The Detroit Lions are going through a transformative offseason. After the most successful regular season in franchise history, the Lions suffered significant losses in their coaching staff. It turns out, however, that the departures aren’t limited to the sidelines.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Friday that the Lions are losing a key member of the front office as well. The director of scouting advancement, Mike Martin, is reportedly leaving Detroit to become Notre Dame’s new general manager.
Martin has been with the Lions since 2021 as he was one of the first external hires for GM Brad Holmes. As Schefter points out, Martin played a role in rebuilding the roster in the Dan Campbell era.
As a head scout, Martin had a big role in evaluating talent and was among the team’s top-ranking personnel executives. Before joining the Lions, he was with the Panthers and the Texans in various roles.
Now, Martin gets a big opportunity with a program coming off of an excellent season in which they made the CFP national championship game. Head coach Marcus Freeman is one of the best young coaches in college football. Thanks to his reputation and Notre Dame’s ability to recruit, Martin will get a chance to build a sustained winner in Notre Dame.
Notre Dame general manager Chad Bowden left to take a job with the USC a few weeks ago, creating a vacancy that they are now filling with the hiring of Martin.
In recent years, plenty of college football programs have adopted the NFL model. Instead of having the head coach in charge of recruiting as well, having a general manager who can identify talent and acquire them with the NIL money is a widely accepted approach.
Martin has certainly shown an ability to evaluate talent in the Lions front office. Brad Holmes has done an excellent job drafting impact players like Amon-Ra St. Brown, Alim McNeill, Kerby Joseph, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Brian Branch over the years. For the Lions to close the gap between them and the Eagles, that has to continue this offseason. How the changes in the scouting department will affect this remains to be seen.
