Drew Petzing walked into Allen Park with a resume nobody wanted to talk about
The Cardinals were bad. Really bad. But here’s the thing nobody bothered to check: their offensive line wasn’t the problem.
While Arizona was busy losing games because their quarterbacks kept getting hurt and their defense couldn’t stop a nosebleed, Petzing was quietly getting career years out of guys named Hjalte Froholdt and Evan Brown. From 2023 through 2025, the Cardinals ranked 14th in rushing success rate, fifth in rush EPA, and second in explosive rush rate. With that offensive line. With those injuries. With zero Pro Bowlers or All-Pros since 2022.
This is what Brad Holmes saw when he hired Petzing. Not the Cardinals’ record. The tape.
The Lions offensive line collapsed in 2025 and everyone saw it
Let’s not sugarcoat this. The offensive line was a disaster last season.
The run game went from elite to broken. In 2024, the Lions had a rushing success rate of 49.3%. That was second in the league behind only the Philadelphia Eagles. By the end of 2025, the Lions had dropped to 40.1%. That was 26th in the league. For a team that wants to run the ball before they do anything else, that’s not just bad. That’s a fundamental failure.
Injuries hit hard late in the season and the depth just wasn’t there. The line that looked dominant one year earlier looked slow, soft, and overmatched. You could feel it in real time. Every third and short felt like a coin flip.
Petzing has a track record of turning average linemen into reliable starters
Froholdt was a backup center in Cleveland. He had three career seasons under Petzing in Arizona. Evan Brown had the best year of his career under Petzing in 2024, but dealt with injuries in 2025. Paris Johnson, Jonah Williams, Isaiah Adams. None of these guys jump off the page. But Petzing got production out of all of them.
And he did it while dealing with constant injuries and a rotating cast of starters. The snap counts in Arizona tell the story: it was never the same five guys two weeks in a row. Petzing adapted. He schemed around limitations. He got more out of less.
Now he’s working with better talent than he ever had in the desert.
The Lions have more to work with than Arizona ever did
The Lions are going into the 2026 season with a pretty much brand-new offensive line. Second-year guard Tate Ratledge, new center Cade Mays, and rookie Blake Miller give Petzing pieces to work with.
This is not a collection of castoffs and backups. This is a real offensive line with real talent. It just needs coaching, continuity, and a scheme that plays to its strengths.
Petzing has shown he can do that with less. The question now is what he can do with more.
This is not a guarantee but the fit makes sense
Dan Campbell wants to run the football. Petzing knows how to scheme a run game with an offensive line that isn’t perfect. The Lions have the pieces. They have the coordinator. Now it’s about execution.
Is this the move that gets the run game back to where it was or are we just hoping another coordinator can fix what broke last year? Drop your take below.
