While news leaked last week of the Cardinals bringing in Dave Sears from the Lions to be the assistant general manager, it has yet to be officially announced by the team. Finding a new head coach remains the team's top focus.

But during an appearance on the "Luke and Wolf" show on Arizona Sports, former Lions linebacker Chris Spielman, who now serves as the Lions special assistant to president/CEO and chairperson, essentially confirmed the news and called Sears "as talented of an evaluator that I have been around."

"He is a team guy, he is a leader," Spielman said. "He led our college department, he's a great communicator, he is not looking to serve Dave Sears, he is looking to serve the Arizona Cardinals.

"(He's) probably one of the most humble, smartest football men I've been around. It's not a surprise he was plucked from our staff. For those that know him and have been around him, he knows what he's doing."

Sears was with the Lions for the past 16 seasons, and worked with new Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort over three seasons (2002, 2004-05) when both were in scouting roles with the Houston Texans. Sears first started working in the NFL in 1997 as an intern with Washington.