Where Lions' Dan Campbell landed in rankings of returning NFL head coaches

Where Lions' Dan Campbell landed in rankings of returning NFL head coaches

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell has becomes one of the better head coaches in the NFL in recent years after the franchise has seen a resurgence on his watch. But where does Campbell rank among returning head coaches?

Pro Football Focus' Gordon McGuinness recently did his own rankings and placed Campbell at No. 7 of 10. From No. 1 to No. 6, McGuinness has Andy Reid, Kyle Shanahan, John Harbaugh, Sean McVay, Mike Tomlin and Matt LaFleur.

Here's what he said about Campbell:

As a head coach, Campbell has gone from the guy everyone laughed at for the comments about biting kneecaps to the guy who has turned the Detroit Lions franchise into a legitimate Super Bowl contender. He, along with offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, has helped revitalize Jared Goff‘s career. The former No. 1 overall pick enjoyed the highest-graded season of his career with an 85.7 PFF grade last year. Campbell's next step is getting the Lions to the Super Bowl, but you wouldn’t bet against them doing that sooner rather than later.

Campbell landed ahead of DeMeco Ryans, Kevin Stefanski and Sean McDermott on the list, which is impressive considering Stefanski has two Coach of the Year awards and McDermott has been to the playoffs in all but one season as head coach.

It's hard to argue for Campbell being higher. After all, Reid, Harbaugh, McVay and Tomlin have all won a Super Bowl, and Shanahan has been to two. LaFleur has not had that kind of success, but he does have a longer track record of winning seasons.

All that said, if Campbell can at least get the Lions to a Super Bowl, he should move up the list. If he can win one, that would get him an even higher spot.