Drew Petzing has spent an entire offseason getting an up-close look at Amon-Ra St. Brown. The Detroit Lions’ new offensive coordinator apparently came away even more impressed than he expected.
Petzing offered unusually strong praise for Detroit’s star receiver Thursday, focusing less on St. Brown’s production and more on the traits he brings to the building every day.
“He’s probably one of the better players I’ve ever been around,” Petzing said, according to Nolan Bianchi. “The leadership, the intensity, the physicality have blown me away.”
Petzing added that St. Brown plays the game in a way few players are “willing or capable” of playing it.
That is a significant endorsement from a coordinator who has worked around plenty of NFL talent. It also helps explain why St. Brown remains central to Detroit’s offensive identity even as Petzing builds a system designed to spread stress across the entire field.
St. Brown Fits Exactly What Petzing Wants
Petzing has been consistent about the identity he wants from Detroit’s offense. During training camp, he described a unit that must be physical, tough, multiple and difficult to defend, while emphasizing that the attack cannot depend entirely on one player or personnel grouping.
St. Brown fits that vision almost too neatly.
His production is established. He caught 117 passes for 1,401 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. More tellingly, the Lions noted when naming their 2026 team captains that St. Brown already ranks first in franchise history through a player’s first five Detroit seasons in receptions, receiving yards and 100-yard games.
This is also his fourth consecutive season as a captain.
Petzing is seeing the things behind those numbers. The physicality. The practice intensity. The leadership. Those qualities are particularly valuable for a coordinator trying to establish his own offensive standard without tearing down what Detroit already does well.
Petzing and St. Brown Started From a Good Place
There was always going to be an adjustment after Detroit changed offensive coordinators again.
St. Brown acknowledged that reality during the offseason while still expressing confidence in Petzing. He said there would be a learning curve, but he also expected Detroit to preserve many of the concepts the offense already executed well. St. Brown was openly eager to see what Petzing would add.
Several months later, Petzing’s comments suggest that evaluation has worked both ways.
St. Brown has already proven he can produce through changing coordinators and evolving offensive structures. His 547 career receptions and 6,252 receiving yards through five seasons reflect remarkable consistency, numbers Detroit highlighted while announcing its captains.
Petzing’s challenge is not figuring out whether St. Brown can play.
It is finding enough ways to use everything that makes him different.
Detroit’s Offensive Standard Has a Familiar Face
The Lions have Jahmyr Gibbs, Jameson Williams, Sam LaPorta and several other players Petzing can build weekly game plans around. That depth is precisely why he has stressed multiplicity instead of designing an offense around one featured weapon.
St. Brown can still be something different within that structure.
Petzing’s praise suggests No. 14 is not merely another option on his call sheet. He is one of the players setting the standard for how Petzing wants the offense to operate.
Detroit opens its season Sunday against New Orleans. By then, the compliments stop being the interesting part.
Petzing finally gets to show how he intends to use one of the best players he says he has ever coached.
