Jon Dykema embarks upon his 14th season with the Lions and his third as the team's director of football compliance & lead football counsel, after previously serving as manager of football administration & lead counsel (2016-2021), interim general counsel (2015) and staff counsel (2011-2014).
In his current role, Dykema's responsibilities include overseeing the legal aspects of the club's football operation, negotiating player contracts, assisting with the club's salary cap planning and management, helping to direct analytics initiatives and coordinating with the league office regarding CBA compliance, player contracts and grievances. He also advises the coaching staff on playing rule interpretations and changes, penalty trends and replay reviews. On the business side of the organization, Dykema functions as the club's privacy officer for HIPAA compliance and helps manage the organization's government relations strategies and policies. In 2012, Dykema was selected to represent the Lions at the NFL-Stanford University Graduate School of Business Executive Education Program for Managers.
Prior to joining the Lions, Dykema spent four years (2007-11) as the director of men's basketball operations at the University of Utah, where his duties included game scheduling, budgeting, coordinating team travel and managing the day-to-day operations of the program.
He began his NFL career as a summer student equipment intern with the San Francisco 49ers (2000-02) before completing football administration (2003-04) and legal (summer 2005) internships with the Lions.
A 2003 graduate of Michigan State University, Dykema earned both his juris doctorate from the University of Akron School of Law and MBA from The University of Akron College of Business Administration in 2007. He was admitted to the Utah State Bar in 2010 and is certified to practice in-house for the Lions by the State Bar of Michigan. While at Michigan State, Dykema worked as a student manager for Tom Izzo and the Spartan basketball team (1999-2003), serving his final two years as head manager. He was a member of two Final Four squads, including the program's 2000 NCAA National Championship team.
Dykema is a native of Grand Rapids, Mich. He and his wife, Rachel, have two children – daughter, Allie, and son, Matthew.
