Tim Twentyman

Detroit Lions offensive coordinator John Morton spoke to the media Tuesday as the Lions ramp up the offseason training program with the start of OTA practices in a couple weeks. Here are my 10 biggest takeaways from that media session:

1.Don't expect wholesale changes from what this offense looked like last year under Ben Johnson. Morton said the changes will be more subtle and more about adding some of things he really liked from past stops he knows works in this league.

"I'm not changing much," he said. "I mean, why?"

2.The Lions have begun Phase II of the offseason training program, which means coaches can join the players on the field for individual and group drills. Morton said he feels like a kid in a candy store seeing all the weapons he's inheriting in this offense that led the NFL in scoring (33.2 ppg) and total touchdowns (70) last season. Detroit returns two running backs (Jahmyr Gibbs&David Montgomery) and two receivers (Amon-Ra St. BrownandJameson Williams) who all recorded at least 1,000 scrimmage yards last season.

3.Speaking of Williams, Morton said he's never been around a player with that kind of speed and explosion. Morton thinks Williams is poised for a breakout 2025 season after seeing how attentive he's been in meetings and the attention to detail he's shown. Morton described himself as an 'aggressive' play caller, and he's excited about getting Williams in space and behind defenses in his offense.

4.The Lions held rookie minicamp last week, and Morton was impressed with the low number of mental errors by the rookies on offense. He said it was a rare rookie camp in that regard. That's certainly a good sign for the potential of rookies like Tate Ratledge (IOL), Isaac TeSlaa (WR) and Miles Frazier (IOL) to make early impacts offensively.

5.Morton is well aware of head coach Dan Campbell's fourth-down aggressiveness. He said that's going to be a fun aspect of his job this year. He said Campbell will communicate with him before every week about the fourth-down strategy for that game. When they reach a certain point in the field, his mentality as a play caller has to change a little bit, knowing fourth down is going to be an option.

6.Morton knows he's following a very successful offensive coordinator and play caller in Johnson, who is now the head coach in Chicago. He said it doesn't add any pressure to his job. Don't forget Morton was on the staff in 2022 when this offense was built, and many of the concepts we've been used to seeing the last three years were installed with his help. He's going to paint his own picture of what this offense is going to be in 2025.

7.Morton was in New Orleans as the wide receivers coach in 2016 when Michael Thomas was a rookie. He said they were able to get the most out of Thomas as a youngster (92 receptions for 1,137 yards and nine touchdowns) because they didn't overload him early on. He said they gave him a few route concepts to master and then built on every year. Expect that to be the approach with the rookie TeSlaa. Find some things he really likes to do and is good at, and go to work maximizing those things in his offense early on.

8.When Morton was talking about the explosion and speed that Williams has and how excited he is to unleash that, he also mentioned Gibbs in the same light. He sees both players as similarly explosive and has never had a running back/receiver duo as explosive as the pair. That has to be fun for a new offensive coordinator to come into a situation where there's that much speed and big-play ability at those two spots.

9.For all the talk about the weapons and explosive potential within this offense, Morton was also clear that everything they do offensively has to first start upfront. He's inheriting one of the best offensive lines in football with three Pro Bowl and All-Pro players returning at the two tackle spots and at center. He said the great thing about being a coordinator and play caller with a line like this is it gives him the ability to attack teams in multiple ways.

One week it might be focusing on the ground game. The next week they might ask quarterbackJared Goffto drop back and throw the ball 40-plus times. There are few teams in the NFL that can be equally effective using both strategies because they don't have the O-line talent the Lions have. That hasn't gone unnoticed by Morton.

10.Morton said it was an unbelievable get by Campbell to hire longtime Stanford head coach David Shaw to join the staff as the passing game coordinator. Morton and Shaw are close friends and go back a lot of years being taught offensive football by Jon Gruden in the late 90s and early 2000s with the Oakland Raiders. The two see football the same way, and Morton thinks that's going to be a great relationship to get the absolute most out of the Lions' passing attack.