The Detroit Lions will enter the 2025 NFL season as one of the favorites to raise the Vince Lombardi Trophy, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of question marks surrounding this group as we inch closer to the start of training camp.
While the Lions have boasted one of the league's most prolific offenses since Ben Johnson took control prior to the 2022 season, the longtime coordinator has moved on from Detroit to, deservingly, become the head coach of the Chicago Bears. It goes without saying that there is no love lost between the Lions and Bears franchises, and seeing Johnson leave Detroit in order to take the reins in Chicago will only intensify the rivalry between the two.
Despite that being the case, Lions head coach Dan Campbell is as confident as ever in his group and what they're capable of on the offensive side of the ball whether Johnson is part of Detroit's coaching staff or not and he explained as much during the league's annual meetings this past week.
"This is a Detroit Lion offense, is what it is. ... This offense is Jared Goff, (Amon-Ra) St. Brown, (Jahmyr) Gibbs, (David) Montgomery," Campbell said, per Richard Silva of The Detroit News. "It's Frank (Ragnow); it's (Penei) Sewell; it's (Taylor) Decker. I can keep (going). It's (Jameson Williams). ... That's what we are."
Campbell tabbed longtime NFL assistant John Morton as the team's new offensive coordinator, and he brings a great deal of experience to the table as a coach and a former player. Morton served as a senior offensive assistant on Campbell's staff during the 2022 season, which happened to be the year Johnson implemented his new offensive scheme, before spending the last two seasons as the passing game coordinator with Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos, his second stint coaching under Payton.
Morton's experience with the offense that was in place in Detroit, coupled with the knowledge gained from working alongside coaches the likes of Payton, Jon Gruden, Pete Carroll, Jim Harbaugh and Norv Turner, Campbell believes his new offensive coordinator can help veteran quarterback Jared Goff and the rest of the Lions take another major step forward this coming season.
"Everything we wanted him to do in the offense (last season), he did," Campbell said about Goff, per Silva. "And then he began to bring stuff to us, as to, 'Hey, man, I can see this look. Let me get to this play. I know I've got these options in the bag. But let me get to this, as well.' Right? Those are the things where (it's like), 'OK, here we go, man. That's beginning to show.'
"I would anticipate that to take another step up."
It goes without saying that Campbell is aware of what losing a member of the coaching staff as valuable as Johnson was to any team, let alone a divisional rival, is tough to overcome. However, in classic Campbell fashion, the head coach of the Lions expressed confidence in not only his new play caller but also the players on the field who will be tasked week in and week out with executing the game plan.
"We can say, 'Well this is our scheme, this is what we're running.' No, no, no," Campbell said, per Silva. "(The players are) the ones who make it what it is. That's our playbook, those guys."
We'll find out soon enough just how right Campbell is about his choice to replace Johnson as offensive coordinator as Goff and the rest of Detroit's roster will open training camp on July 27.