Lions Film Study: Yeah, Drew Petzing might want David Montgomery to stay in Detroit
Montgomery sure looks like someone Petzing would feel comfortable with.
There are a lot of things up in the air for the Detroit Lions right now. They solved one of those things earlier in the week when they hired Drew Petzing to be their offensive coordinator. That hire might actually help solve another problem. The problem with David Montgomery.
Montgomery was clearly not super happy in 2025, and after the season ended, Lions GM Brad Holmes discussed the possibility of trading Montgomery, though he said he’d like to keep him.
After watching some of the film of Petzing with James Connor in Arizona, it might be safe to say that Petzing might want him to stay, too.
Clip 1: Sure looks like a Montgomery style run
Connor runs the ball a lot like Montgomery. He’s not the fastest, but he has agility. He can tilt and change direction fast. He also tends to bounce off contact pretty well.
That’s not really a thing that Jahmyr Gibbs does. Gibbs can make just about anyone in the league miss, but he’s not a power through-the-tackles type, or a bouncing would-be tacklers off of him type. He’s much better in space.
Clip 2: Patience is a virtue, so is hesitation
That’s another comparison to Montgomery. I’m not saying Gibbs doesn’t have patience or hesitation, but he’s more like a hibachi. He gets hot fast and goes.
That’s what makes his game so special. Montgomery doesn’t have that ability. Like Connor here, you have to pick your spots and maybe hesitate just a moment to let a block develop a little more, and then accelerate. Montgomery does this really well.
Clip 3: Not the fastest guy, but can still break a big one
Let me first give a little love to the design here. We know the Lions love their pre-snap motions. Connor goes in motion like he’s going to maybe split out wide and then runs back in and grabs the ball and runs for 22 yards. This is the kind of play that has Montgomery written all over it.
Plus, like Connor, Montgomery can break one every now and again. He’s not just a bell cow guy who kills you five yards at a time.
The element that Petzing has never had is not Montgomery, it’s Gibbs. The Cardinals do not have a speedy guy who could do all the crazy things Gibbs can. There’s no doubt Petzing is excited to work with him. But he has a comfort level with the type of game Montgomery brings, and there’s more than enough reasons to want to go to Montgomery and say, “Man, I’ll get you a ton of carries. Look what I can do with you.” Brad Holmes shouldn’t be hard to convince on this, either.
We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks, but it should be noted that if Montgomery is gone, Connor is a free agent this offseason, and a reunion with Petzing in Detroit makes a lot of sense.
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