The Lions announced their full 2026 coaching staff on Monday. Almost all of their moves were already known, save for the promotion of Bruce Gradkowski from offensive assistant to assistant wide receivers coach.
Gradkowski, 43, arrived in Detroit last offseason after two extremely successful years as the offensive coordinator for the XFL/UFL’s St. Louis Battlehawks. His offenses were extremely successful in both years with strong production from former Bengals quarterback A.J. McCarron and former Cardinals wideout Hakeem Butler.
A journeyman quarterback who played for five different NFL teams between 2006 and 2016, Gradkowski moved into coaching swiftly his retirement as a player. He began at the high school level for three years before spending the 2022 as an offensive analyst at Toledo.
Gradkowski is clearly valued by the Lions and seen as a rising coach in their organization. They blocked the Dolphins from interviewing Gradkowski for their quarterbacks coach vacancy and created a position to promote him internally. Detroit did not employ an assistant wide receivers in 2025.
Gradkowski will continue to work under wide receivers coach Scottie Montgomery to hone the Lions’ air attack. Detroit’s offense was expected to regress significantly last season after Ben Johnson’s departure, but they still finished with a top-three passing offense and a top-five offense overall. Gradkowski was crucial to that effort and will likey be a key asset during the transition to new offensive coordinator Drew Petzing.