The Detroit Lions haven’t made it official yet, but the word is out: Drew Petzing is set to become the team’s next offensive coordinator. And while fans are still wrapping their heads around the hire, one of the Lions’ biggest stars has already weighed in-Amon-Ra St. Brown.
On his weekly podcast with his brother, St. Brown pulled back the curtain on how he found out about Petzing, what he heard from quarterback Jared Goff, and his early impressions after a brief chat with the incoming OC.
St. Brown admitted he was getting a little impatient over the weekend, eager to find out who would be calling plays for the Lions next season.
So, he did what any plugged-in receiver would do-he went straight to the source. He reached out to Goff, who, while not confirming anything at the time, did drop Petzing’s name and gave a quick scouting report.
“He said he was good. He’s smart,” St.
Brown recalled. “Although they didn’t have the best offense, he does a lot of good stuff.”
That was enough to pique St. Brown’s curiosity.
He started digging into Petzing’s background and found something that caught his attention: a surprising connection to Ben Johnson, the Lions’ outgoing offensive coordinator. As it turns out, Petzing and Johnson go way back-they were at Boston College together, and Petzing was even a groomsman in Johnson’s wedding.
“Come to find out he was actually at Boston College with Ben Johnson, which is crazy,” St. Brown said.
“And he was a groomsman at Ben Johnson’s wedding. So, that’s actually really ironic.”
Shortly after that, the confirmation came in. Head coach Dan Campbell sent St. Brown a text message, making it official in the eyes of the locker room.
“I just want to let you know we’re hiring Drew Petzing as our OC. He’s going to be great for us,” St. Brown said, quoting Campbell.
Then came the call from Petzing himself. Nothing too deep-just a quick, early connection between a new play-caller and one of the team’s most important offensive weapons.
“Basically, he just wanted to say what’s up to me,” St. Brown said.
“He told me he was excited, I told him, ‘I’m excited, too. Let’s get to work.’
It was just catching up, small talk. That was it.
He just wanted to check in and introduce himself. So, I appreciate him for that.”
Despite the positive vibes from inside the building, St. Brown couldn’t help but notice the noise coming from the outside.
Social media, as always, had plenty to say about the hire-and not all of it was glowing. The All-Pro wideout didn’t shy away from addressing the backlash.
“I see crazy Lions fans talking crazy like, ‘Oh why would we do this?’” St.
Brown said. “Bro, do you have no trust in Dan and the Lions?
Do you think they would just hire a random dude? Be for real.”
He kept going, clearly frustrated by the snap judgments being made online.
“You think they don’t know what they’re doing? They don’t do the research?
They don’t do interviews?” he said.
“Most of you guys don’t really know much about any ball, and you’re tweeting about a coach that was hired that you guys don’t like because of-X, Y, Z. It’s just funny for me to see.”
But even through the criticism, St. Brown made it clear: he’s all-in on the Lions’ leadership and trusts the process.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love all Lions fans,” he said. “But they are so quick to make judgments about who we hire.
Bro, just relax, calm down, let the whole thing play out. Just let it play out, relax.”
And that’s the message here. The Lions are coming off a season where the offense was humming, and the bar is set high.
Replacing Ben Johnson isn’t a small task. But inside the building, there’s confidence that Petzing is the right guy to keep this thing rolling-and if Amon-Ra St.
Brown is excited, that’s a good place to start.