Despite strong fan interest, the Lions ‘did not see Mike McDaniel as a fit’
Well, that explains why the Lions didn’t hire McDaniel.
The search is over, and the Detroit Lions have their next offensive coordinator. Arizona Cardinals OC Drew Petzing has been offered the job, and he is a strong fit for what the Lions want: A run-first guy who innovates in the run game and develops players all over the field.
For Lions fans, he was not the choice. In fact, none of them even knew he was interviewing for the job until it was announced that he was being offered it. Lions fans wanted former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel.
That always seemed like a long shot for the Lions, since so many teams were interested in talking to him about their head coaching role, and a good handful wanted to talk to him about being their OC. Everyone in Detroit wanted him, except the Lions themselves.
‘Campbell liked McDaniel a lot, but Lions didn’t view it as quite the right fit for them’
According to ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, the Lions’ hiring McDaniel was seen as the least likely thing to materialize during this coaching search, because while Campbell likes McDaniel, the Lions didn’t see him as a fit.
This wasn’t the situation Lions fans and media thought it might be, where the Lions wanted McDaniel but couldn’t get him. They just didn’t want him. He was one of the eight candidates the Lions called on Monday to inform them that they were no longer candidates for the job.
The Lions went with Petzing, not out of necessity because everyone was gone, but because they really wanted him. We’ll see where it goes in due time.
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