After an underwhelming season offensively by the Detroit Lions’ standards with John Morton at the helm and previously set by now-Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson, the Lions have hired former Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing to the same position.
While fans may be criticizing the hire, a star Lions offensive player is coming to his defense.
Lions Receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown Defends His New OC
As mentioned, with Morton as the team’s offensive coordinator in 2025-26, the Lions finished eighth in PFSN’s Offense Impact score with an 80.5. While that’s a great finish for most teams, the Lions finished first in 2024 (91.6) and fifth in 2023 (80.4) in PFSN’s Offense Impact metric.
Now, head coach Dan Campbell and the rest of the Lions’ brass opted to bring in Petzing, 38, who served as the offensive coordinator for the Cardinals since 2023. Before that, he had experience in multiple roles, including wide receivers coach for the Minnesota Vikings in 2019, tight ends coach for the Cleveland Browns from 2020 to 2021, and quarterbacks coach for the Browns in 2022, among many others.
Here’s how the Cardinals finished in PFSN’s Offense Impact score in 2023, 2024, and 2025:
- 2023: 70.1 (19th)
- 2024: 84.9 (fifth)
- 2025: 71.4 (22nd)
In 2024, when the Cardinals had plenty of success, they ranked seventh in rushing yards per game at 144.2. That came despite the team averaging 27.2 rush attempts per game and finishing with a rushing play percentage of 44.7%.
As for passing, the Cardinals were first in passing play percentage at 65.92%. Of course, this past season, Marvin Harrison Jr. was on and off the field, and quarterback Kyler Murray didn’t play for most of it.
However, tight end Trey McBride exploded the last couple of seasons, especially in 2025, catching 126 passes for 1,239 yards and 11 touchdowns. That said, despite the 2024 success, Lions fans, according to star wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, have been voicing their displeasure, and he had some strong words for them.
“Most of you guys [Lions Fans] don’t know much about anything, about any ball.”
Amon-Ra St. Brown talking about Lions Fans. 🔥🔥🔥pic.twitter.com/RA5NdwLo2U
— Payton Halas (@PaytonHalas) January 21, 2026
On the “St. Brown Podcast” with his brother Equanimeous, Amon-Ra discussed the Petzing hire. “Bruh, I see crazy Lions fans talkin’ crazy like ‘oh why would we do this’ like, bro, do you guys like no trust in Dan [Campbell]? Like, in the Lions, like do you think they would just hire a random dude? Like, be for real.” St. Brown started.
“You think they don’t know what they’re doing? They don’t do their research? They don’t interview? Like, most of you guys don’t know much about anything about any ball, and you’re tweeting about a coach that was hired that you don’t like because of xyz,” he continued.
Along with St. Brown’s comment, former Lions quarterback Dan Orlovsky praised the hire, saying, “Really good in the run game. Tight ends are a premium position. Play action game is solid as well” over on X. We’ll see if Petzing can get the most out of the Lions offense in 2026-27.
