Senior Bowl Names Lions & Jets Staffs for 2022 All-Star Classic

Senior Bowl Names Lions & Jets Staffs for All-Star Classic

The Reese’s Senior Bowl today announced that NFL Football Operations has assigned the Detroit Lions and New York Jets as the coaching staffs for the 73rd annual Reese’s Senior Bowl to be played on Saturday February 5, 2022, at Hancock Whitney Stadium on the campus of the University of South Alabama.

The game will be aired live on the NFL Network at 1:30 CT.  The Lions own the No. 2 pick, while the Jets own the Nos. 4 and 10 selections in the 2022 NFL draft. NFL teams are offered the opportunity to coach the two Senior Bowl squads based on draft order, unless they are transitioning coaching staffs. The Jaguars hold the No. 1 pick of the draft but with the club in search of a coach did not quality. The Lions hold the #2 overall pick, while the Jets have the #4 overall selection. The Lions last coached the Senior Bowl in 2020 under then-coach Matt Patricia. The Jets have not coached a Senior Bowl team since 1979 under coach Walt Michaels.

       Go to   seniorbowl.com   for this years Player list

Draft Insiders.com will attend all events and have in-depth coverage in Feb Newsletter

The Senior Bowl is coming off a record-breaking year in which 106 players were selected in the 2021 NFL draft, which represents 41% of the entire class. Over the past three drafts (2019-2021), 88.4% of the players wound up making an active 53-man NFL roster at some point during their rookie season.

The Senior Bowl has long been the nation’s most prestigious college all-star game and it is the only one coached by entire staffs from two NFL clubs.  NFL Football Operations smartly uses the draft order to select participating clubs because it serves as a valuable mechanism of parity for competitive balance in the league each year.

For the first time in the game’s rich history, head coaches will serve in more an advisory capacity while promoting select assistants into leadership roles on the staff (e.g. running backs coach to head coach, secondary coach to defensive coordinator, etc.). This new change will offer position coaches and coordinators developmental opportunities in a setting that showcases their skills in front of peers from all 32 clubs.

In addition, Senior Bowl leadership is excited to announce that four coaches from Historically Black Colleges & Universities will be a part of Senior Bowl coaching staffs in this year’s game. Coaches selected to take part in this minority fellowship program will be a part of on-field coaching, position meetings, and nightly staff evaluations.  The primary goal of this new initiative is to connect HBCU coaches with NFL decision-makers in hope that it leads to future career opportunities, while also giving the rest of the league’s teams four individuals to contact for information on Senior Bowl participants.

The three recent rosters have included the following standouts: QB Justin Herbert (Chargers), QB Mac Jones  (Patriots), QB Jalen Hurts (Eagles),  DS Jeremy Chinn (Panthers), WR Deebo Samuel (49ers), WR Chase Claypool (Steelers), WR Brandon Aiyuk (49ers), (Eagles), DB Kyle Dugger (Patriots), RB Elijah Mitchell (49ers), RB Antonio Gibson (WFT), WR Terry McLaurin (WFT), OL Chris Lindstrom (Falcons),  OL Elgton Jenkins (Packers), DL Montez Sweat (WFT), RB Najee Harris (Steelers), RB Rhamondre Stevenson (Patriots), RB Michael Carter (Jets), WR Kadarius Toney (Giants), WR Devonta Smith (Eagles), OL Quinn Meinerz (Broncos), and OL Creed Humphrey (Chiefs).