With no reports he had been or was going to be interviewed for the job, news suddenly came on Monday that the Detroit Lions were hiring Drew Petzing as their new offensive coordinator.
Petzing spent the last three seasons as the Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator. While it's easy to lament the hire right off the bat, it also feels like an embrace of a trend where teams use three tight ends on a more regular basis. The Lions saw that up close twice this season, against the Los Angeles Rams and the Pittsburgh Steelers, and their defense struggled to deal with it.
Petzing will surely have some input into how the offensive coaching staff takes shape under him, starting with the opening at tight ends coach with the loss of Tyler Roehl. Shaping the Lions' offense in his philosophy, if Dan Campbell will fully allow it, may also put some players Petzing worked with in Arizona on the Lions' radar this offseason.
Potential Lions' signing would mean something big happened
It's hard to look at the group of Cardinals who are set to become free agents and get too excited. So a deeper dig was required to outline some offensive players who could follow Petzing to Detroit, and that's what Mike Payton of AtoZ Sports did in shaping a list of three possibilities.
Two on Payton's list are offensive lineman, offensive tackle Jonah Williams and center Hjalte Froholdt. Williams is a free agent, and Froholdt is a potential cut for Arizona. On the latter front, Payton arrived at his third player who could follow Petzing to Detroit.
Running back James Conner.
"With the potential that David Montgomery could be traded, Conner gives the Lions a short-term answer while they either work Sione Vaki up to take the RB2 spot or they wait for the right time to grab their future RB2 out of the draft."
The 30-year old Conner spent the last five seasons with the Cardinals, with at least seven rushing touchdowns four times in that span. The exception was this season, when he played just three games after suffering a right foot injury. While there shouldn't be any great concern about a full recovery, the new coaching staff in Arizona may not have any use for a running back who's on the wrong side of 30.
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Of course the Lions signing Conner would mean one huge potential offseason development came to fruition.
General manager Brad Holmes strongly invited the possibility of trading David Montgomery during his season-ending press conference. Conner would be Montgomery's direct replacement, as the power back in the backfield pairing with Jahmyr Gibbs.
It's also possible the choice of Petzing as offensive coordinator further fuels Montgomery's desire to be traded, under the easy assumption (based on Holmes' words) that he has already expressed that desire.
Time will tell what happens with the Lions' RB2 situation. But as potential replacements for Montgomery go, Conner is more interesting than a lot of others if he becomes available.