How do you measure the cumulative impact of brain drain? In a league where schemes and coaches have an overwhelming impact on the results of games each and every week, how difficult can it be to ascend in the face of sweeping defections? Say a team that has reached “Super Bowl or bust” status loses the architect of a dynamic and unpredictable offense, an accomplished defensive coordinator and then the veteran center who served as the central nervous system of the offense. Just how devastating could that be?
Well, the 2025 Detroit Lions are about to find out. They enter this season in a strange petri dish, having opted to promote Kelvin Sheppard from within as their new defensive coordinator and hire John Morton as offensive coordinator after a stint on the staff in 2022, rather than search far and wide for the best and brightest to replace Ben Johnson (now coach of the rival Bears) on offense and Aaron Glenn (now coach of the Jets) on defense. Previous on-the-job experience at the coordinator level held little resonance with them, while the NFC on the whole appears deeper and more competitive than just a few years ago. The Lions’ schedule looks daunting, and maintaining the kind of lofty production Detroit fans have become accustomed to will be no easy task.
“Honestly, I think they’re pretty [screwed],” said one NFL general manager who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss another team’s coaching personnel. “We’ve had a hard time overcoming losing one at a time before; both is no [stinking] joke. And they lost two of the best at game planning in the NFL on both sides of the ball. They lost two dudes. And I don’t really like what they did to try to fill the void, either. Dan Campbell is a great head coach, but that thing didn’t turn the corner until he had top guys running it on both sides of the ball. I think they’re going to fall off.”
Another general manager said: “There’s going to be some serious regression with them. That [offensive coordinator] really, really helped the QB. He fixed him upstairs [in his head] and mechanically. He knew [Jared] Goff has to be thoroughly protected, like super protected, and he could help that line get it done. I don’t think Goff will be the same guy without him. It’s still a good team, don’t get me wrong, but that’s not a 14-2 team anymore. They look more like 10-7, 11-6 to me.”
The loss of two elite coordinators might be worth three-to-four more losses over the course of a five-month season. With the departure of four-time Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow, who surprisingly retired in June, the Lions may have already reached a point at which there was nowhere to go but down. Goff will be hard-pressed to remain at this level without Johnson to connect with him in the deep, personal way that helped rebuild his career.
“Losing Ben will be a shock to his system,” said one longtime NFL personnel executive who has worked with Morton previously and spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss his experience. “Morton is a hard a–, man. It’s going to be very different from Ben in that aspect. And from my experience with him, Morton has no real feel for the run game at all. He’ll be fine in the pass game, but Jared is used to having an elite run game and Morton isn’t in his bag there the way Ben was.”
The Lions have gone 36-15 the past three seasons, fourth-best in the NFL, and they were one half away from reaching a Super Bowl. They are fourth in the league in scoring differential during that time and have risen to the top of the NFC North amid a legion of young players blossoming at critical positions (that’s coaching, folks).
But windows tend to slam shut quickly and violently in this league. Ownership has been more tepid in throwing free agent capital into Detroit’s areas of need (pass rush, the secondary) than many rivals expected, and you’ll be hard pressed to find many coaches and execs who are as bullish on the Lions ahead of this season as they’ve been the last few times out.
“Losing both guys like that, it’s a big deal,” said one longtime NFL advance scout who has done considerable work in facing the Lions in recent years. “It’s a really big [stinking] deal. I don’t think I’ve seen that one before, where you lose both coordinators – not because you kind of want one to leave or nudge him to go, but both are wanted for multiple head coaching jobs. And you lose a Pro Bowl center, too?
“I have a lot of respect for them and Dan, and they installed a legitimate culture of grit and toughness and determination and they’ve ascended every single year for, like, four straight years. That’s really [stinking] tough to do, man, but the brain power has a lot to do with it, too. And now they’re replacing them with two first-time coordinators? That’s an interesting approach to me. They’re going to really miss the guys who are gone.”
Sheppard, who is a rookie defensive coordinator, has NFL playing chops, something Campbell has seemingly coveted throughout his tenure, and was lauded internally for his work with the team’s linebackers. Morton was with the team as a senior offensive assistant in 2022 before serving as the Broncos’ passing game coordinator in 2023 and 2024. Both are unknowns as play callers at this level and both face the chore of replacing predecessors who left at the top of the game.
Sheppard in particular will face a gantlet from Week 1. The Lions open at Green Bay, coached by offensive whiz Mike LaFleur; face Johnson and Chicago’s new offense; face Lamar Jackson and the Ravens in Baltimore on “Monday Night Football”; and then, after a reprieve vs. the miserable Browns, travel to Cincinnati to face Joe Burrow in October (not September when the Bengals tend to struggle). They play at Kansas City next, then host Baker Mayfield (who led the NFC in touchdown passes last season) and Tampa Bay. All of that in the first half of the season.
By then we’ll know plenty about how much was lost and what was gained on this coaching staff. Breaking even in this zero-sum game already seems almost impossible. Coming anywhere close may constitute a major accomplishment in Detroit.
Originally Published: August 24, 2025 at 11:20 PM EDT