LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET
July 20, 2025
Opening Statement: “Here we go. New year – year five. The message to the team was really what it’s been all along – it’s about who we are, what we believe in and staying hungry. Putting the work in, cannot be content and I believe we’ll be just fine with that. We’ve got the right guys and they’ve been building it for a long time. There are dudes that are going to be ready to go. We’re going to push them, we’re going to make sure that we hold them accountable just like they will us. We’ve got to be on our stuff. And man, we’re looking forward to it. The guys crushed the conditioning test – everybody passed, weights were good, you guys saw the PUP list. Really the only two guys from that list of guys that you know aren’t practicing today, (Lions EDGE Al-Quadin) Muhammad and (Lions LB) Alex (Anzalone) will be the only two that don’t practice today, and (Lions LB Anthony) Pittman is the other one. Just a couple little things – we’ve got to make sure they’re good injury-wise. Ready to go, guys are excited. It’s good to get them back in here, coaches are excited.”
On what is going on with Lions LB Alex Anzalone: “Yeah, he did a great job. He crushed the conditioning test, weight was good.”
On Lions LB Alex Anzalone not being here this offseason and if it is due to residual contract situations: “He wasn’t here last year either in the spring.”
On whether there were contractual issues keeping Lions LB Alex Anzalone away from the team: “No. I mean, not that I can really talk about. He’s here, reported, did great on the conditioning test, weight’s good and ready to go.”
On whether Lions LB Alex Anzalone is not practicing as part of a hold-in: “No way, right? I refuse to believe that. I refuse to believe that.”
On the status of Lions T Taylor Decker, Lions EDGE Josh Paschal and Lions DL Levi Onwuzurike: “Let me start with Levi. Levi is out for the year. Levi’s surgery was significant but it needed to be done. Out of his control and it needed to be done, so he will miss the season. Paschal, who was the other one after Paschal? OK, Deck, we feel like there’s a good chance we can get Deck back after the Hall of Fame game. He’s good, he had cleaned out the shoulder a little bit and we’re going to work him back in when he’s ready to go, get the strength back, but he’s in a good place. Paschal will be just a tick longer, probably early September. Labor Day maybe we can start working him into practice, that’s the plan right now. Both of those guys had some surgeries to clean some stuff out and help him out, so that’s where those two are at.”
On if Lions DL Levi Onwuzurike’s injury concerned his back: “Yeah, it’s not the back. It was a knee – ACL – so he got that taken care of.”
On if he feels confident in where he knows the offense is going: “Yeah, I do. I think we’ve got a real good vision of where I see it going and where we want it to go and what we believe in. Man, the ground game is important, it’ll always be important. Got a number of players that have to show up for us, as everyone knows – those players know. Our O-line – we’ve got to sort this O-line out, it’s an open competition right now and that’s going to be important this camp is we’ve got to find some guys that we know we can count on, they’re going to win the job, they’re going to be guys we can rely on. I know (Lions Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line) Hank (Fraley) will do a good job getting them ready. But it’s really about putting our guys in position to win their one-on-one matchups because we’ve got some guys that can do that. And so, what is the matchup of the day, what’s the matchup of the week and let’s let those guys go win and let Goff get us in the right play and facilitate it. I feel real good about it.”
On if it is hard not to temper his enthusiasm knowing the road that lies ahead for the team: “No. First of all, you’re always enthusiastic – it’s a new season, it’s a new beginning. You understand what that road looks like and there’s going to be nothing easy about it. But I think it’s – every year you do this and you just realize, ‘Hey man, just get in. Win this division – that’s always going to be the goal. Find a way to win your division because now you’re automatically in and then once you’re in, it’s the matchup. And don’t worry about the – OK, maybe we have to go on the road, so be it, or if something happens. You take your best unit, you put your best practice that you can together, find the guys that you’re going to use to try to go win that game and then let it ride. No, I’m still as enthusiastic as ever. I know these guys are. There’s a price to be paid to get yourself back into the dance, back into the tournament, and that will never change and if we let that slide at all, then we’re going to be sitting here at home in January and that’s not what we want.”
On Lions Offensive Coordinator John Morton and Lions Defensive Coordinator Kelvin Sheppard: “I think both of those guys are very detailed. Strength, there’s a number of things they have. I think more importantly, it’s about the detail. Johnny talks all the time about RCE. Recognize, communicate, and execute. That’s big. That’s big for us as coaches, that’s big for the players, too. And Shepp, you know, is no different than that. Shepp is about the details of what we do and having the ability to get into something per what the offense is giving us. A little bit more leeway to our backers, to (Lions LB) Jack (Campbell) and those guys, and (Lions LB) Alex (Anzalone) to get us into the right play per what we think they’re doing over there. So, we’re trying to expand a little bit here, we’re trying to put it a little bit more in the players’ hands. The more coaches you have on the field during the game, the better off you are. That’s where we’re really trying to grow and get to the next level here.”
On adjusting to a new coaching staff: “First of all, it doesn’t matter what I say. It’s already been written, so that’s coming. That’s already a narrative. I’m not going to change that, none of us will. A loss, it’s coming, we don’t do well on offense, it’s coming. Something happens defensively, it’s coming. That narrative is coming. It’s written, it’s done, I have no control over that. If you’re asking me personally, yeah, I don’t think it’s what it’s played out to be. I’ve said this before, it hurts to lose two guys that, man, have been here from the beginning, have a lot of trust and faith in. There’s a lot of communication that goes that’s not even said because once you get to that, you understand each other. A look, a nod, body demeanor says it all. And that’s just a little bit of what we have to gain together between myself, Johnny Morton and Shepp. But that takes a minute, it takes time. We’ll get it, it’ll come. That’s what practice is about, that’s what preseason games early in the year, all of that. We’ll be good.”
On if previous injuries affect the way he approaches training camp: “No. We have to go, man. There’s certainly – there’s restrictions on what you can do anyways. We have an acclimation period here for four days. Once we put the pads on, we’re going man, like we do. We have to get ready for a hard season, you have to condition the body physically. We’ll be smart about it like we always do, so nope.”
On the upside of starting camp early: “I don’t know. I guess the nature of where we’re at, we won’t necessarily – I got to looking at this – I think were going to have about the same practices that we had last year and we’re starting three days sooner. Oddly enough, and it has to do with some of these night games on the road, Atlanta, the Hall of Fame game, as to when you can start once you get back, yada yada. I don’t know how much of a jump we’re getting, really, but I guess you get an extra day or two for the young guys, for the rookies. So that’s good, right?”
On situational coaching and the depth of the D-line: “Those situations are good. Every year, we did more and more and more. I mean, spring of last year, spring of 2024, that’s a significant amount of things that we did in the spring, so. We grew to that. We’ll do that again. It’s going to take us a minute. Probably the first four or five days we won’t really get that much into it. Afternoons we’ll do some stuff. But we will, because it is important. The only way you’re going to get put in that type of situation is under fire, man. The clock’s running and here’s a situation, it’s on, and you have to make a decision. We’ll do that, and that’ll be good for them. The depth, feel pretty good. There again, you don’t like to lose anybody, I mean certainly losing (Lions DL) Levi (Onwuzurike), that hurts, but it helps that we got (Lions DL) Tyleik (Williams). We’ve got a little bit of balance here. Feel good about getting (Lions EDGE Josh) Paschal back here at some point before the season. I think all in all, I think we’re pretty good. I like what we’ve got in that room. There again, man, we’ve got an opportunity for a lot of guys. We just have to get the best unit that we can to come out of this, and then we have to weather any storm until we get reinforcements because reinforcements are coming, at least we know that.”
On his biggest concern going into the season: “Concern, I think I already mentioned, my eyes are on the O-Line. I want to see what that unit’s going to do and what’s going to come out of that. We need some guys to step up for us. It’s a great opportunity. We lost (former Lions C) Frank (Ragnow), and (former Lions Kevin) Zeitler’s gone. So, we have two or three more spots there for guys to step up and help us. And once that happens, then mesh. The guys that we know we can trust, this is where they’re going to play and then getting whoever those five are together to where they start working together and start trusting each other.”
On how he uses pop culture in his coaching style: “I don’t know how many of the guys even knew what ‘The Last of Mohicans’ was, first of all. Every year, I age myself out. I’ll do that every once in a while, I’ll do it a little bit. I don’t do it a ton. Sometimes I think it’s just a changeup, right? It’s something different. It’s interesting, it’s out of the norm. If it delivers a message, then I do it. It’s not something I do all the time.”
