After the Detroit Lions promoted Kelvin Sheppard to their defensive coordinator role, the coaching staff dominos continue to fall. The Lions are reportedly promoting assistant linebacker coach Shaun Dion Hamilton to linebackers coach, per Matt Zenitz of CBSSports/247Sports.

Hamilton played his college football at Alabama and was drafted in the sixth round of the 2018 NFL Draft by the Washington Commanders. After three seasons, he was released and claimed off waivers by the Lions. Hamilton performed well in camp and looked like he was headed for a spot on the 2021 roster but was injured and missed the season. He returned in 2022 and took on a bigger role amongst the linebackers.

At the end of 2022 training camp, the Lions held a players-only practice where they tasked different members on the roster to act as coaches, and Hamilton was selected to call plays for the defense at that practice. While he was eventually released at cutdowns, he impressed the coaching staff with his awareness and intelligence so much that coach Dan Campbell offered him an assistant linebacker coaching role.

“As a player, you can read in between the lines and see the writing on the wall,” Hamilton told Justin Rogers when was at the Detroit News. “Being my fifth year in the NFL, I knew where the trajectory of my career was going. And I had always told myself, when I first started playing, I never want to be the guy — not saying I’m too big to be on a practice squad or anything like that, but just stability-wise (I didn’t want to linger).”

Over the past three seasons, Hamilton has been recognized as an up-and-coming young coach and was hand-selected to coach the defensive backs at the 2023 Senior Bowl.

Working hand-in-hand with Sheppard every day, Hamilton has impressed the Lions’ new defensive coordinator with his coaching abilities, and last December, Sheppard noted that Hamilton was ready for the next step in his career.

“I got a guy like Shaun Dion Hamilton, who’s fully ready to run his own room as a linebacker coach,” Sheppard told the media.