This Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Detroit Lions, looking to bounce back after a rough Monday Night loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Of course, the Chiefs have dropped three of their first five games, so all eyes will be on how they respond under pressure.

But adding an extra layer of intrigue, the matchup also features a defensive chess match. Lions’ new defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard will face off against Chiefs’ DC Steve Spagnuolo for the first time since taking the helm in Detroit.

The two have worked together when Sheppard was still playing linebacker in the NFL and Spags was coordinating him in New York. But once he decided to enter the coaching world, you could bet Spags and Andy Reid tried to get Sheppard on the Chiefs’ coaching staff. But Sheppard rejected Reid and Co. for Dan Campbell and the Lions.

“I think the world of Kelvin Sheppard, when he played for us in New York those two years, he was our Nick Bolton,” Spags said on Thursday when asked about how it feels to see Sheppard become a successful coach. “They’re very similar. Those guys are kind of cut from the same cloth. I said to Kelvin at the time, I don’t think he was thinking about coaching when he got done playing.

“I said, I think you’d make a heck of a football coach. And over the two or three years, I think he stayed out of it, and you know, he kind of coached. He got the bug. I think he went to LSU first. And there were times that we talked about Kelvin to try and get him here. I think he’s doing a terrific job and I’m really proud of him.”

It was back in 2017 when Sheppard was playing linebacker under Spags’ coordination. The two bonded over a couple of years together. And after retiring in 2018, Sheppard joined LSU for a year in 2020. It was then that Andy Reid and Steve Spagnuolo approached him to fulfill their outside linebacker coach needs.

However, at the same time, Campbell’s Lions were also in dire need of an outside linebacker coach, and Kelvin eventually chose Campbell’s team to start his NFL coaching career. Fast forward to now, he’s the Lions’ new defensive coordinator. But he owes his success to the Chiefs’ DC.

Kelvin Sheppard owes Andy Reid’s DC a lot

Kelvin Sheppard is now in his fifth season with the Lions, but this year he’s stepping up as the team’s defensive coordinator after Aaron Glenn left for the head coaching job in New York. Before this, Sheppard spent three seasons shaping the linebackers, so he knows a thing or two about Detroit’s defense.

And the numbers back that up. In 2024, the Lions’ defense was a machine on key downs. They ranked first in the NFL on third-down efficiency (32.4%) and second on fourth-down efficiency (41.4%). They also kept opponents to an average of just 20.1 points per game, which put them seventh in the league overall.

Now coaching the Lions’ defense, Sheppard credits his success to his former and the Chiefs’ current DC, Steve Spagnuolo. “Yeah, it’s unbelievable. I owe Spags a lot. Obviously, it starts with (Lions Head Coach) Dan Campbell, (Jets Head Coach) Aaron Glenn, as far as my progression as a coach in this profession.

“Hands-on, giving me opportunity and all of that. But Spags was one of the first guys outside of Dan to believe in my ability to be a coach, told me a long time ago. It’s the reason why I meet with (Lions LB) Jack (Campbell) the way I do, because that’s the first coordinator I had expand my mind like that at the NFL level.”

Sheppard led the Lions’ linebacker room through a season riddled with injuries in 2024. When Alex Anzalone went down, Sheppard helped Jack Campbell step up as the green dot of the defense. And Campbell delivered. He finished the season with 125 tackles, five tackles for loss, five pass defenses, and a forced fumble.

And it was Spags who pushed Sheppard to become a football coach. “He was the guy pushing me, ‘You need to go coach. You need to coach. Here’s the whys.’ He always explained the whys. I appreciated coaches like that. And believing in me, but then, importantly, pouring into me non-stop,” he added. Having said that, Sheppard and Spags will now be opposite each other during the Week 6 matchup between the Chiefs and the Lions.