It has been a long offseason for the Detroit Lions, and one of the biggest departures was offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. He left to become the Chicago Bears' head coach in January, forcing the Lions to make additions to the offensive staff.
That led to John Morton being hired as the offensive coordinator on January 30th. On Tuesday, Morton was about the offense and stated there aren't going to be many changes.
Morton said, "I'm not changing much. I mean why?"
He added that there will be small tweaks to the offense, and the biggest changes will be new plays being added with certain concepts he likes from his background.
Lions Offense Won’t Have Many Changes per John Morton
The Lions' offense has seen a ton of success under Johnson, and Morton doesn't want to mess with that. Last regular season, Detroit ranked second in the league in total offense (409.5) and passing offense (263.2) while being sixth in rushing offense (146.4). They also led the NFL in scoring offense (33.2).
This unit is led by the two-headed monster in the backfield with Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. The passing attack features Amon-Ra. St Brown, Jameson Williams, and Sam LaPorta. This collection of guys has worked flawlessly together, and Morton isn't looking to mess up what they've got.
Granted, we know it obviously won't be Johnson calling the shots, but the Lions will be trotting out the same scheme. That will make things easier for all parties involved, especially since Detroit is looking to pick up where it left off.
Changing the scheme, wording, and everything else would take a ton of time. These guys are professionals and would have been able to adapt at a high level, but Morton didn't want to do that. Instead, Detroit will be running the same scheme and expects to be one of the top offenses in the league once again in 2025.