The Detroit Lions have had an eventful offseason and it has nothing to do with their roster. The Lions lost offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn to head coaching jobs and several of Dan Campbell’s assistants followed them to the Chicago Bears and New York Jets.
Some of the coaches who were left over also departed for bigger jobs and Detroit has continued to rebuild its staff, hiring Johnnie Morton and promoting Kelvin Sheppard in its two biggest roles.
The Lions are in the final stages of putting together their staff for next season and it included the hire of new running backs coach Tashard Choice on Thursday morning. The addition of Choice has led to a new role for an incumbent assistant.
Lions Running Backs Coach Scottie Montgomery to Coach Wide Receivers
According to the Detroit Free Press’s Dave Birkett, the Lions are moving Scottie Montgomery to wide receivers coach for the upcoming season. Montgomery replaces Anwaan Randle-El, who followed Johnson to Chicago this offseason and has similar experience as a former college receiver.
Lions ass’t head coach Scottie Montgomery will transition to coaching wide receivers in 2025, per source. Montgomery is viewed as having HC potential around the NFL and remains a key part of Dan Campbell’s staff moving forward.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) February 13, 2025
He interviewed for the Cowboys OC job.
Montgomery spent four seasons at Duke, catching 171 passes for 2,379 yards and 13 touchdowns from 1996 to 1999. After spending four seasons in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders, Montgomery spent four seasons as the receivers coach at his alma mater from 2006 to 2009.
The 46-year-old spent three years as the Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers coach from 2010 to 2012 before running to Duke as the associate head coach, offensive coordinator, passing game coordinator, wide receivers coach and quarterbacks coach from 2013 to 2015. He went on to become the head coach at East Carolina, posting a 9-26 record in three seasons before spending the 2019 and 2020 seasons as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Maryland, the running backs coach with the Indianapolis Colts in 2021 and 2022 and joining the Lions as an assistant head coach and running backs coach in 2023.
After two seasons helping Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery form one of the most explosive rushing attacks in the NFL, Montgomery will now turn his attention to the receivers. Detroit has a similar duo in Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams and will look to continue their success as they look to reach the Super Bowl in 2025.