The Detroit Lions will have new coordinators in 2025, with Kelvin Sheppard taking over for Aaron Glenn on defense and John Morton replacing Ben Johnson on the offensive side of the ball.
A lot has been made about the changes, which come on the heels of Johnson and Glenn landing head-coaching gigs with the Chicago Bears and New York Jets, respectively.
Many analysts, including Jeffri Chadha of NFL.com, believe it's going to make things more difficult for the Lions in 2025. In fact, Chadha thinks it's the team's "biggest challenge" this year.
This has been a talking point around the Lions since January, and it will remain so until we see how this team looks with new coordinators on offense and defense. John Morton certainly will face more scrutiny as he takes over for Ben Johnson as the offensive play-caller. Johnson is one of the most creative offensive minds in football today, and the Lions produced the league’s most prolific offense under his guidance in 2024. Kelvin Sheppard actually has a better shot of succeeding former defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn because of the available personnel. The Lions lost so many key players to injury last season -- including defensive end Aidan Hutchinson -- that Sheppard should be able build a more resilient unit in his first year on the job. But don’t get it twisted: Lions head coach Dan Campbell knows a thing or two about finding good assistants. It wouldn’t be surprising to see both these coordinators thrive in their new roles.
As the media continues to make a huge deal about the Lions having two new play-callers, quarterback Jared Goff doesn't see it the same way.
"It's hard to answer that question of what's different... Some of it's the exact same," Goff said, per ESPN's Eric Woodyard. "And some of it is a little bit different and I'm not going to go into the minutia of what is different, but I think the transition from what we were doing last year to [Morton] is a lot lesser than you guys are making it seem with the questions."
"[Morton] just sounds different in my ear, I guess. We're running a lot of the same stuff. Some of the stuff's different," he added. "Some of the stuff's new, but I don't think it's any bit abnormal from every other team adding new stuff. That's kind of what we're doing, and it's been a good process."
Seeing as how both Morton and Sheppard were on the staff when Johnson and Glenn were at the helm of their sides of the ball, there's going to be a plenty of continuity, which no doubt makes things easier.
We don't need to look back far to see a team thrive despite having two new play-callers. The reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles had two new coordinators last season.
If you want to take it a step further, the Eagles also lost their star center in the same year, just like the Lions have in 2025.
There are at least three bigger challenges the Lions are facing: injuries, strength of schedule and getting after the quarterback.
The Lions were the most injured team in the NFL last season and that no doubt played a big role in derailing their Super Bowl hopes.
Detroit sports the third-toughest schedule in the NFL, also, and they are in a very tough division that sported three playoff teams in total last season.
Detroit's edge rusher group is shaky as well. Aidan Hutchinson is coming back from a serious injury and the Lions are depending on an injury-prone Marcus Davenport to play a key role opposite the former No. 2 overall pick.
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