The Detroit Lions have lost multiple coaches to other organizations since their offseason began. The Lions lost both offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn to head coaching positions, among other coaches. However, the front office has hired multiple replacements. Here are the latest updates on the Lions open coaching positions.
Updates On The Detroit Lions Open Coaching Positions
With the Detroit Lions losing multiple coaches to other franchises, the team has been focused in on replacements. The vacant offensive coordinator role has been filled by John Morton while Kelvin Sheppard has been promoted to the defensive coordinator role. The team also hired former Stanford head coach David Shaw as the new passing game coordinator.
John Morton
New offensive coordinator John Morton was with the Detroit Lions and head coach Dan Campbell in 2022 as a senior offensive assistant. In 2023, the Denver Broncos hired Morton as their passing game coordinator. Now, he is back in Detroit as the teams offensive coordinator.
The Lions offense was borderline unstoppable this season. The offense averaged 33.2 points per game along with 409.5 yards per game. These numbers rank first and second in the league. Morton has plenty of talent to work with on this side of the ball. Running back Jahmyr Gibbs broke out this season, accumulating nearly 2,000 total yards. Quarterback Jared Goff threw for 4,629 yards as well. The Lions offense may not average over 30 points per game again, but Morton should still have this unit as a top five offense.
Kelvin Sheppard
Kelvin Sheppard will have more work cut out for him as defensive coordinator. Although this unit dealt with injuries, they were consistently scored on down the stretch of this season. They gave up 45 points in their Divisional Round matchup with the Commanders . Sheppard has been the Lions linebacker coach since 2022 so he is familiar with the teams’ style of defense. However, with players returning from injury such as star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, Sheppard will have a fully healthy defensive unit to work with this offseason.
David Shaw
David Shaw is a well-respected coach partly due to his work with quarterback Andrew Luck while he was the head coach at Stanford University. Luck was one of the most highly touted NFL prospects of all time coming out of college. Shaw also saw success at Stanford without Luck as his quarterback. Shaw had a career record of 96-54 at Stanford including a 65-40 record in the Pac 12. Now, Shaw has an opportunity to work with Jared Goff, who is coming off of one of the best seasons of his career.
What these additions mean
Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn were very highly respected coordinators while on the Lions staff. Detroit has had an incredible turnaround over the last four seasons. Johnson and Glenn were major reasons for this. However, Dan Campbell is still the head coach and the Lions culture remains the same. Morton and Shaw will be taking over a lethal, balanced offense. Sheppard will take over a struggling defense, but he is familiar with the style of defense Campbell and Detroit want to play.
Main Image: Junfu Han – USA Today Sports
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