Why Lions Drew Petzing Can Be 'Home-Run' OC Hire

On Monday, the Detroit Lions finalized the hiring of Drew Petzing to be the next offensive coordinator under Dan Campbell.

At the time, this came with scrutiny from the Lions’ fanbase. Petzing was part of an Arizona Cardinals offense that did not light up the scoreboard and saw head coach Jonathan Gannon ran out of town after a 15-36 record during three seasons, including 4-13 this season.

However, there is some optimism for the hire, and this optimism was reflected by the “Green Light with Chris Long” Podcast.

Long, a second overall selection of the 2008 NFL Draft, was quick to preface the move as not a major hire, but that it would work with the Lions’ personnel. He pointed out the success of James Conner in 2023 and 2024, a player that Arizona did not have as their season fell apart in 2025.

“It’s not a splash hire, but I think it is going to work,” Chris Long said regarding the move. “I do. If they can get the personnel right. Because, if you know anything about Arizona the last couple years, in ’23 and ’24, and you could chalk a lot of it up to James Conner, but they were elite running the football. This year, you lose your whole running back room, you have 10-plus o-line combinations.”

Lions new OC Drew Petzing might be a home run hire, here’s why: pic.twitter.com/85badmBsOR
— Green Light with Chris Long (@greenlight) January 23, 2026

With the elite running back duo in Detroit of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, the hope is to fix that concern for Petzing. Meanwhile, he brings help to Detroit, particularly in goal-to-go situations.

“I found this nugget too. The goal-to-go stuff for Detroit this year was terrible,” Long pointed out. "I think they were 27th in successful play percentage in the low red (zone), that being 10 (yard line) and in. The Cardinals were, through ’23 to ’25, were top ten in those spots.”

Another area that Petzing helps build is the running ability for Detroit. There will likely be a shift in scheme with the coordinator, to fit his run game that was successful with Conner.

“Detroit had trouble in some areas that they were really good in,” Long said. “Zone runs, this year, they sucked. I know Petzing is like a gap scheme guy, and you’re going to run more counter, but I think they kind of want to get to what they do well.”

The last thing to note, too, is the personal connection between Petzing and Ben Johnson. The former Lions’ coordinator staying in divisional led to Long commenting that the ‘squeeze’ is happening.

“The most diabolical one, I saw, was that Petzing was in Ben Johnson’s wedding, so that’s a (explicit) psychological power move, dude," Long said. "They were GA’s (graduate assistants) together at Boston College in 2010. Then Johnson was the tight end coach in 2011 while Petzing was still a GA. Ben Johnson is getting the squeeze on him, they (explicit) hate him in Green Bay, Lafleur hates him. LA, the Rams, I don’t think McVay likes him because of what he did to Lafleur. And then Dan Campbell? Hiring his groomsmen. That’s a (explicit). You basically delete that friend, and the guy knows you well?”

While not the reason Petzing was hired in Motown, that element of a personal rivalry will be bringing more drama to the next matchups between Detroit and Chicago in 2026.

More from Lions OnSI: