Larry Lee is tired. So are a bunch of his former teammates. Tired of watching the Lions lose year after year, tired of watching them spin in an endless cycle of mediocrity.
"The former player in us, I’m telling you, it’s been hard, very hard, to know what I know and to have worn the colors and been around during some better times," Lee told the Stoney & Jansen Show on Monday.
The Lions have 12 playoff appearances in the Super Bowl era. Lee played a part in eight of them as either a player, scout or executive, most recently as the team's vice president of football operations prior to the arrival of Matt Millen.
As the organization begins another search for a new regime, Lee has his eyes on the general manager job. The way he sees it, he can offer a combination of experience and perspective that no other candidate can match.
"I would be coming from an angle of history, experience and relationships and my love for the organization," Lee said. "Knowing what I know, not only on the field but in a front office scenario, I was really fortunate because I was in on all the personnel decisions on the left -- cuts, trades, transactions, free agency -- and then on the right I did negotiate some contracts along with (former GM) Chuck Schmidt and (and former president) Tom Lewand. And I handled all the day-to-day operations, team travel, training camp, the trainers, the video department, the equipment room, etc.
"So I feel like I have a rare trifecta, man, of being a former player downstairs and a guy that did both of those things upstairs. Normally when you’re upstairs you do one or the other — you’re a personnel guy or you’re an administrative guy. I was blessed to do both. So I feel like I have a ton of information and a ton of history and relationships that I could help really turn that place around."
Lee said he has reached out to Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp and president Rod Wood to express his interest in the job. The organization interviewed three in-house candidates last week and is set to interview former Texans GM Rick Smith next week.
"I think they’re going through their process, and hopefully I will hear from them," Lee said.
Lee, 61, spent five seasons with the Lions as an offensive lineman from 1981-85. He returned to the organization in a front office role in the early '90s, originally as a player development assistant. These days, he works for the Fritz Pollard Alliance, which promotes diversity hires across the NFL.
Lee declined to reveal any specifics of his potential plan for the Lions, but said he's 'very much in touch' with a number of rising GM and head coach candidates around the NFL through his work with the Fritz Pollard Alliance.
"Those are the kind of things I like to keep to myself right now, until I have to say them hopefully privately and go from there," he said.
Generally, Lee believes the Lions need a more stable infrastructure to nurture the talent they have on the field, similar to the one they had in the '90s during their last era of sustained success
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"We had guys like Charlie Sanders who was coaching, Sylvester Croom was offensive coordinator. You had Sheldon White, you had me and you had football minds like Ron Hughes and Kevin Colbert, the Pittsburgh Steelers general manager who I’m very close with to this day. And then you also had Rick Spielman, the Vikings GM, you also had (former Falcons GM) Tom Dimitroff who just got let go in Atlanta.
"All of that football personnel and mindset was under one roof. So we had an infrastructure and we had talent on the field."
While Lee hasn't held a formal role with an NFL team since being let go by the Lions in 2001, he's worked as a consultant for various organizations and players over the past two decades. Most recently, he helped prepare Michigan product Rashan Gary for the draft.
Now he'd like to fix the Lions. He's watched the team struggle and its fans suffer for far too long.
"I think what makes me more appealing is that I’m someone who knows this town like I do," he said. "I’m the link to my era, the Doug Englishes, the Billy Sims, the Bubba Bakers. I’m the link to the next era, Barry Sanders, Herman Moore, because of my front office days. I’m the link to the community. I know most people of note here in Detroit and I’ve never left the town.
"So this year I said, man, it’s in my heart, it’s in my soul. It’s hard to watch this year after year after year. It’s time we turn this around. I’m tired of being the butt of the jokes, all the NFL jokes. I watched the Fox pregame show last week and they had a little skit about a job fair for the Detroit Lions and 'anyone can come here.' The former players I talk to, we’re all tired of that man. We’re tired of it."