Odds to Be Next Detroit Lions Head Coach Reveals Surprise Favorite

The Detroit Lions fired Matt Patricia after 2.5 underwhelming seasons as the team's head coach. With a rock-solid veteran QB and legitimate talent on both sides of the ball, Detroit figures to be a pretty desirable landing spot for head coaching candidates this offseason.

But the odds suggest that the Lions could be looking to hire a relatively surprising candidate.

All we need's a chance #OnePride pic.twitter.com/WXJv9Ynatj
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) December 8, 2020

Robert Saleh (+150) is currently the favorite to coach the Lions in 2021, according to a prop bet on FanDuel Sportsbook. Saleh has done an excellent job as the defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers over the past few seasons. He's helmed a top-six defense in terms of yards allowed in back-to-back years now, despite San Francisco suffering a litany of injuries on defense in 2020.

But hiring another defensive-minded head coach could leave a bad taste in Lions fans' mouths. If Detroit wants to go in a different direction, offensive guru Eric Bieniemy (+700) currently boasts the second-best odds to secure the job. Bieniemy has helmed a top-five scoring offense in each of the last three seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Arthur Smith (+900), Lincoln Riley (+1000) and current interim coach Darrell Bevell (+1100) round out the rest of the top five. All three have made their bones as offensive-minded head coaches.

These odds will surely move as we progress toward the offseason, but Saleh is the pretty clear-cut favorite as of now.

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Max Staley is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Max Staley also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mstaley1212. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.