Detroit

Lions

Unsurprisingly, Hopmeyer notes that Skipper will coach the offensive linemen in some capacity, though his official title hasn’t been announced. Detroit’s long-time sixth offensive lineman hung up the cleats after the 2025 season at the age of 31. It didn’t take him long to return to football, as Skipper volunteered to coach at the East-West Shrine Bowl right after the season. Now he will stay in Detroit as a staff member.

Montgomery joined the Fantasy Football Happy Hour at Super Bowl week and expressed optimism when discussing new Lions OC Drew Petzing. The 28-year-old running back said Petzing knows exactly what needs to happen next season, possibly alluding to more touches for himself. Montgomery had 185 carries and 38 targets in 2024, but those numbers dipped to 158 carries and 29 targets in 2025. Lions general manager Brad Holmes said the team would discuss Montgomery’s future this offseason at his season-ending press conference and it seems like the former Bears third-round pick is on board with the Lions’ plan for 2026.

Oliver initially joined the Lions’ coaching staff as an offensive quality control coach in 2021. He was promoted in 2023, becoming the team’s assistant offensive line coach under offensive line coach and run game coordinator Hank Fraley. Oliver notably played for Fraley as an offensive lineman at the University of San Diego in 2012. Oliver will now coach a position group led by star TE Sam LaPorta.

Well, what he really said was “look, it’s his offense. It’s not something where he’s got to do something else or be like – this is his show, man.” Holmes praised Petzing’s “impressive” job calling plays despite Arizona’s personnel issues and noted that Petzing isn’t married to a system so much as a philosophy to “maximize personnel of what’s available.” We’re not totally sold on Petzing’s work in Arizona, but it’s clear that NFL decision makers saw it differently. How the Lions change schematically in Petzing’s view will be a very real question over the next six months.

He’s not the offensive coordinator — that’s Drew Petzing — but Kafka will apparently be another offensive mind in the room for Dan Campbell. It’s a coup for the Lions considering Kafka had interviewed to be an offensive coordinator in Detroit, Philadelphia, Tampa, and with the Giants this offseason. He’ll hope to rehab his coaching image after a fairly benign interim coach showing after Brian Daboll was swept out of power in New Jersey.

It’s Montgomery’s first interview of the cycle. The 47-year-old was interviewed for the Cowboys job last year and the Buccaneers job in 2023. He’s been with the Lions since 2023 as Dan Campbell’s assistant head coach.

Skipper spent time on the Cowboys, Broncos, Patriots, Raiders and Colts’ practice squads after entering the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2017. He was signed to the Texans’ active roster in 2019 before signing on with the Lions later that year. Although he bounced between the Lions’ active roster and other practice squads after that, the six-plus seasons spent on the Lions’ active roster ultimately define his career. He caught a nine-yard touchdown pass against the Bills in Week 15, 2024. He is reportedly volunteering as an offensive line coach at this year’s East-West Shrine Bowl.

Specifically, Petzing ran with much heavier personnel than the Lions are used to seeing and have run a lot of 13-personnel (three tight ends, one running back) since 2023. We doubt the Lions will go quite that big quite that often — that means one of Jameson Williams or Amon-Ra St. Brown is off the field — but we do think that Trey McBride’s success under Petzing generally augurs well for LaPorta in 2026. Of course, given that LaPorta (back) seems questionable for training camp after surgery, we don’t exactly know that the Lions will be able to pull this off. LaPorta seems like a boom-bust pick in Best Ball drafts from where we sit in January.

It was truly a storied courtship as the Lions ... never were directly reported to have interviewed Petzing. We’re not sure who Petzing’s agent is, but he needs to put in some work with the #sources next go around. It’s possible that Kevin Stefanski’s elevation to Falcons head coach hurried this hire along, as Petzing coached under Stefanski in Cleveland and would have been a potential offensive coordinator candidate for the Falcons as well. Petzing did not exactly oversee a complex and exciting offense in Arizona as both Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr. flatlined, though he did oversee the renaissance of the Jacoby Brissett Pass Yards Machine as well. We’re surprised this is the direction the Lions went, but as long as Dan Campbell is overseeing things, it’s hard to drastically downgrade the Lions skill position players for fantasy purposes.

The Dolphins were the first team to interview Sheppard this coaching cycle. The first-year defensive coordinator saw his defense rank 22nd in points allowed and 18th in yards allowed in his first year at the helm, but the Lions again dealt with several injuries on the defensive side of the ball.