The Offseason Thread

[DanO]

Johnny Morton???? Didn't even know he was still in football. I know nothing about him as a coordinator. Looks like he hasn't been missing the lunch line.

[Mainevent]

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[Mainevent]

So according to the Athletic pod guys, this Morton is known around the league for having an encyclopedic knowledge of passing schemes and plays. They also said the one year he was an OC for the Jets and his QB was 38 year old Josh McCown, that it was a fun offense with a lot of creativity. And McCown’s stats reflect that to an extent, especially considering how bad the talent was.

[El Axe]

Pride of Detroit has a scorecard for all the Lions coaching changes:

https://www.prideofdetroit.com/2025/1/6/24337122/2025-nfl-coaching-carousel-tracking-detroit-lions-coaching-changes

Lions coaching promotions

• LB coach Kelvin Sheppard now defensive coordinator
• OL coach Hank Fraley now OL coach/run game coordinator
• Assistant LB coach Shaun Dion Hamilton now LB coach

Lions coaching adds:

• DL coach Kacy Rodgers (former Bucs DL coach)

Lions coaching losses

• Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson (Bears HC)
• Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn (Jets HC)
• Assistant QB coach J.T. Barrett (Bears QB coach)
• WR coach Antwaan Randle El (Bears WR coach/assistant HC)
• DL coach Terrell Williams (Patriots DC)

Lions coaching vacancies


Offensive coordinator Candidates:

• Broncos passing game coordinator John Morton (interviewed)

Assistant QB coach

• No candidates yet

WR coach

• No candidates yet

Assistant LB coach:

• No candidates yet

I've seen reports that say that Glenn is considering Brunell and Engstrand for his OC.

[froot loops]

So according to the Athletic pod guys, this Morton is known around the league for having an encyclopedic knowledge of passing schemes and plays. They also said the one year he was an OC for the Jets and his QB was 38 year old Josh McCown, that it was a fun offense with a lot of creativity. And McCown’s stats reflect that to an extent, especially considering how bad the talent was.

I have no idea who this guy is other than the fact that he was a great decoy in KC.

What I do like and appreciate is since the Lions went with this current setup of Campbell and Holmes is that they cast a pretty wide net. Morton has some ties to Campbell, but Morton has ties to a lot of teams. Previously, they would bring in head coaches and it seemed like it was a lot of cronies from wherever they came from.

[Mainevent]

Coached under Jim Harbaugh, Carroll, Gruden and Payton. That doesn’t guarantee success, but that’s a lot of successful coaches he’s learned under and different philosophies.

[ghandi]

and he has a talented offense to work with....you'd think hand the ball to Gibbs behind this offensive line will probably be pretty effective regardless of coordinator...Now will Goff be as good? That is the question.

[Tom]

Some people are acting like Goff will have a huge drop off with the loss of Johnson. I wasn’t a Goff guy when he came here but I think he’s proven he’s a good QB. He was the #1 overall pick in the draft. He had multiple playoff wins with the Rams. If I’m not mistaken, he even beat the Seahawks on road in the playoffs when he came off the bench back when the Seahawks still had a decent defense.

As things went downhill in LA, he got shipped here and basically was considered a throw in as part of the Stafford deal. The first year was rough but as the season ended, you could see a chemistry developing between Goff and St. Brown.and after a rough start to the second season, he has been very impressive beating some very quality teams. He’s played well in three out of four playoff games. People keep acting like Johnson deserves all the credit for Goff’s “resurrection” but maybe Goff deserves a lot of credit for the success of Johnson’s offense.

[El Axe]

Here are his team's offensive rank at the end of each year of his career:

2016 26 (rookie year, rebuilding)
2017 10
2018 2
2019 7
2020 11

2021 22 (first year in Detroit surrounded by practice squad level players)
2022 3
2023 3
2024 2

At some point, either he's the luckiest QB in the league to always have great coaches and teammates, or maybe, just maybe, he might be a decent QB

[chemiclord]

Sure, there's a degree that yes, Goff's success is a consequence of having good teams around him.

But the part that a lot of haters don't acknowledge is that is true for every QB in the league outside of a very rare handful of guys that literally appear maybe once or twice a generation. And for those rare generational talents, even they need something around them and their singular talents still have a ceiling. These idiots seem to feel like American football is effectively a game of one-on-one where 42 other people just happen to have some really good seats.

So this idea that, "Hurr, Goff is only good because his team is good" should be answered with, "Yeah. And? Welcome to team sports. First time?"

[El Axe]

I didn't realize that Morton was our "senior offensive analyst" in Ben Johnson's first full year as OC. The hire makes more sense as it should be a seemless transition. It's also impressive what he helped do this past year with the Broncos. I'm confident we'll still have a top-5 offense next year given normal injury luck.

A breakdown of Morton's coaching career:

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2025/01/28/john-morton-stats-detroit-lions-offensive-coordinator-previous-teams/77995442007/

[El Axe]

97.1 the ticket discussed upcoming Lions FA:

CD3, Onwuzurike, Zeitler, Patrick, Barnes, Melinfonwu, Davenport, Skipper, Dorsey, Vildor, Muhammed, Bridgewater

Here's the rough contract I would offer for each, but I don't really know the cap room:

CD3 -- current contract 2 years
Onwuzurike -- backup DL money 1 year + bonuses
Zeitler - same contract this year
Patrick - WR3 money
Barnes - starting LB money
Melinfonwu - prove-it one-year contract
Davenport - vet min
Skipper - backup OL money
Dorsey -- wait to see health
Vildor -- let him go already. He's a below-average backup.
Muhammed -- backup DL money
Bridgewater -- He'll be only 33 next season. Would have to trust coaching staff assessment on Hooker. Inclined to let him walk or offer a coaching job

[froot loops]

Vildor is fine if he is 5th or 6th on the CB depth chart. The reason he stayed this year is he beat out any of the other guys vying for the spot. If you have to play him in big games guarding top receivers, you are in trouble. But you are in trouble with any league minimum depth corner.

[Mainevent]

ESPN put out their list of the top 50 FAs. It's a good CB/DB class. So that could keep Davis costs more reasonable. But it only takes one team.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/43521213/2025-nfl-free-agency-top-50-ranking-players-available-offseason-higgins-darnold#db

[CGVT]

Vildor is fine if he is 5th or 6th on the CB depth chart. The reason he stayed this year is he beat out any of the other guys vying for the spot. If you have to play him in big games guarding top receivers, you are in trouble. But you are in trouble with any league minimum depth corner.

Yep. Vildor gets way too much hate, mostly based on the play at San Fran.

He is what he is.