PRESEASON EditiON - Detroit Lions
PRESEASON EditiON - Detroit Lions
PRESEASON EditiON - Detroit Lions
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exeCutives & CoaChing<br />
<strong>Detroit</strong>lions.com<br />
Media.<strong>Detroit</strong>lions.com<br />
strengthening each position unit from top to bottom. Instead of just<br />
featuring some standout players, this team now moves forward with<br />
deep, talented position groups.<br />
On defense, the team’s ability to disrupt opponent offenses starts<br />
upfront with the <strong>Lions</strong> defensive line. Over the past two years, it has<br />
led the <strong>Lions</strong> defense with its ability to attack. In 2010, it was the<br />
most-improved defensive line unit in all of the NFL, accounting for 39<br />
of the team’s 44 sacks. That season, it registered 23.5 more sacks than<br />
in 2009 and line play was a big factor in the defensive unit allowing<br />
46.9 yards less per game (highest improvement in NFL) and 125 less<br />
points (highest improvement in NFL). In 2011, the defensive linemen<br />
garnered 35 of the team’s 41 sacks, and its pressure helped the team<br />
tie for the third-most takeaways (34) and record the most defensive<br />
return touchdowns (7) in the NFL.<br />
Mayhew bolstered that unit over the past two years by combining<br />
DE Kyle Vanden Bosch (unrestricted free agent), DT Corey Williams<br />
(trade), DT Ndamukong Suh (second overall draft pick and 2010 AP<br />
Defensive Rookie of the Year) and DE Cliff Avril to form the starting<br />
unit. Vanden Bosch not only provides a tenacious motor on the outside,<br />
but he also provides veteran leadership on and off the field that<br />
helps guide this team. The team’s deep defensive line also features<br />
productive players who significantly contribute in the team’s rotation,<br />
including DE Lawrence Jackson (a former first round pick from Seattle<br />
acquired via trade), third-year DE Willie Young (a 2010 seventh-round<br />
pick), DT Sammie Hill, DT Nick Fairley (winner of the 2010 Lombardi<br />
Award, a consensus All-American and AP SEC Defensive Player of the<br />
Year) and veteran DT Andre Fluellen.<br />
At linebacker, the team returns all three starters (Tulloch, LB<br />
Deandre Levy and LB Justin Durant) for the first time since 2007, and<br />
Mayhew has used the draft over the last two years, with the additions<br />
of LB Doug Hogue in 2010 and LB Tahir Whitehead and LB Travis Lewis<br />
in 2011, to bolster the position’s depth. Tulloch had career highs in<br />
sacks, interceptions and fumble recoveries in his first season with<br />
<strong>Detroit</strong>. The importance of resigning Tulloch to a long-term deal was<br />
not understated by Mayhew as he referred to him as the quarterback<br />
on defense. Tulloch’s knowledge of the schemes and ability to attack<br />
from the linebacker spot gives the team an anchor in the middle.<br />
In the secondary, the <strong>Lions</strong> return three players who started (S<br />
Louis Delmas, S Amari Spievey, CB Chris Houston) in 2011, along<br />
with veteran S Erik Coleman, who missed all of last year due to<br />
injury. To add depth, Mayhew signed free agents CB Jacob Lacey and<br />
S Sean Jones and selected three cornerbacks, Dwight Bently, Chris<br />
Greenwood and Jonte Green, in the 2012 NFL Draft.<br />
Offensively, wide receiver and tight end have become positions of<br />
strength to complement Stafford at quarterback.<br />
Leading the receivers is Johnson, who combines unparalleled<br />
athletic ability and size with an outstanding work ethic that has<br />
resulted in him now being considered among the very best players<br />
in the game.<br />
In 2011, he earned his second-straight Pro Bowl nod and was<br />
named All-Pro. He set a team record with 16 touchdown catches,<br />
and he accumulated the second-most receiving yards (1,681) in team<br />
history when he led the NFL in that category. Including the playoff<br />
game, Johnson registered over 200 receiving yards in three of the<br />
team’s final four games. With the long-term extension completed,<br />
Johnson will remain a critical component as the team pushes to<br />
greater heights. This past offseason his ranking as the third best<br />
player in the NFL in an NFL Network poll of current players was the<br />
highest for any non-quarterback.<br />
While Johnson leads the receiver group, veteran WR Nate<br />
Burleson and second-year WR Titus Young accompany him to give the<br />
<strong>Lions</strong> inside and outside receiving threats. Burleson set a career-high<br />
with 73 receptions last year, and his veteran leadership continues to<br />
positively impact the team in many ways. Young offers another deep<br />
threat on the outside, and the <strong>Lions</strong> added to that unit in the draft by<br />
selecting WR Ryan Broyles, who set the NCAA all-time career record<br />
for receptions at Oklahoma.<br />
Few teams feature a group of talented tight ends who offer<br />
multiple dimensions as do the <strong>Lions</strong>. Fourth-year TE Brandon<br />
Pettigrew rewrote the record books for <strong>Lions</strong> tight ends each of<br />
the past two seasons, and TE Tony Scheffler presents matchup<br />
challenges for opponents with his size, speed and ability to flex out<br />
wide. In 2011, Pettigrew and Scheffler combined for 11 touchdown<br />
passes. Veteran TE Will Heller adds power and the ability to flex in<br />
the backfield as a fullback.<br />
Upfront, the <strong>Lions</strong> have featured the most consistent lineup on<br />
offensive line for the team since the early 1980s. Returning starters<br />
LT Jeff Backus, LG Rob Sims, C Dominic Raiola, RG Stephen Peterman<br />
and RT Gosder Cherilus became the <strong>Lions</strong>’ first offensive line to start<br />
the same five players to begin the 2011 season since the team did so<br />
from 1980-82. Backus became the <strong>Lions</strong> all-time leader in consecutive<br />
starts last year by ending the season with 176. This consistency helped<br />
the <strong>Lions</strong> finish in the Top-10 in fewest sacks yielded per pass play.<br />
As Mayhew seeks to upgrade talent, he added 2012 first-round<br />
pick T Riley Reiff to compete for a starting spot and to provide another<br />
building block on the line for the future.<br />
The running back position should give the <strong>Lions</strong> another threat on<br />
offense as Best, second-year RB Mikel Leshoure and RB Kevin Smith<br />
return healthy in 2012.<br />
On special teams, the <strong>Lions</strong> once again feature one of the NFL<br />
all-time great kickers in Jason Hanson, whose 126 points in 2011<br />
were the fourth-most in team history. In his 20th NFL season last<br />
year, Hanson connected on five 50-yard field goals, became the first<br />
player to hit 50 career 50-yard field goals and set an NFL record for<br />
most games played with one team.<br />
The team’s special teams units are led by John Wendling, a Pro<br />
Bowl alternate. He once again was among the League leaders in<br />
special team’s tackles.<br />
lEgal Background<br />
Throughout his journey leading up to his current post, Mayhew has<br />
always kept an eye toward the future, as evidenced by his strategic<br />
exposure to several jobs and internships while earning his law degree<br />
from Georgetown’s Law Center (2000). He is one of two <strong>Lions</strong>’ front<br />
office executives with law degrees.<br />
During the 1999 NFL season, while attending law school, Mayhew<br />
served a nine-month internship in the Washington Redskins’ pro<br />
personnel department, which exposed him to the responsibilities of<br />
an NFL scouting department. While with the Redskins, he scouted<br />
NFL players and late NFL cuts and worked the waiver wire and also<br />
assisted in the evaluation of college players for the 2000 NFL Draft.<br />
Mayhew also had two separate internship stints with the NFL in both<br />
the labor operations and legal departments.<br />
In labor operations, Mayhew worked closely with NFL executives<br />
on issues involving player contracts and the salary cap. With the legal<br />
department, Mayhew assisted the NFL’s in-house labor counsel by<br />
researching legal issues, digesting cases in preparation for arbitration<br />
hearings and drafting legal memoranda related to player injury and<br />
non-injury grievances. He also was exposed to corporate law while<br />
working for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld, L.L.P. in Washington<br />
D.C., one of the NFL’s primary firms used as outside counsel. At<br />
Akin Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld, he researched legal issues,<br />
wrote legal documents and assisted firm associates and partners in<br />
preparation for litigation.<br />
Pro carEEr<br />
Mayhew played nine years in the NFL as a cornerback for Buffalo<br />
(1988), Washington (1989-92) and Tampa Bay (1993-96). He was the<br />
Bills’ 10th-round selection in the 1988 NFL draft and was a starter<br />
on the Redskins’ Super Bowl xxVI championship team.<br />
sEMinolE standout<br />
He entered the League after graduating from Florida State with<br />
a bachelor of science degree in business management. While at FSU,<br />
he was a National Merit and Achievement Scholar and earned GTE<br />
CoSida Academic All-America honors. He was also a two-sport athlete,<br />
lettering on both the Seminoles’ football and track teams. Between<br />
graduation and the draft, Mayhew was a corporate trainee at First<br />
Union National Bank in Charlotte, N.C.<br />
off thE fiEld<br />
Throughout his professional career, Mayhew has contributed to<br />
several community endeavors both as a player and as an executive.<br />
In 1993, while playing for Tampa Bay, Mayhew was given the Chelo<br />
Huerta Community Service Award, and the following year he was a<br />
nominee for the True Value Hardware Man of the Year. From 1995-<br />
96, Mayhew was the Bucs’ United Way Spokesperson. Mayhew is<br />
a member of the Florida Bar and the Sports Lawyers Association.<br />
Additionally, Mayhew is a member of the Board of Trustees for the<br />
Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village.<br />
For the past four years, he has hosted the Martin Mayhew Youth<br />
Football Coaching Academy for approximately 100 coaches from<br />
Think <strong>Detroit</strong> PAL. The purpose of the camp is to provide additional<br />
teaching and training tools for coaches so they can continue having<br />
a positive and long-lasting impact on the young lives they touch<br />
through youth football.<br />
Mayhew and his wife, Sabrina, have a daughter, Sierra, and two<br />
sons, Ryan and Justin.