Drew Petzing: New Offensive Coordinator of the Detroit Lions

Information found on espn.com and wikipedia.org

Drew Petzing is the new offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions. While I don’t know a ton about him, I do recall a number of memorable plays from the Cardinals even if they didn’t make it into the post season.

The Cardinals had 4326 yards passing this year and 1583 yards rushing. Their record on the year was 3-14. Their offense was ranked 22 out of 32. Not necessarily a barn burning offense. However, It was suggested by Grootthedutch and DraftinDoornbos to take a look at Jacoby Brisset’s numbers to give me a peek into what life with Drew Petzing may be like. Jacoby Brisset, journeyman backup in the NFL, went for 315/485 for 3366 yards, 23 touchdowns against 8 interceptions, and a 64.9 percent completion rate. I know a couple of NFL franchises that would have liked to have had that level of quarterbacking. So while Drew Petzing may be less known to the masses, perhaps he isn’t a bad hire at all.

Petzing comes with plenty of experience. He has 4 years of college experience between Harvard, Boston College, and Yale. He also spent 2013 with the Browns as an intern, 2014-2019 he was with the Minnesota Vikings starting out as an Offensive Assistant and eventually making his way up to Wide Receivers coach. He then spent 2 years as the Browns TE coach, 1 year as the Browns QB Coach, and 2 years with the Cardinals as Offensive Coordinator.

I’m not saying this is the hotshot hire that everyone was hoping for. But Ben Johnson wasn’t. Aaron Glenn wasn’t. They both worked out just fine. But for every one of those guys we have an Anthony Lynn or a John Morton. Discussion with Grootthedutch and MCBC gives me one piece of solace. This coach is not directly connected to Dan Campbell, and that marks a departure from the norm. Dan isn’t just going back to the same well and hoping for different results, he’s trying a new approach. Perhaps that’s not a reason for hope, but it is a reason to give this guy a fair chance to succeed.

Update: Per Mike Payton (@AtoZ_Payton on X) of A to Z Sport, Petzing interviewed for the Bear head coach job last cycle.