John Morton (American football)
John Morton (born September 24, 1969) is an American football coach and former player who is the senior offensive assistant for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach for the New York Jets, New Orleans Saints, San Francisco 49ers and Las Vegas Raiders. He also served as an assistant coach at USC. Playing career. Morton played college football at Western Michigan. He played professionally for the Canadian Football League Toronto Argonauts and on the practice squads of the Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers. Coaching career. After  ending his playing career in 1997, Morton began working for the National Football League's Oakland Raiders, initially in the personnel department. In 2002, he took a coaching position in the organization, as a Senior Offensive Assistant on a team that made it to Super Bowl XXXVII under head coach Bill Callahan. After another year at the position, he was elevated to Tight Ends Coach for the 2004 season under new Raiders head coach Norv Turner. In 2005, he joined Jim Harbaugh's staff at the University of San Diego, a D-IAA college program, where he coached the passing  game and wide receivers for a squad that went 11-1-0 and won the Pioneer Football League Championship. The following season, he took a position as an offensive assistant with the New Orleans Saints under head coach Sean Payton, who advanced to the 2006 NFC Championship game. Morton joined USC in 2007, taking up a similar position to the one he held at San Diego. When offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian accepted a head coaching position with Washington, Morton was interviewed by head coach Pete Carroll as a candidate for the position. As expected, Morton eventually got the job. In  2017, he was hired by the New York Jets as an offensive coordinator. On January 17, 2018, Morton was subsequently fired. In February 2019, Morton returned to Oakland as the Senior Offensive Assistant under Jon Gruden. In 2022 he was brought to the Lions for the same position.