ALLEN PARK -- Duron Harmon is one of several former New England Patriots players to join Lions coach Matt Patricia in Detroit. The veteran safety wasn’t just joining familiar faces and schemes when he was traded to the Lions. He was also reunited with someone he described as the first NFL player to take him under their wing.
Harmon said that man was Steve Gregory, who the Lions happened to promote to defensive backs coach back in March. Gregory had served as a defensive assistant for the previous two seasons in Detroit.
Gregory, 37, played for the Chargers and Patriots during his eight seasons in the league with his final two under Patricia, and in front of a young Harmon in New England’s secondary in 2012 and 2013. Harmon said earlier in the offseason that “Gregory was like the one who really took me under his wing when I first got there as a young pup.”
“Steve has always been, if not the smartest player, one of the smartest players in the room,” Harmon said during a Zoom chat with reporters on Tuesday. “He was a coach to me then. I think that was his eighth year in the league. He played in two different systems. He was in San Diego, and then he came to obviously New England, and just his knowledge for the game, it was always in his back pocket between him and Dev (Patriots safety Devin McCourty), and (I) just tried to learn as much as I could.
“Obviously, you know, he is, you know, the secondary coach and I have the utmost respect for him and his ability to prepare and get us prepared. Just talking to him every day, I’m always asking him questions, and he’s always finding out the answer for me and just making sure that I can feel comfortable and the whole secondary feels comfortable.”
Related: Detroit Lions finalize coaching staff with 8 new hires, promotions | New safety Duron Harmon wants to play 90-95% of the snaps after trade to Detroit
The organization is high on Gregory, and this represents more positive praise from someone who has spent some time next to him in the trenches. He’s one of a handful of new Lions assistant coaches who come with not only Patriots connections, but playing experience under Patricia.
This list includes Tyrone McKenzie (linebackers coach), Tony Carter (defensive assistant), Ty Warren (minority coaching internship) and Gregory. It’s also worth nothing that Bill Belichick hired new defensive coordinator Cory Undlin as a defensive assistant in 2004, which was the same year Patricia started there as an offensive assistant.
After Gregory’s playing career ended, he returned to Syracuse as a special teams quality control coach until Patricia came calling. He was one of seven Lions staffers with ties to Syracuse when he was first hired.
“Steve is a young guy who played for me,” Patricia said of Gregory back at the Senior Bowl. “Smart guy who has just continually developed and grown in his very young coaching career. We’ll see how that goes, but I think he’s done a good job in his own personal growth here in the last couple years as a football coach.”
Harmon and Gregory will look to do their part in turning around one of the worst defenses in the NFL this season. The Lions allowed the most passing yards in the league while generating the second-fewest amount of sacks in 2019. For those who still have nightmares from 2008, last year’s team came within 64 yards of matching that level of defensive futility. Just to put it all into perspective.
The pair is more than familiar with the scheme but are looking at meshing with a ton of new pieces without a preseason or typical training camp. Harmon joins Desmond Trufant, Jeff Okudah, Darryl Roberts and Jayron Kearse as new additions to the secondary.
Harmon said the system is similar, no doubt, but that the game has continued to evolve. Now, he says his focus is on getting on the field and “actually playing football.”
“When, you know, years go by and you evolve because the game is always evolving, so you have to do different things to keep up with what the offenses are doing,” Harmon said of Patricia’s system. “So there are some new things that I’m going to have to learn, and I’m working the hardest I can to learn those things and make sure that when I go out there, people can count on me to know that I’m always going to know what I’m doing and I’m doing my job at a high level. But like you said, there’s new things, there’s old things, but at the end of the day, we haven’t played football for eight months. My last game was in January, so seven months. So just getting out there, actually playing football, is going to be a challenge for all of us.
“We haven’t had the time on the field that we usually have, so it’s going to be a challenge for all of us to go out there, obviously communicate, and play. Because sitting there on the Zoom and saying, ‘This is what I would do,’ is completely different than being on the field and doing it at a high level. So, it’s going to be a challenge for all of us, but like I said, there are some great men in this room, we have great leaders, we have great coaches, we just have a great overall (culture) throughout the Lions organization. I’m just excited to be able to get on the field soon and work to win football games.”
The Lions have their first padded practice set for Aug. 17. If all goes according to plan, Detroit opens the season against the Chicago Bears on Sept. 13 at Ford Field.
Related: Detroit Lions, fresh off 3-win season, crowned NFC North favorite by Football Outsiders
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