Jared Goff Seems to Throw Shade at John Morton

Jared Goff will enter 2026 with his fourth coordinator in six seasons with the Detroit Lions.

He came to the Motor City in 2021 with Anthony Lynn as his OC. Lynn failed to last a full season calling the plays, with head coach Dan Campbell replacing him on an interim basis and then eventually Ben Johnson.

Goff and Johnson developed a tremendous rapport, leading to a career resurgence for the veteran signal-caller. The former No. 1 overall pick threw for 96 touchdowns and 13,642 yards, and made two trips to the Pro Bowl in Johnson’s three seasons as OC in Detroit.

Johnson left to join the rival Chicago Bears as their head coach in 2025, leading to a significant hole on the Lions’ coaching staff. Campbell decided to fill that void with longtime assistant John Morton, who had previously served as the offensive coordinator of the New York Jets in 2017.

Morton suffered a similar fate as Lynn, with Campbell replacing Morton midseason as the team’s offensive play-caller.

As a result, the Lions will head into a second straight campaign with a new OC, with Drew Petzing taking over as play-caller. Prior to joining Campbell’s staff, Petzing spent three seasons as the Arizona Cardinals’ offensive coordinator.

Goff has enjoyed working with the new Detroit OC so far.

“He has been awesome,” the veteran quarterback told reporters at OTAs this week. “He has been great to work with. He has got a lot of his own ideas. He has also been open to listening to everything we want to do. It’s been a fun synergy between him and I, our whole offensive staff and everything. He has done a good job.”

The Lions became too pass-friendly and one-dimensional at times with Morton in charge of the offense. Subsequently, the hope with Petzing calling the shots is that the offense will return to much more of a balanced attack.

The former Cardinals coordinator is known for being a big proponent of establishing the run, and that approach should mesh well with Goff, who has thrived in structured, timing-based systems.

“He has got a great feel for what it is like to run an offense and to run a room and how to balance volume with intentionally attacking a defense and trying to find yourself in the right plays,” Goff said of Petzing. “It is hard, man. (There) is a lot more to it than just drawing up plays, and I think he has got that extra part to it, as well as the play stuff and schemes that is great. The part that is outside of the X’s and O’s, I think he does a hell of a job with, and it has been a lot of fun.”

To be a successful offensive coordinator at the NFL level, you can’t just be a high-level play-caller. You have to also be an effective communicator and be able to lead a room of grown men.

In Goff’s eyes, the new Lions coordinator is equipped with those necessary intangibles.

“It’s communication,” Goff said, when asked about what it takes for a new coordinator to install an offense and connect with players. “It is knowing when to balance simple easy concepts with complexities that we can all handle, and then knowing how to install, how to keep it fun and keep the energy up and how to hold guys accountable and lead and be able to be in front of a room. He’s great at it. It’s awesome. It’s a lot of fun to be in a room with him.”

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