The Detroit Lions returned nearly every major contributor from last season’s 15-2 squad, and actually got some big names back (hello, Aidan Hutchinson) who went down early with injuries.
So why weren’t they Super Bowl favorites to start the 2025 NFL season?
Well, one of the biggest reasons was all the turnover on the coaching staff, with both coordinators leaving for head-coaching jobs.
Ben Johnson, reigning NFL assistant of the year and offensive coordinator, left to coach the rival Chicago Bears. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn became the coach of the New York Jets.
Johnson was replaced by John Morton, who was the Denver Broncos’ passing game coordinator last year but previously coached with Dan Campbell and the Lions, and helped design their current offense.
Glenn was replaced by his protégée Kelvin Sheppard, a former NFL linebacker who was coaching the Lions’ linebackers last year while Glenn helped prepare him to eventually take a coordinator role.
Here are some facts to know about both the new Lions’ coordinators as they play the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football in Week 3:
John Morton past coaching jobs
Morton finished up an NFL and Canadian Football League career in the late 1990s and jumped into coaching with the Oakland Raiders, starting in the football personnel department in 1997. A year later, he transitioned to an offensive assistant or offensive quality control coach while helping with wide receivers through 2003 until becoming the tight ends coach in 2004.
He then joined Jim Harbaugh for a year as the University of San Diego’s pass game coordinator/wide receivers coach before hopping back to the NFL as the New Orleans Saints’ passing game coordinator during their breakthrough 2006 season. He went back to college from 2007-10 as the pass game coordinator/receivers coach for USC under Pete Carroll and also served as offensive coordinator in 2009-10 after Steve Sarkisian left to coach Washington.
He came back as the pass game coordinator/receivers coach for the San Francisco 49ers under Harbaugh from 2011-14. Then, he went back to coach receivers in New Orleans the next two years before a one-year stint as the Jets offensive coordinator. He re-joined the Raiders as a senior offensive assistant for three years before stints with the Lions and Broncos.
John Morton previously as an offensive coordinator
The 2017 Jets finished 5-11 with the 24th-ranked scoring offense (18.6 points per game). It was a slight improvement for New York, who ranked 30th in 2016, by maximizing the available talent.
Josh McCown, 38 at the time, threw for a career-high 2,926 yards and the offense got the most out of a skill position group featuring receivers Robbie Chosen and Jermaine Kearse and running backs Bilal Powell and an aging Matt Forte.
Kelvin Sheppard coaching history
Sheppard originally joined the Lions staff in 2021 on Campbell’s original staff as the team’s outside linebackers coach before taking over the whole position room from 2022-24.
In 2024 with Glenn and Sheppard working together, the Lions’ defense ranked first in the NFL in third-down efficiency (32.4%) and second in fourth-down efficiency (41.4%) and allowed 20.1 pointers per game, which was seventh in the league. The unit also averaged 20.1 points allowed per game, finishing seventh in the League.
“Sheppard guided a linebacker room riddled with injuries in 2024,” the Lions’ bio about Sheppard says. “After LB Alex Anzalone was placed on Reserve/Injured, Sheppard helped lead LB Jack Campbell to become the green dot of the defense. Campbell was one of five linebackers to record 125 tackles, five tackles for loss, five pass defenses, and one forced fumble in the season. Campbell also recorded eight-straight games with at least seven tackles, the longest streak in franchise history since Stephen Boyd in 2000 (13 games).”
Sheppard eventually beat out former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebackers coach Larry Foote, who the Lions also interviewed for the job.
Kelvin Sheppard playing history
Sheppard played for LSU in college and was drafted in the third round by the Buffalo Bills in the 2011 NFL Draft.
He played in 107 regular-season games over eight seasons, racking up 429 career tackles.
He played his final season for the Lions in 2018 before retiring.
Free Press sports writer Jared Ramsey contributed to this reporting.
Andrew Birkle is an assistant sports editors for the Free Press. Contact him at abirkle@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Who are the Lions coordinators? Meet John Morton and Kelvin Sheppard
