LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET
September 5, 2025
On adding four new players to the roster after training camp and if they can add value Week 1: “Well, I think it’s – sometimes it’s actually easier because they walk in and there’s a gameplan that you can look at right now, and you know exactly what’s in and what the responsibility is. Some of the calls, what we call things, that’s the little tricky part. But sometimes it’s actually easier to kind of grasp exactly what’s in and not the whole playbook like training camp where everything you have installed. So, it’s doable. It’s how fast can they pick it up mentally and what the gameplan is and then what do they look like physically? Are they able to play fast because they feel comfortable in what we’re doing, and that’s why we practice obviously is to get a feel of that.”
On Lions S Thomas Harper and what he brings to the roster: “Well first of all, special teams looks pretty good. He’s got some awareness, and he’s got the ability to do a lot of different jobs on teams. And then certainly defensively, he’s got a little versatility there, too. For us, it’s always going to start with special teams.”
On Lions Special Assistant Football Operations Don Muhlbach’s new game management responsibilities on game day: “Well, first of all because any task that you give Muhl, whether when he was a player or even behind the scenes with us, he does a ton and has done a ton since he was hired here helping on special teams. He does an unbelievable job, man. So, he helps (Lions Special Teams Coordinator Dave) Fipp, he helps (Lions Assistant Special Teams) Jett (Modkins), he’s always helped me with a few things, and he’s a grinder. There’ll be no stone that will be left unturned, and so it just felt natural. Like, this guy’s going to eat this stuff up. And he does stuff for (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) in the spring, so he kind of wears a ton of different hats. So yeah, it just felt like man, this is going to be there right fit. He’s got a pretty good grasp, a pretty good feel of what I want. And I also know he’s got conviction about him. When he sees something or believes something, he’s not going to waver in what it is or isn’t. So, all of those traits I think are really good about him.”
On how the preseason helps work out the kinks for Lions Special Assistant Football Operations Don Muhlbach’s new role on game days: “Yeah, the preseason helps a lot in just kind of working through the kinks of that. And for him really to know what, for me – is it willing to bring it up to me? Or, what do I care about? Or is it a 50/50? If it is, I don’t want to hear about it, because whatever the call is will stand. Or, what is a 50/50 call in my eyes? So, it’s little things like that. Exactly what I’m looking for. What am I looking for before the game, what am I looking for during the game? And then him just getting on top of the rules a little bit, but I can help him with all that stuff. So, he’s doing an unbelievable job. He’s going to be great.”
On how he can help prepare his coordinators for the chess match of play-calling: “Well, we still do – that’s what training camp was a lot of. But, we still do competitive periods in practice. We go good-on-good, so we still do Detroit versus Detroit. So, you’ve got your gameplan in for these guys. Offense, defense, special teams, and then you have to revert back to OK, now we’re playing Detroit. We have to be ready for these rules and we have to have these adjustments, but you’re calling the things you’re going to call against, for example, Green Bay. And so, it’s good because in a sense it gives you un-scouted looks going into the game potentially. You have to adjust, you’ve got to adapt and just play football. And so, we try to do those every day. You don’t do a ton, but certainly third down, red zone, we get a ton of that work, good-on-good. So those always help because that’s in the moment. We’ll finish a period and I’ll just call it out and put the ball down, so those guys have to have a call ready to go. So that’s good, those always help.”
On Lions CB Khalil Dorsey and Lions DL Mekhi Wingo’s progress post-injury: “Yeah, both of those guys are physically, I feel like they’re ready. Dorsey has been going a little bit longer than Wingo, just out on the grass, moving around. But, where Wingo has come, call it a week and half, has been pretty impressive. I was like, ‘OK, this guy is further along than I thought he would be coming back.’ So, both of those guys are – they look pretty good right now.”
On what Lions LB Zach Cunningham adds to the linebacker room: “Well, he adds a ton of experience, depth, athleticism, explosiveness, versatility. He can play all the different positions. And then man, there’s some stuff on special teams he can really help us with. So, he’s been great man, and he fits right in. He’s a smart guy, pretty crafty. And so, he adds somebody that we can use. And at the very lowest level, he adds depth right now. Quality, quality depth. I mean this guy, he’s been good. That was a good pickup, man. I’m glad we got him. He’s done a great job.”
On if he needs to have an additional conversation with the team about the League calling taunting penalties tighter after last night’s Cowboys-Eagles game: “Well, that’s a point emphasis. They’ve said that – we’ve known in the spring, we’ve known that in training camp. So, we know that’s coming. We already – we talked about that. I mean, that’s been talked about. So, those guys know. They get it, and they are going to call it tighter, so.”
On if he believes the team is ready to put the Washington game behind them and get back out there after not playing a regular season game in so long: “Well, I don’t know how much it’s really like, ‘OK, you know, that was the last thing.’ I think, I know for me, I kind of get the sense it’s about, ‘Man, here we go.’ It’s the next season, it’s 2025, it’s the first game of the year out on the road, division opponent. Most of our guys did not play in the preseason, so this is awesome. You’re ready to go. You’re ready to compete and cut it lose. Games that count, real football, the whole thing. And I think that’s really more of the excitement as opposed to what had happened previously.”
On not looking too far ahead in the season and focusing on the day to day: “I think it’s as simple as man, just worry about what’s right in front of you. And I think you do have to just focus on that. We all know where we want to go. Everybody’s got their goals, man. We certainly know where we want to go, but to do that man, you have to handle what’s right in front of you one step at a time. And not worry about the ebbs and flows of a season or even a game for that matter. Things could not go well early in this game, but that doesn’t mean you’re not going to win it. Just settle in. Same thing in a season, so don’t worry about that. All we have to worry about is taking care of business Week 1. And I’ll mention it again, we just have to get better every week. Literally, we have to eradicate any of the mistakes that we make. We have to clean up our fundamentals and just get better, and better, and better and be playing our best football by the end of the year. This is just step one, this is step one in a 17-step process before you even get to the tournament.”
