MINNEAPOLIS -- NFL rules are a funny thing sometimes. Consider the fact Detroit isn't even allowed to offer Matt Patricia a contract for seven more days, yet his new staff continues to come into place.

The latest reported hires, according to Sirius XM: Jeff Davidson as offensive line coach, George Godsey as quarterbacks coach and Brian Stewart as defensive backs coach. And each of whom has ties to Patricia's early days either at Syracuse or in New England.

Davidson is the most notable hire of the group, given how much Detroit has struggled to develop its offensive line over the years. Bob Quinn sank a first-round pick into Taylor Decker and a third-round pick into Graham Glasgow after taking the Lions' GM job, then signed Rick Wagner and T.J. Lang to huge-money deals last year.

But the results were lousy once again. Matthew Stafford was sacked 47 times, a career high, and the running game was the worst in the league. According to advanced metrics from Football Outsiders, the run blocking was the worst in the league.

Of course, injuries played some role in the carnage up front. After pouring all those resources into the position, Detroit started its top offensive line intact just twice in 2017. They played together for just 95 snaps in all.

The Lions started 10 different offensive line combinations. It's awfully tough to gel under those circumstances.

Then again, there seemed to be problems with the coaching at the position as well. And indeed, OL coach Ron Prince was the only assistant fired along with head coach Jim Caldwell on Black Monday.

He'll be replaced by Davidson, who was an All-Big Ten offensive lineman and captain at Ohio State. After a five-year NFL career spent in Denver and New Orleans, he moved into coaching and has spent several years coaching up front. That includes in New England, where he was on staff as an assistant offensive line and tight ends coach from 1998-2004.

That means Davidson was there when Patricia arrived in 2004, and he must have left some kind of impression, because he left the following season to take the offensive line job in Cleveland. Patricia was actually the guy who replaced him as the Patriots' assistant offensive line coach.

Davidson went on to become Cleveland's offensive coordinator in 2006, and also had stints in Carolina (offensive coordinator), Minnesota (offensive line coach) San Diego (offensive line coach) and Denver (offensive line coach).

As for Stewart, who will replace Tony Oden and Alan Williams in the defensive backfield, he also has a connection to Patricia from the early days. He was Syracuse's defensive backs coach in 2001, the year Patricia was hired as an offensive graduate assistant.

Stewart is currently the defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach at Rice. He's also been a coordinator for the Cowboys (2007-08), University of Houston (2010-11), and University of Maryland (2012-14). And he's coached the secondary for Missouri, Syracuse, Texans, Chargers and the University of Nebraska.

While Davidson and Stewart are new hires, Godsey was already on staff as the special projects guru for the defense. He's now being re-assigned to work as Stafford's quarterback coach.

Godsey has been a QB coach before, with the University of Central Florida (2005-08) and Houston Texans (2014). He was also the Texans' offensive coordinator from 2015-16. He joined the Lions in 2017 to lend his offensive expertise to the defense. And now a year later, he's returning to that side of the ball.

Godsey also had a stint in New England, from 2011-13.

All signs continue to point to Jim Bob Cooter returning as offensive coordinator, while Paul Pasqualoni -- who also has ties to Patricia in Syracuse -- has been the only reported target as defensive coordinator.