Former Raiders WR & Assistant Coach Replaces Ben Johnson on Lions

dan campbell ben johnson
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Dan Campbell with Ben Johnson.

The only team more disappointed about Ben Johnson’s decision to coach the Chicago Bears than the Las Vegas Raiders is the Detroit Lions. He became their most important assistant in recent years as he called plays for the NFL’s most dynamic offense.

The Raiders were heavily linked to the coach before he signed a deal with the Bears. With the Lions having a need at offensive coordinator now, they’re turning to a former Raider.

John Morton came into the NFL as an undrafted wide receiver and has three separate stints with the Raiders’ practice squad. After he was done playing football, he turned to coaching and became an offensive assistant for the Raiders in 1998 before working his way up all the way to tight ends coach in 2004.

He returned to the Raiders in 2019 as a senior offensive assistant under Jon Gruden before joining Detroit in 2022. Morton spent the last two seasons as a pass game coordinator for the Denver Broncos and is returning to Detroit to call plays again, according to NFL Network.

He hasn’t been an offensive coordinator since 2017 with the New York Jets. He hasn’t had many opportunities to call plays throughout his NFL career. It’s surprising that the Raiders didn’t consider him for their offensive coordinator job. He has a long history with the team and was briefly Pete Carroll’s offensive coordinator at USC.


Can Morton Replace Johnson?

Morton is taking on a complicated job. On the one hand, it’s very appealing. The Lions are stacked on offense and have a very good quarterback in Jared Goff. Head coach Dan Campbell is a great leader and can handle that aspect of the job but he’s going to rely heavily on his offensive coordinator.

The problem for Morton is that he’s replacing arguably the most popular offensive coordinator in the NFL the last two seasons. Johnson was widely praised for his creative play design and it remains to be seen if an older coach like Morton can keep up. In his lone season calling plays for the Jets, they averaged just 18.6 points a game but he also wasn’t working with nearly as much talent.

Morton has been working under Sean Payton for the last two seasons who is one of the best and most creative playcallers in the NFL. Perhaps he learned some tricks along the way. He also worked under Johnson on the Lions in 2022.


Latest on Raiders OC Search

Carroll was just announced as the Raiders’ head coach and one of his most important decisions is going to be who his offensive coordinator is. The Athletic’s Tashan Reed previously reported that Darrell Bevell is the early favorite to land the job. He worked with Carroll for years in Seattle but the coach also fired him.

The Raiders may be more inclined to think outside of the box. Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis has ties to general manager John Spytek and could be an up-and-coming name to watch. Buffalo Bills quarterbacks coach Ronald Curry could also be interesting. He was a wide receiver for the Raiders and is a rising coach. He previously worked under Sean Payton with the Saints and could be an offensive coordinator in the near future if the Raiders don’t consider him this time around.

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Former Raiders WR & Assistant Coach Replaces Ben Johnson on Lions

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