Former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator John Morton is back with the Denver Broncos and in the same role was in before the Lions hired him. According to a report from ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Morton will be the Broncos’ pass game coordinator for the 2026 season.
The news certainly isn’t much of a surprise considering there were already reports that Morton had returned to Denver for an advisory role during the Broncos’ playoff run.
Morton was with the Lions in two different recent stints. In 2022, he served as the senior offensive assistant in Ben Johnson’s first year as offensive coordinator. From there, he spent two seasons as Denver’s pass game coordinator, before re-joining the Lions as offensive coordinator following Johnson’s departure. While the Lions did produce the fifth-most points in the NFL in Morton’s one season as the team’s offensive coordinator, many aspects of their game took a step back. Most notably, the Lions’ run game regressed massively, and coach Dan Campbell stripped Morton of play-calling duties around the halfway point in the season.
To replace Morton, the Lions hired Drew Petzing as their next offensive coordinator. Previously, Petzing had served as the Arizona Cardinals’ offensive coordinator for the past three seasons, before the franchise fired head coach Jonathan Gannon—leaving Petzing (whose contract expired in Arizona) to take any job available. To learn more about Petzing, check out our 30-minute interview with the new Lions coordinator from a week ago.
The Lions have yet to announce their final 2026 coaching staff, but that is expected shortly.
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