Lions Promote Offensive Coach After Losing Ben Johnson
01/24/2025 06:04 PM
With the Detroit Lions losing not one, but both of their top coordinators in the ongoing head coaching carousel, the team is already bracing to lose a ton of their assistants as the Chicago Bears, New York Jets and other teams poach their staff.
But amid what will likely be a mass exodus of coaches from the team that just went 15-2 in the regular season, one assistant is sticking around - and getting a nice promotion for his loyalty.
According to NFL insider Tom Pelissero, the Lions are promoting offensive line coach Hank Fraley. The 47-year-old assistant will now serve as both the line coach and the team's run game coordinator in 2025.
"The #Lions are promoting Hank Fraley to run game coordinator/offensive line coach, per source. An important piece of the puzzle staying in Detroit as Dan Campbell remodels his staff following the departure of both coordinators," Pelissero wrote.
The #Lions are promoting Hank Fraley to run game coordinator/offensive line coach, per source.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 24, 2025
An important piece of the puzzle staying in Detroit as Dan Campbell remodels his staff following the departure of both coordinators. pic.twitter.com/BlRJDyAWhS
Fraley was a former offensive center who played 10 years in the NFL split between the Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Browns and St. Louis Rams. He was the starting center for the Eagles in their 2004 Super Bowl run as well, and went on to start 71 games for the team in his first five years.
After being released before the 2011 season, Fraley went into coaching, spending two years in the college coaching ranks before becoming the assistant offensive line coach of the Minnesota Vikings in 2014. He became the offensive line coach of UCLA in 2017 but left after one year.
In 2018, Fraley became the assistant offensive line coach of the Detroit Lions under Matt Patricia and was one of the few holdovers when Dan Campbell was hired in 2021.
Under Fraley's leadership, the Lions have developed multiple Pro Bowl and All-Pro players in Penei Sewell and Frank Ragnow.
Suffice it to say, Fraley is a coach that the Lions were happy to retain.
But they still need to figure out who their offensive and defensive coordinators will be next season...
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