For around 20-25 minutes each, both Detroit Lions coordinators met with the local media for a sitdown at the 2026 NFL Combine. It was Drew Petzing’s first official media scrum since being hired as offensive coordinator, and it was Kelvin Sheppard’s first opportunity to share his thoughts on how his first season as defensive coordinator went. Here are my six takeaways from the media sessions, three from each.
Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard
“Different approach” to self-scouting
Self-scouting is nothing new. Every team does it this offseason, but Lions coach Dan Campbell said that so far this offseason, he’s spent all of his time over with the defense, picking apart what went wrong. He mentioned that an overhaul isn’t really needed, but rather, “we’ve just got to tighten the screws on a few things.” He’ll get to the offense shortly.
But Sheppard admitted that their process of scouting is a little different than previous years.
“It’s what we normally do every year, but this year, we’ve taken a different approach, so to say, with slowing that down,” Sheppard said. “What we’ve done is we’re tearing off all the band-aids, trying to look through every crack, crevice to see where the good things were, the bad things were, and where can we improve as coaches, players in totality.”
Sheppard says the transparency with Campbell in the room is refreshing because it allows everyone to be transparent and real. There is no sugarcoating, there is no secrecy, there is no finger-pointing. There is only one focus: solutions. And while Sheppard was scant on providing details on how they plan on improving, it’s clear they found some problem areas…
Third-and-10 defense struggles
The first problem Sheppard talked about was the team’s immense struggles on third-and-10+. The Lions gave up conversions on 28.8% of third-and-10 or more, the third-highest mark in football. But on third-and-9 or less, the Lions allowed a conversion rate of 42.5%, the seventh-lowest rate.
“We were outstanding on third down, but it was actually third-and-10 plus is like, why are we in the bottom tier in the league in that category?” Sheppard said. “Why aren’t we executing? And then you turn on the tape and it’s very eye-opening to what’s happening. It sounds easy, but it is. It’s simple solutions, man.”
Sheppard believe his play-calling was relatively good on third-and-long, but he takes ownership in the fact that he didn’t offer his players enough information to play good situational football.
“There are certain things that I obviously need to tag on calls, reminders given, things we need to emphasize in the offseason in terms of situational awareness with how aggressive we play,” Sheppard said.
Explosive play obsession
Along the same lines, Sheppard focused on explosive plays as another problem area from last year. By the Lions’ measures—which is 12 yards on a running play and 17 on a pass play—Detroit gave up 105 explosive plays. Sheppard not only remembered the exact number, but he knew the split between passing plays (82) and running plays (23).
Breaking down the explosive plays was the first thing they watched, but it’s also going to be something they continue to watch all offseason.
“It’s the first thing we started self-scout with, and there was overlap because you go to then doing a self-scout and we’re gonna watch it again,” Sheppard said. “And when the players come in Phase Two, Phase Three, guess what? I got 105 plays, and we gonna watch them again, and when we get to training camp and we need general reminders and subtle reminders of what to do in certain situations, we gonna watch them again.”
As for the problem with those plays, Sheppard estimated 30-40 percent of those explosive plays had no business happening. And, again, he took blame for not being detailed enough in his coaching, but said the team remained close in most of those situations.
“It’s subtle things. It’s not like a mass overhaul of we were totally out of the park, out of the realm of comprehension of what we were supposed to be doing,” Sheppard said.
Offensive coordinator Drew Petzing
Don’t expect a ton of 13 personnel in Detroit
This observation comes actually more from Campbell’s press conference, where he said this about Petzing and his time with the Cardinals.
“They’ve used a lot of heavy sets lately, but that’s where their roster has gone. That’s not something that I foresee us being.”
Petzing reiterated that their style will remain fluid depending on their roster, and that can change midseason, if necessary.
“We want our best 11 on the field. That can look a million different ways. And, as you just talked about, that can change as the season goes, that can change as the offseason goes,” Petzing said.
Not pounding the table for “his” guys
I asked Petzing how much influence he is having over the player acquisition portion of the offseason. After all, it’s his offense, and I imagine he has a bunch of ideas about the type of personnel he wants to operate his vision.
And while Petzing said he certainly offers thoughts when asked, he has a strong level of trust in general manager Brad Holmes getting him all the talent he needs. His focus, rather, is on making sure the players he has reach their full potential.
“I’m going to voice my opinion and we’re going to be involved in those conversations, but those guys spend so much time making sure that we’re bringing in the right people, the right culture fit, the right scheme fit. I see my job more as once they’re here, making sure that I’m, as we talked about, I’ve got to make sure they hit their ceiling. That’s my number one job as a coordinator,” Petzing said.
As for how those conversations with Holmes and company are going, Petzing feels like the collaboration in Detroit is among the best he’s seen.
“(Collaboration) a buzzword around here for the right reasons. It’s important to our process and how we want to do things, and ultimately, to get to that right answer in everything we do,” Petzing said.
Efficiency is a moving target
In a moment where I clearly saw the overlap with Dan Campbell, Petzing was asked about how the team can stay efficient. And Petzing’s answer reminded me of Campbell’s very first press conference where he emphasized that the team may throw the ball 50 times one game and run it 50 times another, if that’s what that week’s game plan called for.
Here’s what Petzing said:
“There are games where I’ve gone into the game and said, “Hey, we gotta stay on schedule, move the chains, possess the ball,” because that’s the best way for us to win. There are other games where I’ve said, “Hey, we need to generate a ton of explosive plays, and that’s how we’re going to score points in this game, and that’s how we’re going to win the game.” I think if you’re going to be dynamic as a team, as an offense, you can’t lock yourself into “this is the only way to be efficient,” because there are going to be weeks and matchups where, hey, we may need to pivot or go a different direction or do things in a different way.”
I can see why Campbell wanted him to be his next offensive coordinator.
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