The Lions are going to need a near complete revamp of their tight end room after hiring Drew Petzing
The Lions are about to add a lot more tight end type stuff to their playbook.
The Detroit Lions got absolutely beaten up by the Los Angeles Rams in Week 15 and the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 16. Those games were big moments for this team. Not just because it moved them closer to missing the playoffs, but because of the offense both teams used to punish the Lions. They both utilized three tight sets, and it worked to perfection every time.
This wasn’t just a Lions problem. Go back and watch the divisional round matchup between the Rams and Bears. The Rams deployed 13 personnel on the Bears all night, and it worked. It helped them get some of the biggest plays of the game. The Lions want to add that. The hiring of Drew Petzing really shows that.
The Lions need to make tight end one of their priorities this offseason
Theoretically, the Lions could have Sam LaPorta back at training camp in August. That was at least the thought Lions head coach Dan Campbell put out there at the end of the season when he said LaPorta was healing up well from his season-ending back surgery. We’ll see what happens with that this summer.
But that should not stop the Lions from going out and finding a really good tight end in free agency. This is a pretty good year to find one. Guys like Isaiah Likely, Cade Otton, Daniel Bellinger, and maybe even Kyle Pitts come to mind. Guys who can block, as well as add an extra receiving option. The Lions would be wise to add another blocking tight end in the draft as well, unless they feel good about Zach Horton in 2026.
No matter what they do, the offensive line is the top thing they have to fix, but tight end might be second if they hope to utilize this scheme to its fullest extent. On top of that, the Lions showed in 2025 that they were just not deep at the position.
When LaPorta went down, it drastically changed what the Lions did and took a real security blanket away from Jared Goff. Detroit needed to strengthen here regardless of who it hired or what scheme it wanted to install.
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