Pressers and scrums: On Petzing's intangibles, d-line developments, halting 'pajama party' hype, and developing special teams roles
Allen Park — Ahead of the first open practice of the 2026 offseason, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell, special teams coordinator Dave Fipp and assistant general manager Ray Agnew had podium sessions.
Then, following the practice, quarterback Jared Goff, wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, edge defender Aidan Hutchinson and defensive tackle Alim McNeill met with the media.
That’s a lot of audio to dissect. Here are the highlights.
Scrapped plans
The Lions made a unique decision to remove rookie minicamp from the schedule this offseason. I had hypothesized that the alteration was to give the incoming players a much-needed physical and mental break after grueling pre-draft preparation, and it was good to hear Campbell confirm that speculation.
“We'll have a couple of these rookies that probably won't do very much (today) and that's more precautionary,” Campbell said, before I asked about removing the rookie minicamp. “Some of the rookies, it's the same way every year, they train for the combine or for all of those drills, they don't train for football. …We just want to be smart with these guys, make sure they're ready to get on the field to do — even though it's not a lot, to be able to do that. We don't want any setbacks.
“…It's not worth it anymore,” Campbell said about schedule change. “Really, the straw that broke the camel’s back last year. It was the first walkthrough, we had guys all over the ground. The league didn't take too kindly to that, and it's not worth it. It's just not worth it. So, let's get them ready, let's physically get them ready to where they can get with the rest of the guys and look like football players a little bit.”
D-line developments
Agnew, a former defensive lineman, offered some feedback on the team’s young players at the position, including last year’s first-round pick, Tyleik Williams.
“As a young d-lineman, you’re going to always have your ups and downs,” Agnew said. “I thought, by the end of the year, he got more consistent as a player, with his technique and his run play. I think he’ll get better at that this year, and I do think he’ll get better as a pass rusher, also.”
Williams finished his rookie year with 18 tackles, 19 QB pressures and 1.0 sack. He’s expected to join the starting lineup in his second season following the departure of DJ Reader.
In regards to rookies Skyler Gill-Howard and Tyre West, Agnew said the pass-rush ability of both players stood out during the evaluation process. However, both need to round out their skill sets this offseason by working on their run defense.
On the veteran front, Agnew expects Alim McNeill is in line for a rebound performance after a lackluster showing coming off an ACL tear in 2025.
“I think Alim will have a great year,” Agnew said. “I think he’ll have a bounce-back year. Usually, with an ACL, it’s the second year you come back where you’re fully healthy. I expect great things out of him.”
McNeill didn’t return until midseason, missing out on the foundational work players get throughout the offseason program. McNeill said he never underestimated the value of those practices, but there wasn’t an alternative with his recovery timeline.
He is also expecting bigger and better things from himself in 2026.
“(I’m more) explosive and being able to do what I need to do, yeah, absolutely,” McNeill said. “It’s a night-and-day difference between last year and now. Just overall strength and being able to connect the mind and the body, just my brain being able to know that this leg is good and I can step and plant here, stuff like that. It was more mental, like neurological, just getting that muscle to fire with this (injury) than anything. I never felt like last year that I was limited at all, as far as mentally, but yeah, I have that connection now. It’s just easier now.”
Forging a fresh bond
Goff said it’s way too early to tell you how the scheme might look different under first-year coordinator Drew Petzing, but the quarterback has enjoyed the relationship the two are forging behind the scenes.
“He’s been awesome, man,” Goff said. “He’s been great to work with. He’s got a lot of his own ideas and he’s also very open to listening to everything that we want to do. It’s been a fun synergy between him and I and our whole offensive staff. It’s been great. He’s done a great job. Yeah, he really has. He’s a great listener and he really puts the players first.
Goff said he’ll likely have a better answer about how things are different come September. However, I’m not sure how much I would anticipate him sharing those details in the fall.
“Hopefully scoring a lot more points and winning a lot more games is the biggest difference,” Goff said.
Not surprisingly, Goff is impressed with Petzing’s acumen for X’s and O’s, but it’s the coordinator’s intangibles that have grabbed the quarterback’s attention even more.
“He’s got a great feel for what it’s like to run an offense and to run a room and how to balance volume with intentionally attacking a defense and trying to find yourself in the right plays,” Goff said. “It’s hard, man. It’s a lot more to it than just drawing up plays. And I think he’s got that extra part to it, as well as the play (design) stuff is great, his scheme is great, but the part that is outside of the X’s and O’s, I think he does a hell of a job with, and it’s been a lot of fun.
“…It’s communication,” Goff said. It’s knowing when to balance simple, easy concepts with complexities that we can all handle, knowing how to install, how to keep it fun and keep the energy up, and then how to hold guys accountable and lead and be able to be in front of a room. He’s great at it.”
Easing the load
Hutchinson understands the value of rest, but it doesn’t make it any less difficult to embrace the mindset.
He’s coming off a season where he logged more snaps than any defensive lineman, 950, and the Lions want to dial it back. When the team selected Derrick Moore in the second round, Holmes noted the addition should help take some work off Hutchinson’s plate.
Hutchinson was asked if he could appreciate the organization’s mindset.
“Yeah, it’s a fine line,” Hutchinson said. “Sometimes, it’s like overtime, I’m not coming out. If it’s the fourth quarter, I’m not really coming out. I think towards the end of the season last year, we started being a little bit more deliberate about, hey, I’m going to take these first two plays off of this drive. Just (doing) that, I did feel it in the fourth quarter. It really helps, just taking a couple off here and there, it helps the conditioning for sure.”
Hutchinson does love the idea that the Lions added some more Wolverines to the roster, including Moore. The two hadn’t really interacted prior to the draft, but they worked out together at Michigan after the Lions made the selection.
“It was fun just talking pass rush, seeing his mentality, my mentality and how they differ and how they may complement each other,” Hutchinson said.
Finding the right fit
After the NFL made touchbacks on kickoffs more punitive last season, there was a sharp increase in returns. The Lions faired reasonably well following the alteration, averaging 26.6 yards per return. That ranked 10th in the league. However, they lacked explosiveness on the play. The team’s longest return, 44 yards, was bottom-10.
Fipp has continued to invest significant time into studying the nuances of the new kickoff format. He’s on the hunt for more impact through finding the right returners this year.
“The kick return is obviously a huge play,” Fipp said. “It is definitely more important than it’s ever been, which is fun. But, finding the returner, yeah, obviously, to me, the returner is going to be crucial. I mean, at that position, those guys are touching the ball quite a bit. So, at the end of the day, obviously you want great players back there. I think it’s going to help push teams to play guys who might be doing a little bit more on the roster on offense, but they have a value for you, field position-wise on special teams, too.”
Fipp noted newcomer Greg Dortch could be in the mix for one of the two spots, despite being a little smaller than the coordinator would prefer for the role.
“In my opinion, you want a guy who’s durable, who is going to be able to take some hits,” Fipp said. “Dortch definitely has done it, has been productive and had some production similar to what Kalif (Raymond) has.”
Fipp and St. Brown both had nothing but glowing comments for Raymond, who departed for an opportunity in Chicago this offseason after five years with Detroit.
Regarding Dortch, St. Brown said he loves his new teammate’s football IQ, movement skills and competitiveness. Meanwhile, Fipp, who remembered scouting Dortch when he was coming out of Wake Forest in 2019, sees a chance to recreate Raymond’s growth as an average return man into one of the league’s best.
Halting the hype trains
Every offseason, Campbell gets asked about specific players, and whether they’re looking good during these early practices.
They’re softball questions that produce filler content for newspapers and websites — trust me, I was guilty of providing that filler for more than a decade. Bad news for those counting on the puff pieces because Campbell isn’t interested in providing the quotes to support them.
“I’m done with the hype of the pajama party in May,” Campbell said “Man, it’s about the mental, it’s about the movement skills. All that other stuff doesn’t matter. And then we’ll find out in training camp who’s who.”
Still, even though Campbell robbed us of the “X is in the best shape of his life” quotes, he provided another layup conversation piece when offering a glowing assessment of the roster general manager Brad Holmes pieced together this offseason.
“This will be the most competition we’ve had, in my opinion, top-tier competition,” Campbell said. “This will be good. This is going to be good across the board. So now it’s just, let’s get acclimated. We want to hit the ground running when we get to late July, August.”
The joy of development
Fipp said one of his favorite parts of this time of year is determining what the incoming rookies can do on special teams, particularly those with limited experience during their college careers.
“A bunch of these guys have done some things (on special teams), and then I think some people think these guys have done (more) than they have. Like (Jimmy) Rolder played 13 punts. That’s it. So, if he’s playing on our punt team this year, he’s going to play a lot more than that. He’s got some big shoes to fill.
“None of these guys have covered kick or played a kick return the way they’re going to play it this year,” Fipp continued. (Keith) Abney has zero punt reps in his time in college. So, it’s like these guys are, man, they’re green. They’ve got to grow. Am I excited about that? Oh, heck yeah. That’s my favorite part of the job is trying to get a guy to be able to do something he’s maybe never done before or play at a level he hasn’t before.”
Detroit asks all of its position coaches to contribute to the scouting process ahead of the draft. I asked Fipp how he evaluates a player’s special team potential when they have little to no reps doing what he’ll ask them to do.
“At the end of the day, football is football,” Fipp said. “There’s a lot of things that relate. Just to give you an example, on defense, if you’re a defensive end, you’re trying to rush a tackle one-on-one off the edge. Well, the kickoff play is really a one-on-one pass rush, very similar to defensive end rushing tackle. You’re doing it from five yards away instead of maybe one or two on the line of scrimmage, but it’s very similar. So, how’s that guy play that play on defense, and do you think those skills or traits would relate or carry over”
“Then, through the years, I think you build a volume of information like “OK, I saw this guy do this and that actually showed up when he got here,’” Fipp said. “So, now I feel like when I see a guy do this on college film, I think he’ll be able to do it on NFL film because I saw that with another player. And so, throughout the years, I think you kind of become a little bit more intuitive in your evaluation process.”
The next step
Agnew confirmed that he interviewed for the Vikings’ GM vacancy, expressing gratitude for the opportunity, even if he’s no longer in the running for that job.
Agnew affirmed his commitment to Detroit and the love of his current role as GM Brad Holmes’ right-hand man. Regardless, Agnew restated his desire to run his own team one day.
“Obviously, I didn't have what they were looking for, but I'm excited and happy where I'm at,” Agnew said. “I enjoy working here every day. I've always been wherever my feet are at.