On Monday, it was announced that the Detroit Lions are hiring Mike Kafka for an undisclosed “high-ranking” role on their offensive coaching staff.
For a lot of Lions fans, it was welcomed news considering Kafka interviewed for the offensive coordinator job and many had him among their favorites to land the position. In his past, Kafka has not only interviewed for several other offensive coordinator gigs, but after his first successful year as the New York Giants’ offensive coordinator, it earned him an opportunity to interview for several head coaching jobs.
The reaction to the Lions’ addition of Kafka was in stark contrast to the immediate hiring of Drew Petzing as the Lions’ offensive coordinator. Most didn’t like the Petzing hire for several reasons: they hadn’t heard of him, the Cardinals had a terrible offense in 2025, and they viewed several other candidates as better options.
But now, with the tandem in tow, does it change your opinion on the Lions’ offensive coaching staff? Today’s Question of the Day is:
Does the Mike Kafka hire change your opinion on adding Drew Petzing?
My answer: Obviously, it does. It has to. Kafka was one of my favorite candidates for the job, even though his resumé suffers from the same downside as Petzing: two terrible offensive years with the Giants in 2023 and 2024.
But those performances were bookended by some serious hope for the Giants offense: one with Daniel Jones one with Jaxson Dart. And as we saw when the Giants played the Lions late last season, that New York team was scrappy, competitive, and that offensive could be pretty creative at times.
And Kafka’s hire also likely answers something else I was minorly concerned with: Given Petzing’s expertise on diverse running schemes, who would help out with the passing game? Kafka, a former NFL quarterback who played for six years, worked his way up the coaching ranks after being personally in charge of Patrick Mahomes’ development and learning under Andy Reid. While his work with Daniel Jones is certainly a bit disappointing after seeing Jones thrive in Indianapolis this past year, people may overlook the fact that Jones’ and Kafka’s first year together in 2022 was so promising that earned Jones a four-year, $160 million contract in New York immediately after. The pairing was working before Jones suffered some injuries, the offensive line fell apart, and the Giants failed to keep Saquon Barkley.
The biggest question that remains is how the Lions plan on building the power structure between Kafka and Petzing—two coaches who both have relatively strong resumés and robust play-calling experience. Is there a danger of there being too many cooks in the kitchen? Yeah, maybe. I can’t say for sure that will be a clean process. But this is obviously something the Lions have likely already discussed with the two coaches, and they are fine with it. Considering Kafka was still an offensive coordinator candidate with other teams, he must not only be fine with the power dynamic in Detroit, but something about the job must have been particularly luring.
So I’m pretty thrilled with this pairing now.
How are you feeling about the duo helping lead the Lions offense? Scroll down to the comment section and share your thoughts.
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