The Deep Ball Has Been There All Along
If there’s one thing that’s driven Lions fans quietly insane over the past few years, it’s watching this offense sit on a loaded arsenal of speed and never really letting it fly. When are they going to open this thing up? When is Jared Goff going to let Jameson Williams and Isaac TeSlaa do what they were built to do?
Here’s the thing. The narrative that Goff can’t throw deep is lazy and wrong.
When Goff actually did throw the deep ball under Ben Johnson, he was one of the best in the league at it. High EPA, high completion percentage, high output. The problem wasn’t ability. It was opportunity. We just didn’t see it enough. Not nearly enough when you have weapons like Williams and TeSlaa, and now Greg Dortch added to the mix.
Mike Kafka Might Be the Answer
John Morton said he wanted to open things up last summer. He did not. Goff’s average depth of target sat at 6.43 yards in 2025, ranked 22nd in the league, on roughly 40 deep attempts. Even under Johnson in 2024, the deep rate ran in the bottom third. It was frustrating then and it stayed frustrating.
Enter Mike Kafka, the Lions’ new passing game coordinator. And this is where it gets interesting.
When Kafka took over as interim head coach and play caller for the 2025 Giants, he ran one of the most downfield willing operations in the league. Jaxson Dart posted a 9.0 average depth of target, and 34.2% of his throws went 10-plus yards. That’s a lot more aggression than what we’ve seen in Allen Park lately.
Now, Dart only completed 39.7% of those deep attempts, which is not great. But the Lions have something the Giants didn’t. They have Jared Goff, who is significantly more accurate. They also have multiple deep threats, not just one guy like Malik Nabers carrying the whole operation.
Drew Petzing is the offensive coordinator, and he’s going to keep this offense run first. That’s fine. That’s the identity Dan Campbell has built and it works. But Petzing and Kafka working together, kind of a co-coordinator setup? That could be the blend this offense has been missing.
Enjoy It While It Lasts
Here’s the catch. If this works the way it should, if the offense stays explosive or gets even more explosive this year, the Lions probably only get one year of this pairing. Kafka will likely get an OC job somewhere else. If they win the Super Bowl, both Petzing and Kafka could get head coaching jobs.
It’s not as crazy as it seems. Which means this window to finally see this offense at full throttle might be smaller than we think.
So are we finally about to see Goff air it out the way we’ve been begging for, or is this just another offseason hope that dies in September? Let me know in the comments.
