By Dianna Russini, Colton Pouncy and RJ Kraft

The Detroit Lions are moving towards filling their offensive coordinator vacancy with Denver Broncos pass game coordinator John Morton, a league source said.

Coach Dan Campbell has been looking to fill both of his coordinator openings following the departures of Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn to the Chicago Bears and New York Jets, respectively, as their new head coaches. Detroit is set to promote linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard to defensive coordinator, a team source told The Athletic last week.

Morton has previous experience as an OC with the New York Jets in 2017 as part of 21 years of NFL coaching experience as an offensive assistant and position coach. His career includes stops with the Las Vegas/Oakland Raiders (1998-2004, 2019-21), the New Orleans Saints (2006, 2015-16) the San Francisco 49ers (2011-14) and Lions (2022). He also was the offensive coordinator for two seasons at the University of Southern California during a four-year stint at the school.

Familiarity with the Lions’ system was something Campbell cited as an important factor when it came to replacing Johnson as the team’s OC and Morton brings that from his season with Detroit. Campbell wanted to keep as much of the team’s offensive system in place given quarterback Jared Goff’s success with Detroit. Goff posted career-best numbers in completion percentage (72.4 percent), touchdowns (37) and quarterback rating (111.8) en route to his second Pro Bowl season in the last three years.

This year, Detroit’s offense ranked first in points (564), second in total yards per game (409.5) and passing yards per game (263.2) and sixth in rushing yards per game (146.4).

What Morton brings to Detroit

The Lions could’ve gone with an internal option to replace Johnson, but opted to bring in an outside voice who’s familiar with the coaching staff and roster in Morton.

Morton is a longtime offensive coach who’s spent time at the collegiate and NFL levels and has ties to Campbell. The two crossed paths in New Orleans in 2016, where Morton coached wide receivers and Campbell coached tight ends. Morton spent the 2022 season with the Lions as a senior offensive assistant, so he knows the core players on the roster, the offense in place and what Campbell wants this thing to look like. He had a hand in shaping it back then.

“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 during the 2023 season.

This wouldn’t be Morton’s first time as an offensive coordinator either. He was the Jets’ OC in 2017 under Todd Bowles, tasked with leading an offense quarterbacked by Josh McCown with Bilal Powell and a 32-year-old Matt Forte as its leading rushers. Morton left the Lions in 2023 to join Sean Payton’s staff with the Broncos, and spent the past season working as Bo Nix’s passing game coordinator.

Morton is clearly a coach that Campbell trusts. Otherwise, he would’ve simply hired from within. Here’s what Campbell said last week when asked about replacing Johnson and what he’s looking for.

“I’m going to be involved no matter what because I think that’s best for our offense, but also (Jared) Goff,” Campbell said. “This thing is set up for Goff to have success with our playmakers, (Amon-Ra) St. Brown, our running backs, the O-line, the whole deal, Jamo (Jameson Williams). And so, I want to keep that in place, I want to keep our terminology in place and I want to make sure that Goff is comfortable because he’s playing at a high level.”

For a CEO/leader-of-men type of head coach like Campbell, one of the challenges often faced is staff turnover — particularly on offense. Teams are always looking for the next young, bright offensive mind. If the Lions are looking for a coordinator who could be there long term, Morton, if successful, could potentially fit that description. He’s 55 and has been around the block. He’s an Auburn Hills, Mich. native and played at Western Michigan, so perhaps those local ties would entice him to stay around. And if things don’t work out, Campbell has shown a good feel for making a necessary change.

Expect him to work with passing game coordinator Tanner Engstrand — whom Morton helped develop in 2022 — offensive line coach Hank Fraley, assistant head coach/running backs coach Scottie Montgomery, quarterbacks coach Mark Brunell and even Campbell in an effort to keep this Lions offense elite. — Colton Pouncy, Lions beat writer