The Detroit Lions' decision to hire Drew Petzing as their new offensive coordinator was met with mixed reviews. Some of that might be due to how high ex-OC Ben Johnson left the bar when he left the team last year, or maybe because the fans got their hopes up with Mike McDaniel.
If anything, it's hard to believe Petzing will do any worse than John Morton. More than that, as Lions general manager Brad Holmes told Detroit Free Press insider Dave Birkett, Petzing is someone who can adapt to the players and their strengths as opposed to having to bring his own guys to establish a system.
“What I liked about him is that it’s not a system,” Holmes told Birkett. “It’s what you do you have, what’s the personnel that you have. Like, what can we do? And so that’s what I think he showed us in that process is that he can maximize personnel of what’s available. So that’s real exciting.”
Notably, that's good news for second-year wideout Isaac TeSlaa.
Isaac TeSlaa Might Thrive with Drew Petzing in Detroit
TeSlaa's rookie season was a mixed bag. He only played 104 offensive snaps in the first eight games of the season, but he showed flashes right away, including a one-handed 13-yard touchdown grab in the season-opening loss to the Green Bay Packers. Then, in the final nine games of the season, he played 330 offensive snaps, showing the budding trust that head coach Dan Campbell's staff had in him.
The rookie out of Arkansas finished the season with just 16 receptions on 27 targets for 239 yards and six touchdowns. He proved to be a mismatch and a reliable pass catcher in the endzone, logging the second-most touchdown receptions by any Lions rookie.
Still, given how much the team gave up to move up 32 spots and get him, his usage — or lack thereof — was rather disappointing. Still, the potential is there, and having someone else scheming to get him open might be just what the doctor ordered.
Petzing drew up plenty of plays for his tight ends in Arizona, so it's easy to understand why some people might be worried about the wide receivers' production in Detroit. Again, it was just a matter of adapting and adjusting. That was what he was supposed to do with a superstar like Trey McBride.
That's not to say that he won't try to get Sam LaPorta some of the same looks. But with a three-headed monster at wide receiver, Petzing might be salivating at the thought of designing plays for Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and a high-upside physical specimen like Isaac TeSlaa.