2015 DETROIT LIONS MEDIA GUIDE

DETROIT LIONS
MARTIN MAYHEW
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF
FOOTBALL OPERATIONS AND
GENERAL MANAGER
Since becoming the Lions Executive Vice
President of Football Operations and General
Manager, Martin Mayhew has orchestrated a
dramatic transformation of the Lions personnel
and front office. Now in his 15th season with the
Lions, Mayhew reports directly to Mrs. Ford on all
football matters.
With 2015 marking Mayhew’s seventh season
as the team’s executive football decision-maker,
he continues to build the Lions roster through a
plan that focuses on acquiring players with great
football character who are smart and physicallytough.
The process of improving the Lions’ success on
the field continued in January 2014 when the team
hired a new head coach in Jim Caldwell.
Along with President Tom Lewand, Mayhew
hired Caldwell to lead this franchise due to his
experience coaching at a championship level and
has background utilizing effective schemes and
emphasizing strong fundamentals.
Mayhew believed that Caldwell’s extensive
experience, skill-set and success as both head
coach and offensive coordinator will greatly
benefit the team’s development. Caldwell led the
Indianapolis Colts to Super Bowl XLIV as head
coach and won two Super Bowl titles (Super Bowl
XLI with Indianapolis and Super Bowl XLVII with
Baltimore) as quarterbacks coach and offensive
coordinator. While with the Colts, Caldwell helped
guide one of the greatest offensive dynasties in pro
football history.
In Caldwell’s first year as the Lions head coach,
the Lions won 11 games, the most since 1991, and
earned a berth in the playoffs. Caldwell recorded the
most victories by a Lions head coach in their first
year with the franchise since Potsy Clark led the
Portsmouth Spartans to 11 wins in 1931.
Mayhew also has reorganized and enhanced the
team’s player personnel operations throughout his
tenure as general manager, including the addition
of experienced personnel executives, reorganizing
scouting territories and launching a new scouting
database to process information.
In his role, Mayhew oversees the player
personnel department, including college and
pro scouting, and plays an integral role in the
coordination of the team’s salary cap objectives
and negotiation of player contracts. Mayhew and
Lewand collectively work on all team matters
pertaining to the NFL Collective Bargaining
Agreement and League policies and procedures.
One of his earliest and most important additions
to the personnel department was the 2009 hiring of
former NFL quarterback and long-time personnel
executive James “Shack” Harris, who won a Super
Bowl with Baltimore as pro personnel director and
helped Jacksonville to two playoff appearances as
vice president of player personnel. Harris served
seven seasons with the Lions and, after 37 years in
the NFL as a player and in player personnel, retired
after the 2014 season.
Mayhew’s improvement of the Lions player
personnel operation continued in January 2013
when he added Brian Xanders, former Denver
Broncos general manager, as one of the team’s
senior personnel executives. Xanders, now in his
22nd NFL season, has experience in a variety of
player personnel, football operations and coaching
roles gained during his time with the Broncos and
Atlanta Falcons organizations. Xanders served four
seasons as the Broncos general manager, including
the 2011 season when Denver won the 2011 AFC
West Division title. Since joining the Lions, Xanders
has overseen the creation of a new proprietary
personnel database and analytical program that
has greatly enhanced and aided the team’s scouting
operation and assists with the college draft.
In addition to his duties, the coordination of
all football operations, managed day-to-day by
Senior Vice President of Football Operations Cedric
Saunders, is under the direction of Mayhew. This
includes team travel, training camp operations,
security, medical staff, equipment operations,
video department and cafeteria staff. Mayhew
also works on many of the Lions’ football-related
legal matters.
Mayhew originally joined the Lions’ front office
in February 2001, as senior director of football
administration/staff counsel. He was promoted to
senior vice president of football administration/
legal affairs on February 3, 2003, and on October
14, 2004, he was appointed senior vice president
and assistant general manager.
ROSTER CONSTRUCTION
Along with free agency and the draft, Mayhew
utilizes every resource, including trades and
the league’s waiver wire process, year-round to
improve the team’s roster from top to bottom.
Significant change to the team’s roster over
the past six seasons underscores Mayhew’s
24/7 philosophy and approach to improving the
team’s roster. Only three players remain from the
2008 roster when Mayhew began overseeing its
development.
In 2011, Mayhew’s approach led to the Lions
winning 10 regular-season games for the first
time since 1995 and also earning a playoff berth
for the first time since 1999. Last year, the team’s
11 wins marked the fourth time in franchise history
the Lions claimed 11+ wins in a season, including
1931 (11), 1962 (11) and 1991 (12).
Defensively, the Lions finished second in total
defense (300.9 yards/game), the best ranking
since 1970, and was also third in points allowed
(17.6), the lowest since 1980. Leading the way
for the Lions was their top-ranked rush defense
that allowed just 69.3 yards per game. The Lions
became just the ninth team in NFL history to finish
the season yielding less than 70 rushing yards per
game in a season.
Among the individual accolades accomplished
by the Lions talented roster, Detroit featured five
Pro Bowl players for the first time since 2000. QB
Matthew Stafford, who went on to win Pro Bowl
Offensive MVP honors, became the first Lions
quarterback to play in the Pro Bowl since QB
Greg Landry in 1972. Last year’s top free agent
EXECUTIVES AND COACHING