John Morton Plans to Use Full Power of Lions Offense

Lions not going away from what worked under Ben Johnson, will be creative.

Detroit Lions offensive coordinator John Morton. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Detroit Lions have a new voice leading the offense, and he's eager to keep the group humming at a high level.

Taking over a team that has consistently produced a top-five offense over the last three season is no easy task, but coaching veteran John Morton is eager to accept the challenge. He's no stranger to Detroit, having spent the 2022 season as an offensive assistant working with Dan Campbell and Ben Johnson to build the scheme.

One of the areas where the Lions have been unique in their style is the amount of trick plays that the coaching staff has utilized, particularly last season. Over the course of last season, the Lions called a number of unique plays designed to keep defenses off balance.

Though Morton is new to the offensive coordinator role, he doesn't plan to change that aspect of the team's identity.

"We'll see. I'm gonna do what Dan, whatever he wants," Morton said. "We're gonna have everything, we're gonna continue to do those things because it's worked. We're gonna run things — whatever was working, we're gonna continue to do that."

During his time as the Denver Broncos' passing game coordinator, Morton wasn't afraid to dial up deep passes. This has carried over to the early part of camp with the Lions, as he's shown a fondness for trying to create downfield 1-on-1 matchups.

In his eyes, the amount of talent the Lions have on their offense allows him to scheme up deep pass plays in an effort to generate the best possible matchups for his skill talent.

"I'm isolating guys. I want to give them the chance so I'm taking more shots," Morton explained. "Plus, I want to see who can do it, and then make the corrections, whether it's a technique error or something like that. I'm all about that, because we have the guys who can do it. So if you've got 'em, utilize 'em."

No days off

In his first offseason working as the offensive coordinator, Morton spent most of his downtime preparing for training camp. Rather than use the time between OTAs and camp to travel, he instead spent his hours reviewing tape from the team sessions and creating a game plan for attacking the Lions' defense.

In doing so, he hopes the players will see his process and understand the decisions that he makes over the course of the season.

"I really didn't go on vacation this year until like the last 10 days. I was just in here looking at what we did in the OTAs and things like that, and looking at our defense," Morton explained. "I basically game-planned our defense. I want to put this guy here, I want to put that guy there, I want to do this versus that. I think that's important. I want them to see where I'm coming from, what I'm gonna do during the season, so if that means me getting here early, so be it. I did it this morning. We've got certain situations, I'm looking at our defense that way I can give some tips and reminders to Jared. I just love the whole aspect of sitting in my laboratory by myself and trying to dissect the defense."

Notes

1. Morton revealed that he plans to call plays from the booth rather than on the field on game days. He's doing so to stay out of the "chaos" and see the entire field.

2. The coordinator also revealed that he will defer to Campbell regarding whether Graham Glasgow or Tate Ratledge will be the team's starting center.