Dan Campbell and the Lions have landed on a new offensive coordinator. Detroit is reportedly finalizing a deal to hire Cardinals OC Drew Petzing.
Petzing called plays for the past three seasons in Arizona, during which time the Cardinals ranked 19th, 11th and 19th in total offense. They had one of the most efficient rushing attacks in the NFL during Petzing's first two seasons, but struggled to run the ball this season. Part of that owed to the absences of top running back James Conner and quarterback Kyler Murray, both of whom missed most of the season with injuries.
Campbell and the Lions are committed to restoring their own rushing attack, which was not nearly as reliable this season as in seasons past. Detroit was held under 100 rushing yards in seven games behind a weakened offensive line, and lost all seven. The club had seven such rushing performances over the prior two and a half seasons, over which time the Lions won the most games in the NFL.
Petzing faced an uncertain future with the Cardinals after they fired head coach Jonathan Gannon, who hired Petzing in 2023. Before his stint in Arizona, Petzing coached a variety of offensive positions for different teams, including quarterbacks and tight ends with the Browns and wide receivers and quarterbacks with the Vikings.
Petzing, 38, is known to be close with former Lions OC Ben Johnson, who helped Detroit build one of the best offenses in the NFL from 2022 to 2024. Johnson and Petzing were graduate assistants together at Boston College early in their coaching careers.
They followed similar climbs to their respective coordinator positions, both coaching quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends with multiple teams over several years before getting a chance to call plays in the NFL. Petzing interviewed last offseason for the Bears head coaching job that went to Johnson.