The Detroit Lions finished the 2024 season with one of the league's most feared offenses. They obliterated the franchise's single-season record for points scored by putting up a total of 564 over their 17-game schedule.
Given that historic showing from a team standpoint, it should come as no surprise the Lions had the highest-rated offensive attack in the league in terms of scoring. Detroit was among the NFL's elite in the yards gained as well, ranking second overall out of the league's 32 teams in that particular category.
With all of that said, it is not a stretch in any way to suggest that the Lions' biggest winner of the offseason is a coach rather than any individual player.
Lions OC John Morton is Detroit's Biggest Winner of Offseason So Far
John Morton, the replacement for former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, is the biggest winner of the offseason for Detroit. In addition to being a native of Auburn Hills, Michigan, Morton played his collegiate football at Western Michigan University. He then had a stint as a senior offensive analyst for the Lions during the 2022 season under Johnson.
If those elements of a homecoming weren't enough to make Morton feel like a big winner this offseason, the fact that he is now in charge of a high-powered offense which he has familiarity with seals the deal.
After serving as the passing game coordinator for the Denver Broncos the past two seasons, this new role is a significant jump for Morton to take. Despite that being the case, Dan Campbell and the rest of the brain trust clearly have faith in him. In fact, he was the pick of the litter despite there being other options to fill this position who were in Detroit.
As we saw with Johnson, who was sought out fill the head coaching vacancy with the Chicago Bears this offseason, success leading an offense like the one the Lions currently possess can open doors to all sorts of opportunities down the road.
Plenty has to happen before Morton or Detroit's front office would have to think about other teams coming in and poaching the offensive coordinator away. But if that time were to ultimately come to pass, it would only mean that Morton maintained, if not exceeded, the level of excellence that has already been established on the offensive side of the ball for the Lions.