Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell Has Been Banned For Three Years For Insulting The….

The Detroit Lions released veteran safety Tracy Walker III, the team posted on social media Tuesday night.

Walker posted an apparent goodbye to Detroit on Instagram earlier on Tuesday.

“Detroit I want to thank you for welcoming me in as rookie and accepting me as family,” he wrote, thanking the Ford family for the past six seasons with the franchise.

“I want to thank my fans and supporters for always having my back through it all. I want to thank the city for holding down for me,” he added. “It was many ups and downs but that’s life and life is 10% what happens to you, 90% how you respond. With that being the future is bright and TTIME is coming harder than ever for Year7.!!”

Releasing Walker creates $5.5 million in 2024 salary cap space for the Lions, according to the Roster Management System.

Walker, 29, appeared in all 17 games last season, making six starts. He finished with 59 tackles, 2 passes defended, 1 forced fumble and 1 sack.

The Lions drafted Walker in the third round of the 2018 NFL draft as the 82nd overall pick out of Louisiana. During much of his first four seasons, Walker was a big part of the Lions’ secondary — agreeing to a three-year, $25 million extension on March 15, 2022 — before tearing his Achilles in Week 3, which forced him to miss the remainder of the 2022 season.

Walker would return in mainly a backup role this past season, although he did start five games when C.J. Gardner-Johnson suffered a torn pectoral muscle. He lost his starting position during the second half of the season to Ifeatu Melifonwu.

Walker has eclipsed 100 tackles twice in his career, in 2019 (103) and 2021 (108). In 79 games (43 starts) he has 398 tackles, 3 interceptions and 4 sacks.

It was Feb. 7, one day after he had interviewed to be the next coach of the Washington Commanders, and the silence, in this case, was not golden.

Four years after being fired as the Atlanta Falcons head coach, and following a successful stint as Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator from 2021 to 2023, Quinn believed the time was right to have a team of his own again. The phone, however, would not cooperate. So, instead of just letting him pace around his Dallas home, his wife, Stacey, suggested they ease the tension and go for a drive.

Meanwhile, in Mobile, Alabama, Commanders general manager Adam Peters was at a dinner with team scouts fielding call after call as he and Washington’s hiring committee finalized its decision about the franchise’s next coach.

Finally, that night, Peters called Quinn.

But there was no answer. Quinn had fallen asleep on his couch.

“He made me wait so long,” Quinn joked at his introductory news conference. “I’m not answering on the first ring.”

He did quickly return the call and Peters delivered the good news. After listening to the excited GM’s job offer, Quinn responded with two words: “F— yeah!” Then he hugged Stacey.

After four weeks and 14 interviews with potential candidates, Washington had its man and Quinn his team. Quinn had sold the Commanders’ hiring committee — consisting of Peters, owner Josh Harris, longtime NFL general manager Rick Spielman, former Golden State Warriors GM Bob Myers and front office veteran Martin Mayhew — on his leadership traits, willingness to learn from failure and desire to work hand-in-hand with the front office. Aiding Quinn’s case were a flood of endorsements received on his behalf, including from Warriors coach Steve Kerr and Falcons owner Arthur Blank, who had fired Quinn in 2020.

Washington’s coaching search was not without intrigue. Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was in the running before pulling out to remain in Detroit. Baltimore Ravens and Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinators Mike Macdonald and Raheem Morris were also considered, multiple team sources said, before Macdonald picked the Seattle Seahawks and Morris chose the Falcons. But according to sources heavily involved in the hiring process, Quinn — who led the Seahawks’ vaunted Legion of Boom defense as coordinator, guided Atlanta to a Super Bowl appearance as head coach and transformed the Cowboys’ defense into a top-10 unit — was never considered a Plan B.

“Every time we spoke with Dan, it became more and more clear that he was the guy,” Peters said. “Both times it was like we were speaking the same language. It was really, really cool, had a great connection, had a great shared vision, so it was almost right away that I knew Dan would be a great coach for us.”