The Detroit Lions won the NFC North in back-to-back seasons, finishing with the third-best overall offense in 2023 and the top scoring unit in 2024 when the team averaged 33.2 points per game. Now the Lions will attempt to claim the division for a third straight season with a revamped coaching staff after losing defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn to the New York Jets and offensive architect Ben Johnson to the Chicago Bears.
Head coach Dan Campbell set about rebuilding his staff this offseason, hiring John Morton as the Lions’ new offensive coordinator. Morton spent the last two seasons as the pass game coordinator for the Denver Broncos under Sean Payton. However, prior to landing in Denver, Morton served as senior offensive assistant with the Lions in 2022, affording him the opportunity to work with quarterback Jared Goff while Johnson ran the offense.
Morton believes that familiarity will provide an advantage as he attempts to keep Detroit’s offense rolling. “I think it’s big because it all starts with the quarterback… Just kind of knowing him – and when I was here, I was in the quarterback room. So, I have a feel of what he likes, what he doesn’t. That’s important as a play-caller. We’ll continue here when the players come back and stuff, so I’ll get to know more about him and the plays that he really likes a lot and what they’ve been doing good here,” Morton explained, per Kevin Patra of NFL.com.
Can the Lions pick up where Ben Johnson left off?
Morton had two separate stints with Payton in New Orleans where he observed how the offense centered around Drew Brees. He intends to build the Lions’ offense around the strengths of Goff, taking a similar approach as the coach he’s succeeding in Detroit.
While Morton certainly brings a great deal of coaching experience to his new role, he’ll have to adapt to calling plays. He did serve as the play-caller for the Jets when he worked as the team’s offensive coordinator under Todd Bowles in 2017. However, he hasn’t called plays since then. In fact, Morton’s only other stint as an offensive coordinator came back in 2009-10 when he spent two seasons in the role for the USC Trojans.
Campbell is certainly taking a chance in replacing a highly regarded offensive coach in Ben Johnson with the far less heralded Morton. But with Campbell’s leadership and Goff’s knowledge of the offense as he enters his fifth year with the Lions, the organization believes it can pick up where it left off after finishing 15-2 last season.
Although the 2024 campaign ended in disappointment as Detroit was surprisingly dispatched in the divisional round by the upstart Washington Commanders, the team hopes it can avoid the rash of injuries it suffered last year, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.
Good health along with some key free agent acquisitions could be crucial to the Lions resuming their dominance in the NFC North. Perhaps the staff shakeup will even lead to the postseason success that’s eluded the organization for so long.
The post How new Lions OC’s past with Jared Goff will shape offensive playcalling appeared first on ClutchPoints.
