The first candidate for the Detroit Lions’ offensive coordinator position has emerged: Broncos passing game coordinator John Morton.
Not much has been reported about the Detroit Lions’ offensive coordinator search thus far, but Ian Rapoport has the first candidate publicly known for the job. According to Rapoport, Broncos passing game coordinator John Morton has interviewed for the Lions’ job, and the NFL Network reported him a “candidate to watch.”
If the name John Morton sounds familiar, that’s because Morton was on the Lions’ staff in 2022 as an offensive assistant. Additionally, Morton interviewed for the Lions’ offensive coordinator job when coach Dan Campbell first arrived in Detroit back in 2021. Morton is a Michigan native, having been born in Auburn Hills and he graduated from Western Michigan.
Campbell talked about his one season in Detroit and how he helped out current passing game coordinator Tanner Engstrand.
“John Morton, man, Johnny was – Johnny’s a superstar now and there’s a number of things that he did for us last year that are things that we’ve kept,” Campbell said. “And I really feel like that helped Tanner as well. And he took a lot of that, and he learned from that, and he’s grown from that.”
Morton has nearly 30 years of coaching experience in the NFL. He started as an offensive assistant with the Oakland Raiders back in 1998. Since then, he’s had stops with the New Orleans Saints (passing game coordinator, 2006; wide receivers coach 2015-16), San Francisco 49ers (WR coach 2011-14), and he was the offensive coordinator for a single year with the New York Jets in 2017, but was fired after a single season.
For the past two years, he’s been the pass game coordinator for the Denver Broncos under coach Sean Payton. This year, the Broncos were a surprisingly successful team with rookie Bo Nix having a strong rookie season. Denver finished 10th in points scored on offense, and their passing offense ranked 15th in DVOA.
Due to his connections with Payton and his previous stint with the Lions, there is an obvious philosophical connection between Morton and Campbell. We’ll see if he can land the job.
