Kevin Anderson Hired as Head of Lions Football Operations

The Detroit Lions will reportedly hire former New England Patriots director of player development Kevin Anderson as their chief of staff, assistant to the general manager, per Detroit Lions senior writer Tim Twentyman on Thursday.    

Anderson will report to new general manager Bob Quinn, who has shaken up the front office since he arrived in Detroit, per Justin Rogers of MLive.com.

"Bob Quinn has been busy his first few weeks as the Detroit Lions general manager, shaping his front office. He fired longtime senior personnel executives Scott McEwen and Cedric Saunders and hired Kyle O'Brien away from the Jacksonville Jaguars," Rogers said.

Now Anderson, who joined the Patriots in 2006 as a football operations assistant, will move from one of the most successful franchises of the past 15 years to one that has struggled considerably. Per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Anderson has already been busy with the Lions and sat in on Senior Bowl interviews Wednesday night.

Despite all of the front-office changes, Quinn and the Lions brass decided to stay with head coach Jim Caldwell after a disappointing 7-9 season and rely on his management team to provide some talent for a franchise that has not won a playoff game since 1991.