after Green Bay’s loss to Tampa Bay in the NFC Championship game.

Over the course of his career, Capers has worked with several Hall of Fame / All-Pro defensive players, including former Steelers defensive back Rod Woodson, former Pittsburgh / Caroline linebacker Kevin Greene, Panthers linebackers Sam Mills, Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas, former Packers linebacker Clay Matthews. and former Packers defensive back Charles Woodson.

In Detroit, Capers will reunite with new Lions quarterback coach Mark Brunell, who was the Jaguars quarterback during the Capers’ first stop in Jacksonville.

Earlier this month, the Lions named Dan Campbell as their new head coach. Detroit has also named Brad Holmes its new general manager.

Other Lions coaches are: former Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn (offensive coordinator), Aaron Glenn (defensive coordinator), Dave Fipp (special teams coordinator), former Lions Pro Bowl linebacker Chris Speilman (assistant special), Duce Staley (running backs coach) and Mark DeLeone (inside linebacking coach).



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