Beyond the hair: Kelvin Sheppard gets to be himself. Detroit Lions are better for it.

DETROIT – Hair tied neatly behind him, a color-coded call card in one hand and wearing his heart on his sleeve as usual, Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard was in top form during Week 14 against the Dallas Cowboys.

In a got-to-have-it win for two teams striving to earn an NFC playoff berth, the Lions’ defense made momentum-shifting plays throughout a 44-30 victory – with Sheppard delivering a masterclass in leadership and direction.

Displaying the positivity and intensity that have come to define the team’s first-year defensive leader – along with his adaptability and attention to detail – Sheppard roamed the Ford Field sideline in constant motion. He gestured wildly, arms and fingers moving in every direction, barking orders and adjustments, uplifting some players while admonishing others.

For those in the Lions’ organization, it was just another day at the office for the roundly respected Sheppard – whose reputation is spreading across the rest of the NFL.

Detroit’s defensive playcaller is razor sharp and driven – a dreadlock-wearing, tattoo-adorned, former longtime NFL linebacker whose meteoric rise through the coaching ranks feels less surprising by the week. In fact, others envisioned Sheppard’s bright future in coaching way before he did.

At 37 (he turns 38 in January) and in only his sixth season coaching on any level, Sheppard has drawn praise internally for finding answers while the team has coped with significant injuries on defense. Forced to rely on backups for much of the season, particularly along the defensive line and in the secondary, the Lions’ effort has not waned.

It starts with Sheppard, who has a no-excuses mentality. Lions head coach Dan Campbell expects nothing less.

Long ago, Campbell recognized something special in Sheppard, whom he coached during Sheppard’s playing days with the Miami Dolphins. Repeatedly, Campbell’s belief has been validated. Proving his mentor nailed it, Sheppard has seized every opportunity Campbell has provided, and he appears well-equipped to continue rising in his second career.

Spend time with Sheppard during his work week, and speak with both his superiors and those whom he leads, and that becomes as clear as the Lions’ impressive turnaround under Campbell. In the week leading to the matchup with the Cowboys, Sheppard was typically busy at the Lions’ headquarters in Allen Park, Michigan, a suburb southwest of downtown Detroit.

Devising the gameplan with the defensive staff, directing its installation during practice, working with players, meeting with journalists who cover the team regularly – Sheppard handled it all with aplomb. All defensive coordinators – especially those occupying the role for the first time – could learn something from his approach.

Lions general manager Brad Holmes thought Sheppard, formerly the team’s linebackers coach, would need time to grow after his big promotion. Holmes’ assessment was reasonable. It was also incorrect – and Holmes has never been happier to be wrong.

“He was a good linebackers coach. His focus was, ‘This is what I’m doing and I’m going to do it well,’ which made sense. When he was doing that job, that’s what you could see,” said Holmes, an astute talent-evaluator who regularly hits home runs in the draft.

“Well, when he got the coordinator’s job, the thing that surprised me is that he got the picture, the whole thing, so quickly. But when I look back at it, I shouldn’t have been surprised. He was so locked in on being the best linebackers coach. It would just make sense that he would go into everything he does the same way. It’s like, ‘OK. Now, I’m the defensive coordinator. I have to see the big picture.’ That’s what he locked in on and he did.”

Detroit’s linebackers knew what to expect.

After joining Campbell’s first staff as the outside linebackers coach, Sheppard was promoted before his second season to lead all Lions linebackers. Daily, they watched Sheppard set the tone in work ethic, demanding as much from himself as he did from them.

His commitment to helping players improve created an environment of trust that the entire defense benefits from today. It’s real, linebacker Jack Campbell said.

“All the coaches on the staff bring passion and energy. But on defense, he’s the guy who leads the charge with that,” said Campbell, one of two Lions first-round picks (18th overall) in the 2023 NFL draft. “You know that he demands a high standard from everybody.

“From the top on down, whether you’re a first-, second-, or third-string [player], you’re expected to perform. You’re expected to show up to our meetings, show up to practice and show up to games prepared and ready to give everything you have. That’s the expectation he has set. And you know he’s doing the same thing.”

When it comes to putting players in position to succeed, some coaches talk a good game. Since he joined the Lions, Sheppard has walked the talk, linebacker Derrick Barnes said.

“I know about his passion. And when people see him out there yelling and running around, that’s because he loves the game so much,” said Barnes, a fourth-round pick (113th overall) in Detroit’s 2021 draft. “But the thing about him is, what’s important, is that he wants everybody to succeed. A coach like that … guys want to go out and play for him.”

Sheppard plopped down on his couch, grabbed his TV remote and channel-surfed his entire day away. Again. This had to stop.

It was the winter of 2019, and Sheppard, for the first time, was aimless. A fixture at the front of the line his entire life – especially on the football field – Sheppard suddenly had no clue where he stood.

After a successful eight-year career with the Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts, Miami Dolphins, New York Giants and Lions, the Atlanta native had recently retired from the NFL. What was next?

“A lot of [fans] look at former players like we all made it, like we’re all fulfilled because we played in the NFL,” Sheppard said. “But think about being in your early 30s, or younger, and not knowing what to do for the next 30 years of your life. I wasn’t fulfilled. I was lost.”

A high-IQ middle linebacker, Sheppard maximized his performance on the field by being studious off it. If there was an advantage to be gained against an opponent, Sheppard would find it on game tape. If a gameplan had holes, Sheppard saw through them first.

As a freshman in college, he helped LSU win a national championship. By his senior season, Sheppard developed into a first-team All-SEC player for the Tigers. It’s consensus among NFL player-personnel people: Teams need players like Sheppard to succeed. The Bills selected him in the third round (68th overall) of the 2011 draft.

Holmes, Detroit’s GM, had no doubt about it: Sheppard would stick.

“I was a scouting assistant at the time with the Rams, and you could just tell,” Holmes said. “He was a very, very demanding player.”

Campbell viewed Sheppard similarly.

Miami’s tight ends coach for several seasons, Campbell filled the team’s interim head coach position in the 2015-16 season, Sheppard’s second with the franchise. The day Sheppard finally decided to get off the couch, his first phone call was a no-brainer. During their time together with the Dolphins, Campbell told Sheppard he’s a natural-born leader who possesses the qualities to be a good coach.

Sheppard wasn’t so sure. It wasn’t the X’s and O’s or building relationships with players that concerned him. On that stuff, he was good.

“As a player, any team I was on, I was always viewed as the defensive leader. Guys came to me, rallied around me, and it was like that since college,” he said. “I always talked with everyone and tried to help everyone. It didn’t matter if you were an All-American superstar or a walk-on. That’s just the way I was brought up.”

The problem with launching a coaching career, Sheppard surmised, would be the elephant in every room he entered where decision-makers were present: his physical appearance.

“I remember thinking at the time, ‘I’m a 32-year-old tatted up Black man with dreads. If I go into this, will I have a chance to elevate?’ ”

It wasn’t a concern without merit.

While most tattoos can be covered with clothing, if need be, dreadlocks, obviously, are different. Sheppard’s hair is a statement about his persona. It’s deeply important to him.

On the other hand, maybe coaching would be right for him. Coaches with dreadlocks in major college football and the NFL, however, are about as common as journeyman quarterbacks who start in the Super Bowl. Talk about a dilemma.

A candid conversation with Campbell, then the assistant head coach/tight ends coach for the New Orleans Saints, helped clear the fog.

Pushing back against Sheppard’s apprehension about his “look,” Campbell said there’s nothing wrong with it. And if there were wrongheaded notions about Sheppard when he entered a room, they would be dispelled the moment he opened his mouth. For Sheppard, Campbell’s words were uplifting.

Still, Sheppard had doubts.

“We know that everyone in corporate America doesn’t function like Dan Campbell,” he said. “But to have this white man I look up to, who has sat in these rooms, say that to me, I was like, ‘OK. I’m going to give this a chance.’ ”

Campbell told Sheppard he would do whatever he could to help him get his foot in the door. He also encouraged Sheppard to reach out to all his other contacts in coaching.

In 2020, Sheppard got his first break: His alma mater was hiring. Sheppard joined LSU as its director of player development, which is more of an off-field role.

“Man, I fell in love with the job, and it had nothing to do with the football part of it,” Sheppard said. “I fell in love with the process of helping those kids grow, and with being a part of their lives. It just meant so much to me.

“Seeing the impact that you could have on somebody else when they look up to you, especially when they know you’ve been in their shoes, it means something. And all the while, I started to have my purpose again. I didn’t mind the [long] hours. I didn’t mind my phone blowing up. Everyone who had supported me and encouraged me to get into coaching, yeah, they were right. Dan was right.”

Sheppard’s return to Baton Rouge would be brief. Campbell needed him.

Describing Campbell’s introductory press conference as “lively” is akin to saying soul music owes a little something to Motown.

Only moments after Campbell’s raw display of emotion and energy – while he broadly outlined his plans to rebuild the Lions – he reached back into his past to assemble his staff. Although Campbell wasn’t sure what role Sheppard would play, he knew he wanted Sheppard with him at the start of his journey.

The scale of the project was daunting.

Six days apart in January 2021, Campbell and Holmes joined the Lions. They set out to make the Lions into something they haven’t been for much of their history: perennial winners.

They inherited a team that last won a division title in the 1993-94 season. Detroit hadn’t won a playoff game since the 1991-92 season. And during the 2008-09 season, the Lions went 0-16. With Holmes picking the players, Campbell coaching them and both teaming to change Detroit’s culture, progress was evident. Of course, it didn’t happen overnight.

The first season of the new regime looked all too familiar: 3-13-1. The Lions’ roller-coaster 2022-23 season – they started 1-6 and finished 8-2 – ended with them enjoying their first winning record (9-8) since the 2017-18 season (9-7). The last two seasons, the Lions have finished 12-5 and 15-2, respectively, winning consecutive NFC North Division titles.

As one of Campbell’s best position coaches, Sheppard was instrumental in building the new house. But before Sheppard joined the crew, Campbell reiterated his position on his protégé’s personal style.

With a chance to break into the NFL as an assistant coach, Sheppard figured he had reached the end of the road: His dreads would have to go. Having dreadlocks while in a behind-the-scenes college job was one thing. Coaching in the NFL – in which conformity is the rule, not the exception – was quite another. Prepared to “go corporate” to work for Campbell, Sheppard instead got an earful from Campbell.

“Before I came up for my interview, he almost laughed me off the phone,” Sheppard said, punctuating his recollection of the exchange with a hearty laugh. “I asked if I should cut my hair. I asked if I should wear a suit. In a way I can’t repeat, he told me I better not wear a suit.

“About my hair, he told me to quit the discussion about cutting my hair. He reminded me he thought I should be a coach because of who I am – not how I look. He reminded me it didn’t matter to him what someone else thought I should be. He reminded me he respected me, and I am respected, because of who I am. Finally, he said, ‘Don’t change.’ ”

At that point, Sheppard paused briefly before continuing.

“Man, when someone pours into you like that, someone you respect so much … hard to explain how much that means,” he said.

N. Jeremi Duru gets it.

Duru, a professor of sports law at American University in Washington, D.C., is widely regarded as one of the foremost experts on inclusive hiring and diversity issues in the NFL, particularly in matters of coaching and front-office opportunities. In supporting Sheppard’s individualism, Campbell provided a template for other head coaches to strengthen their staffs.

“Campbell walked his talk,” Duru said in a phone interview. “And [with] Sheppard, authenticity might be the most underrated trait of good leaders. People want to follow those who are authentic and who allow them to be authentic.

“In keeping his dreads, Sheppard is leading. He is showing those whom he coaches that they can be themselves as they seek to perfect their craft. This is a value add for any organization. The Lions are better for it.”

For anyone who has known Campbell during his 26-year NFL career as a player and coach, his support of Sheppard is not surprising, according to high-ranking league executive Troy Vincent. Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, admires how Campbell leads.

“That’s Dan being Dan. He doesn’t see hair or appearances, he sees a coach,” Vincent wrote to Andscape in a text message. “As a former player and a legend himself, Dan understands locker rooms, how trust is built, and what really drives performance. He’s looking for the right people, not the right look.

“He knows that when you give men the freedom to show up as who they are, and you hold them accountable for results, you create real buy-in. Great leaders have always known that what matters most isn’t what you see on the outside, but the heart, character, and commitment of the man inside. That’s how winning cultures are built.”

Standing outside his office on the second floor of the Lions’ Meijer Performance Center, Campbell reflected on his conversations through the years with Sheppard. 

The fact is, Campbell spent far more time easing Sheppard’s worries about his dreadlocks than he ever did questioning whether Sheppard could thrive as an NFL assistant.

“I’ve been in this business long enough to know … it’s about doing your job. It’s about the production,” Campbell said. “To me, you judge people by what’s in their heart. When you get around ’em for just a little bit, you can figure people out in a hurry – the good and the bad.

“Shep’s one of those guys, man, who’s just all business. He’s an unbelievable person. He’s a leader. He’s a leader of men. He’s detailed. He’s a grinder. He’s a worker. He’s all team. I’m just like, ‘Man, who cares about your hair, or your tats or your image?’ Just be you. And if they don’t like you for you, do you really want the job?”

Regarding Sheppard’s inclusion on the Lions’ first staff, Campbell and former defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn were in lockstep. Glenn, now the head coach of the New York Jets, echoed Campbell’s assessment that Sheppard was an up-and-comer.

Although Glenn was unfamiliar with Sheppard before he interviewed with him, he took a liking to Sheppard and steadily increased his responsibilities. With staff continuity in mind, Campbell, who expected Glenn to move on one day to run his own shop, gladly endorsed Glenn’s plans for Sheppard. The handwriting was on the wall.

“One of the things I appreciate about Dan so much is that he invests in his people. There is growth here for you,” Sheppard said. “Sometimes in corporate America, you get pigeonholed. People say, ‘Oh, I’m gonna work hard no matter what my situation is.’ But you’re going to work a little harder if you know you have a chance to elevate.”

Quickly, Aubrey Pleasant figured Sheppard would rise.

Pleasant met Sheppard when they were hired as Lions coaches before Campbell’s first season. Detroit’s defensive backs coach and defensive pass game coordinator, Pleasant was already a seasoned NFL assistant when he came aboard, having previously served on the staffs of the Washington Commanders and Los Angeles Rams.

The men bonded over their passion for the sport and their belief in what Campbell hoped to build. Being further along in his coaching career than Sheppard, Pleasant often provided his colleague a helping hand. A whiz with a computer, Pleasant offered tips to help Sheppard complete tasks and support the coaches above him.

Now a Rams assistant head coach, Pleasant is proud that he played a part in helping Sheppard gain his footing.

“With Shepp, man, I just thought so highly of him,” Pleasant, who oversees the Rams’ defensive backfield and coordinates their defense against the pass, said in a phone interview.

“There are certain guys … you just know. You see who they are and the potential they have in this business, but also who they are as people.”

As Glenn began to receive serious consideration for head coaching openings, he ramped up Sheppard’s workload, giving him greater responsibility in game planning. Moreover, Glenn generously imparted his wisdom and tricks of the trade.

“He always gave me little nuggets. He would always tell me things I needed to start doing to be ready for this job,” Sheppard said. “A lot of defensive coordinators don’t do that for their position coaches.

“Why? Because they don’t want them to take their jobs. But A.G. didn’t rock like that. He wasn’t focused on self-preservation. He was focused on the right things. He poured into me, which is what I try to do with my staff now.”

Glenn also helped prepare Sheppard for handling tough stretches. Campbell’s top lieutenant on defense, Sheppard has been a rock as the Lions have repeatedly shuffled their lineup after losing key players.

In Week 16, the Lions (8-6) are on the outside of the NFC playoff picture. During last week’s 41-34 road loss to the Rams, the absences of star safeties Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph continued to wreak havoc on the Lions’ overall defensive strategy.

Branch, a Pro Bowler, was placed on injured reserve after suffering a torn Achilles tendon in the victory over the Cowboys. Joseph, a first-team All-Pro, hasn’t played since suffering a knee injury in Week 6 against the Kansas City Chiefs. When vital components are missing, it’s darn near impossible for a unit to function effectively.

With only three games remaining, the Lions are now in a win-out-and-hope-for-help situation. Their difficult path resumes Sunday when they play host to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Undoubtedly, Campbell will keep leaning on Sheppard as he attempts to lead the Lions to the postseason for a third straight season for the first time since the mid-1990s.

Regardless of whether the Lions complete the feat, it’s evident they’ve built the winning culture that Campbell emphasized from Day 1. Campbell empowers his assistants to be authentic – to pour into others, to grow and to lead.

Sheppard and his dreadlocks provide the proof.

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