Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell is doing all he can to ingratiate himself to his teammates in a video that is blowing up social media.

The Detroit Lions are a franchise that are very much down on their luck in recent seasons. Having been somewhat competitive in the days under Jim Caldwell between 2014-2017 where he put up a record of 36-28 in the regular season and earned two playoff trips, the years since then have been nothing short of a disaster.

They are currently on their 3rd head coach since Caldwell left, and the men who have replaced him; former New England Patriots assistant Matt Patricia, interim head coach Darrell Bevell and current head coach Dan Campbell have so far put together a record of 17-46-1, with their performances so bad last year that they were able to pick #2 in the NFL Draft.

A 3-13-1 record was certainly nothing to write home about, but given that it was Campbell’s first year in charge and he was taking over a team that had finished 5-11 the previous year, it wasn’t as if he was starting from the best of positions. 

A football coach or a life coach?

This is of course Campbell’s second head coaching job in the NFL, as he previously spent an interim spell in charge of the Miami Dolphins, where he was able to breathe a little bit of life into the team that had started the season 1-3, going 5-7 over his 12 games in charge.

But whilst he wasn’t able to turn things around totally on the field, he did develop something of a reputation for being a ‘player’s coach’, something that he carried on from his playing days where he is reported to be  "Bloody and sweaty, yelling and snorting in the weight room, encouraging to the discouraged, helpful to the lost, and wild and fun at parties. He was judicious and reckless. Fair and merciless.”

And he appears to be bringing that energy to his job in Detroit. 

Going all in

In a video posted by the Detroit Lions social media team, he is seen joining the team in ‘up downs’ as they began their training camp activities:

Obviously he wants to be seen as a coach that is willing to put in the effort with his players and that he won’t make them do anything he wouldn’t be willing to do himself, which is a great way to make sure your players always have your back.

You just have to hope he puts in as much effort working on their gameplan as he does trying to be friendly with the players, otherwise if he isn’t able to get their record heading in the right direction, then he might find himself looking for a new team to coach in 2023.