The Detroit Lions have reacted to their dreadful 1-7 start to the season by firing general manager Martin Mayhew and president Tom Lewand, according to multiple sources.
Both men have a long association with the franchise. Lewand was in his 20th season with the Lions, while Mayhew had been the team’s GM since 2008.
Mayhew admitted last week that he needed to draft better, after a number of first round picks either left the team or faded into obscurity.
“I gotta do a better job drafting across the board in general,” Mayhew told reporters last Friday. “And by no means do I mean I’ve been outstanding in terms of our draft. We’ve drafted some really good players and we’ve missed on some players. I think if you look around the league, that’s pretty common. But we want to be perfect. We want to be perfect.”
The Lions hired head coach Jim Caldwell in 2014, hoping he would emulate the success he had with Peyton Manning at the Indianapolis Colts. But the offense has failed to spark with Matthew Stafford having one of his worst seasons at quarterback, and the rushing attack the worst in the league. Caldwell’s job is understood to be safe for the time being.
The Lions have time to assess their next moves as the team have a bye this week. They lost heavily to the Kansas City Chiefs last weekend.
