Dre Bly joins Dan Campbell’s coaching staff

The Detroit Lions will have another former player joining the coaching staff.

According to the team, former Lions cornerback Dre Bly will be joining the coaching staff of Dan Campbell.

They also made the hiring of tight ends coach Steve Heiden official on Thursday morning.

In early January, Bly parted ways with the Carolina Tar Heels after spending four years in Chapel Hill as their cornerbacks coach.

“We all love Dre Bly and appreciate what he means to the University of North Carolina as a Hall of Famer, an unbelievable advocate for the program, and an excellent coach,” said Mack Brown, via All Tar Heels. “Dre and I mutually agreed to part ways so that he could explore other opportunities in the coaching profession. We appreciate everything he’s done for the program over the last few years and wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”

Bly, 45, is a former NFL player who also played in Detroit from 2003-2006 and again in 2010.

In 2022, Dan Campbell made the tough decision to fire defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant after the secondary repeatedly faltered and miscommunications on the field could not be corrected.

Safeties coach Brian Duker and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn spent an increased amount of time with the defensive backs in the second half of the season.

Duker will likely remain with the team working with the safeties, while Bly can work towards addressing the issues in the secondary.

The team possesses two first round draft picks and could allocate one top pick to bringing in a high-end defensive back to aid the defense.