John Morton has what it takes to turn Jets offense around

The New York Jets made a wise move when they hired new offensive coordinator John Morton as he has what it takes to turn their offense around for the better.

Offensive coordinator John Morton has done it all in the NFL and on the college level. From his beginnings as a wide receiver for Grand Rapids Community College to Western Michigan to the NFL, CFL, and overseas, Morton has been on a mission. Have no doubt Morton has what it takes to turn the offense around for the New York Jets.

After his playing days (he retired in 1997 from the Frankfurt Galaxy), Morton set out on a coaching career that has taken him around the league and exposed him to some of the most heralded coaches of our time. Morton comes with a coaching pedigree that is hard to match, and his experience will be invaluable as he takes on the offensive coordinator’s job this season.

In 2002, he worked as an offensive assistant for the Oakland Raiders under Bill Callahan. The Raiders went on to appear in Super Bowl XXVII. While still with the Raiders in 2004, Morton took on the tight end coaching job under then Raider’s head coach Norv Turner. Callahan and Turner are both known as highly respected coaches in NFL circles.

From there, Morton moved on to the college ranks, taking a wide receivers coaching job on Jim Harbaugh‘s staff at the University of San Diego. After a year with Harbaugh, he took an NFL job as an offensive assistant with the New Orleans Saints under Sean Payton.

Morton then took an offensive assistant job for the USC Trojans, working along side Steve Sarkisian, before being hired as the offensive coordinator after Sarkisian’s departure. Pete Carroll was the head coach at USC at the time.

My point here is Morton has been around some legendary coaches and offense is in his blood. New Orlean Saints renowned quarterback Drew Brees had a ton of praise for Morton when the Jets hired him to run their offense. In a statement on WFAN Radio, Brees had this to say about Morton on the air:

More from The Jet Press

“He’s been around some great coaches and some great play callers. He was with Jon Gruden for a long time, he was with Norv Turner out in Oakland. He’s been with Harbaugh. He’s been with a lot of teams with head coaches that know how to win and are great play callers”.

With the Jets, Morton now has the opportunity to put together and run his own offense. Many have asked what that may look like, but we only have hints to that query. Morton likes to run a west coast system but has already indicated that may not be the case this year in New York. Instead, he has indicated that he will build schemes around the players on the roster.

So, why am I so confident that Morton has what it takes to turn things around in New York? I think it has to do with experience and the willingness to look outside his comfort zone. The Jets are a young team offensively, and an experienced coach will go a long way to building confidence in developing players.

His experience as a wide receiver’s coach should prove invaluable to young receivers like Jalin Marshall, Quincy Enunwa, and Robby Anderson. Morton will get to know the skill sets of these young receivers and will utilize their strengths to build schemes. As a former receiver himself, I’m certain the young players will take to his coaching style.

Of course, Morton has also been around some amazing quarterbacks in his time, and his experience once again may prove beneficial to the Jets developing arms. Morton, of course, worked with Brees in New Orleans, not as a quarterback coach, but in his job as a wide receivers coach they worked closely together in a very productive offense. He worked around Rich Gannon in Oakland, as well as Mark Sanchez and Matt Barkley while at USC. In San Fransisco, he was involved in the offenses run by Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick.

Again, running an efficient offense is in Morton’s blood. He’s played the game, understands what it takes to win, has extensive coaching experience and is known as an offensive innovator in league circles. Morton is not the offensive coordinator that we’ve seen in recent years for the Jets. He’s creative and is willing to take his shots down the field. He’s been described as a gambler by some, but Jet fans will likely be thrilled by the change of philosophy.

Next: Top 3 reasons why Fournette is not the best of 2017 NFL Draft

There will be some struggles undoubtedly in the beginning. Morton is coming into a new city, taking a new job, with new faces, and new goals. The pressure will be great, all eyes will be on his offense and play calling. Despite it all, the Jets made the right call in hiring Morton, and I’m looking forward to watching him turn the Jets offense around as quickly as possible.

Home/Jets News