What to Expect in the Lions Next Offensive Coordinator

Credit to my friend grootthedutch for helping me talk through everything behind this article.

Following the final game of the 2025 season, the Lions quickly removed John Morton as offensive coordinator. Though Morton had stated he would take a lesser position in the organization, and he loved Dan Campbell and the Lions, it became apparent that there was friction between Morton and the players (from various interviews).

So the Lions are back on the coordinator hunt. Mike McDaniel is the big name right now, but as of this writing Ian Rapoport had not reported anything beyond the Lions wanting to interview McDaniel, and an interview McDaniel is having with the Titans. This could mean something, or not. Multiple other people are being explored as candidates, so the Lions are doing their due diligence. 

After a long discussion with a friend of mine who knows the Lions very well, we made the observation that both of the failed Lions OCs in Dan Campbell’s tenure were older and (it seemed) rather inflexible. I think this is a key piece of information on what to expect. 

I believe (and interviews lean this way), that the Lions are looking for a young budding offensive mind. Someone who has shown at some point the ability to pivot as needed, no matter what about. Someone who is willing to take responsibility for failures and grow from them. Finally, someone who will not be insulted by Dan Campbell calling plays (I question this about McDonald).

While I have no inside information, I think these are relatively safe assumptions that can be made as we inch closer to hiring an offensive coordinator.