The Lions added Randy Edsall to their coaching staff as director of football research and special projects, but his gameday role is still being sorted out.
"He's going to work closely with both the offensive and defensive staff during the season on special projects," Lions general manager Bob Quinn said at the Combine last week. "I'm not going to get exactly, specifically into the day-to-day roles, but he's a part of the coaching staff. During the offseason he'll do some projects on the personnel side as well to kind of help us out."
Quinn said Edsall's role will be "a little different" than the one Ernie Adams has in New England. Adams helps Bill Belichick with game management situations in addition to his many other responsibilities.
"We're still kind of discussing that right now," Quinn said of Edsall's gameday role. "Really, I've been on the job for like six-and-a-half weeks. Haven't got that far down the list, but that's something that we're going to talk about."
Quinn and Edsall go all the way back to their time together at Connecticut where Quinn was a graduate assistant when Edsall was the head coach.
Lions head coach Jim Caldwell will speak to reporters at the NFL League Meetings in Boca Raton, Florida later this month and might offer further clarity on Edsall's role on his staff then.
