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Drew Petzing explains why he thinks the Detroit Lions hired him.
One of the first major moves by the Detroit Lions when their earlier-than-anticipated offseason began last month was the termination of offensive coordinator John Morton, which didn’t strike many as a surprise considering that his play calling duties were taken away by head coach Dan Campbell midway through the season.
In his place, they hired former Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, who wasn’t the most familiar of names to Lions fans.
However, he’s doing his part to endear himself to his new fan base.
In a special video that was sent out to Lions season ticket holders, Petzing let Detroit fans in on some aspects of his personal life, including hobbies.
“Fired up to be here and can’t wait to get to work. When I am not coaching, outside of spending time with my family, I love to spend time with my wife and two kids,” said Petzing. “I love good food, I love to snowboard. I like to golf when the weather permits that. But I’m pretty active. Like to get outside. I like to work out. I like to do things, you know, in and around the community.”
Petzing then shed some light on why he believes that he was hired by the Lions to serve on Dan Campbell’s staff.
“I think it’s, it’s the confidence that I go about the job with. It’s my background in a lot of different rooms. Petzing said. “…And one of the key points of being an offensive coordinator is you got to be in charge of everything, and you have to hold people accountable. And I think it helps having a diverse background on the offensive side of the ball to be able to do that, because I’ve had to coach the details of how to block, you know, wide zone on the front side with a tight end, or how to release first press as a receiver. Where the quarterback’s eyes and where his feet should be in the quarterback room.”
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New Detroit Lions OC Drew Petzing Is Confident In His Abilities
Continuing by talking about his confidence, Petzing believes that he hit all the marks in the interview process with the club while also expressing optimism that he’ll be able to improve as the season goes along.
“And I think that was probably one of those things that I like to think showed throughout the interview,” he continued. “And then the other part of calling plays for three years, you start to figure out why you’re doing things, how to highlight talent that you do or don’t have. And I think that’s something that hopefully people were able to see throughout my three years there in Arizona. And I’m hoping I’m getting better every single game and every year I’m doing it.”
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Drew Petzing Is The New Lions’ Offensive Coordinator
Petzing, who spent the last three seasons as offensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals, played defensive back in 2005 and 2006 at Middlebury College before his playing career was cut short because of injuries.
During his coaching career, he’s had two separate stints with the Cleveland Browns, first as a football operations intern in 2013 and later, tight ends coach from 2020 to 2023.
Between those two stints was a stop with the Minnesota Vikings as an offensive assistant, as well as assistant wide receivers coach and assistant quarterbacks coach; he was also briefly their wide receivers coach.
Michael Whitaker Michael Whitaker is a sports journalist based in metro Detroit with nearly a full decade of experience with publications like Clutch Points and The Hockey News. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from Eastern Michigan University. More about Michael Whitaker
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