Report: Lions Offered Iowa State's Matt Campbell An Eight-Year Deal Worth $65 Million

The Detroit Lions landed a 'Campbell' this offseason to be their next head coach.

It just might not have been the one they originally wanted.

Reports from Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports state that current Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell had an offer from the Detroit Lions on the table for a whopping eight years and $65 million.

Campbell turned down the offer, and instead the job eventually went to New Orleans Saints assistant head coach and tight ends coach Dan Campbell.

The Lions are not the first team to have interest in the Iowa State coach, as he was also being courted by the New York Jets at one point.

Dan Campbell, the Lions head coach, created buzz right away with a press conference that had everyone talking. He went on a rant that many thought was downright bizarre.

"It's found a way to overcome adversity, right? So this team is going to be built on, we're going to kick you in the teeth, right? And when you punch us back, we're going to smile at you. And when you knock us down, we're going to get up and on the way up, we're going to bite a kneecap off. All right?" Campbell said at his first presser for the Lions.

"And we're going to stand up and it's going to take two more shots to knock us down. And on the way up, we're going to take your other kneecap and we're going to get up and it's going to take three shots to get us down. And when we do, we're going to take another hunk out of you."

The Lions had plenty of interest in Matt Campbell, the Iowa State coach, but the infatuation was hidden well and never reported by the media.

The college ranks continue to be a building block for the NFL, apparently. Urban Meyer, formerly of Ohio State, will make his NFL debut as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars in September, while Matt Rhule enters his second season as coach of the Carolina Panthers, inking a seven-year deal worth $62.5 million. Rhule previously coached at Baylor University.

















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Matt has been a part of the Cleveland Sports landscape working in the media since 1994 when he graduated from broadcasting school. His coverage beats include the Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Cavaliers. He's written three books, and won the "2020 AP Sports Stringer Lifetime Service Award."