The Detroit Lions became one of the best teams in the NFL since Dan Campbell took over as head coach and put Aaron Glenn in charge of the defense while tapping Ben Johnson to run the offense. However, the coaching staff’s success led to new opportunities, as Johnson departed for the Bears and the New York Jets hired Aaron Glenn as the team’s new head coach.

While it stings to lose a coach of Glenn’s quality, the Lions will be compensated with draft picks. Detroit will receive the 38th pick of the third round (the 102nd overall selection) in the upcoming draft because Glenn left for New York, per Ari Meirov on X.

The Lions are actually due two third-round draft picks now that the Jets have hired Glenn. They’ll get one in 2025 and the other in 2026.

These selections, which come at the end of the third round after the usual draft order, are compensatory draft picks. They’ve long been awarded by the NFL to teams that lost free agents and weren’t able to replace them in quantity or quality.

However, after a change to the collective bargaining agreement in 2020, compensatory picks are also given to teams that have a minority staff member who’s hired by another team as a head coach or top executive, per NFL.com

The Lions were awarded two draft picks after Aaron Glenn’s departure

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These compensatory draft picks are part of the NFL’s Rooney Rule and are aimed at increasing equal employment opportunities in the league. This year, in addition to the Lions, the Los Angeles Rams will receive a pick because Raheem Morris was hired as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons after spending three seasons as LA’s defensive coordinator. Morris took the Falcons' job in 2024 so the upcoming compensatory pick will be the Rams’ second and final selection for losing the coach.

The San Francisco 49ers are receiving a compensatory pick for losing Ran Carthon to the Tennessee Titans and Demeco Ryans to the Houston Texans. While both were hired in 2023, there’s a stipulation in the rule that awards an extra draft pick to teams that lose minority employees to GM and head coaching jobs in the same season. So San Francisco will receive a third compensatory pick.

Glenn played a significant role in helping turn the Lions around after joining the organization in 2021. Detroit won the division and reached the playoffs in each of the last two years. But after falling short of a Super Bowl following a 15-2 regular season in 2024, he moved on to New York.

Dan Campbell found Glenn’s replacement in-house, hiring Kelvin Sheppard to take over the defense. The Lions hope to continue their Super Bowl trajectory after the staff shakeup. Perhaps the compensatory picks will help. At the very least, they make losing a great coach slightly more tolerable for the fanbase while rewarding organizations for developing diverse talent.