The Detroit Lions are reshaping their offensive brain trust, and this week at the Senior Bowl, GM Brad Holmes finally pulled back the curtain-at least a little-on the moves that have sparked plenty of buzz in league circles.
The big headline: Drew Petzing is officially the new offensive coordinator in Detroit. And while the team hasn’t rolled out the red carpet with a press conference or public statement just yet, Holmes offered a glimpse into the thinking behind the hire-and what fans can expect from Petzing’s approach.
“This is his show, man,” Holmes said when asked about the direction of the offense under Petzing. That’s not just a throwaway line.
It signals a clear shift: the Lions didn’t bring in Petzing to plug into a pre-existing system or to be a placeholder. They’re handing him the keys and trusting him to build something tailored to the talent on hand.
That adaptability is exactly what drew Holmes and the Lions to Petzing in the first place. Over the past few seasons, Petzing showed a knack for adjusting on the fly, particularly during his time in Arizona, where the Cardinals were constantly juggling injuries and personnel changes. Rather than sticking rigidly to a scheme, Petzing built game plans around the players available-a trait Holmes clearly values.
“What I liked about him is that it’s not a system,” Holmes explained. “It’s, ‘What do you have?
What’s the personnel that you have? What can we do?’”
That kind of flexibility is crucial in today’s NFL, where injuries, matchups, and roster turnover can change the game week to week.
But the Lions didn’t stop there. Just hours after the Petzing announcement, reports surfaced that Detroit had also brought in Mike Kafka for a high-ranking offensive role. That hire hasn’t been made official yet, and Holmes didn’t offer specifics on Kafka’s title or responsibilities-but he did make one thing clear: landing Kafka was a big win.
“We were really high on Kafka, too, in the process,” Holmes said. “So to be able to get that one, too, I was just like, ‘Holy cow.’”
That reaction says a lot. Kafka, who interviewed for the offensive coordinator job himself, clearly left a strong impression. And while it’s still unclear exactly how the responsibilities will be divided between Petzing and Kafka, the Lions now have two sharp offensive minds in the building-each with coordinator-level experience.
It’s a bold move, and one that suggests Detroit is doubling down on innovation and flexibility on offense. With no media availability currently scheduled for Petzing, Kafka, or head coach Dan Campbell, we likely won’t get more clarity until the NFL Combine at the end of February, when the Lions typically open the floor to questions about staff changes.
But even without all the details, one thing is obvious: Detroit is building an offensive staff with depth, diversity of thought, and the freedom to adapt. That’s a strong foundation for a team that’s already shown it can compete-and now looks ready to evolve.