One of the NFL people Jim Schwartz turned to for advice when he was piecing together his staff was Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis.

“I was getting a lot of advice from different coaches in hiring the staff and I kept some guys from Detroit's old staff and I was asking Marvin about that because he had done the same thing in Cincinnati,” Schwartz said. “He said, 'Hey, look, there's no reason to fire good people, people that you think are good coaches because coaches are hard to replace.'”

Not only did Lewis keep several Cincinnati assistants on staff when he got the Bengals job in 2003, he also kept Schwartz on board as a defensive assistant in Baltimore when he took over as defensive coordinator seven years earlier.

“When I got the (Baltimore) job, (general manager) Ozzie Newsome said, 'Hey, I just hired a guy last year that I wish you would take some time to talk to and consider keeping him on in some capacity,'” Lewis remembered. “So I sat down with Schwartzie and he was just great. He is so smart, he was so diligent, he's so thorough that it hasn't surprised me how successful he's been and he was great for me.

“And then when we got let go and I got re-hired and Brian (Billick) hired Mike Smith to take Jimmy's spot, I had to help Schwartzie get a job. So at that point I'm trying to get Jeff (Fisher) to consider him at Tennessee and I'm on Jeff's coattails over here a couple times to get him and Gregg Williams to hire Schwartzie because they had somebody else in mind and so obviously it worked out.”

Lewis, whose Bengals play the Lions next season, said he'll be rooting for Schwartz every other game.

“Hopefully I can be a good asset for him just like he's been for me,” Lewis said. “He supported me and he was there for me all the time, so I appreciate that.”