The Broncos’ key offensive staff retooling is now complete, heading into Sean Payton’s fourth season in Denver.
Denver is hiring John Morton as its offensive passing-game coordinator, a source with knowledge of the hire confirmed to The Denver Post on Sunday. It’s a reunion of sorts, after Morton served as the Broncos’ passing-game coordinator in 2023 and 2024 under Payton before departing for an offensive-coordinator job with the Lions in 2025.
Really, though, Morton has remained in Denver’s building for months ever since Payton brought him back as a consultant across the Broncos’ playoff run, after the Lions stripped Morton of play-calling duties midseason and then fired him after a disappointing 9-8 season in Detroit. In the very first week that Morton returned to Denver’s practice field — before the Broncos’ divisional matchup against the Bills — he helped install a goal-line play for offensive tackle Frank Crum that led to a touchdown in the 33-30 overtime win over Buffalo.
“Nothing he does surprises me,” receiver Marvin Mims Jr. said of Payton in the locker room, asked about taking Morton’s install for Crum.
Payton has now re-surrounded himself with allies in the building after firing a trusted longtime co-worker in Joe Lombardi two days after the Broncos’ season-ending AFC title-game loss, removing the offensive coordinator and kick-starting a domino effect on his staff. Payton handed the offensive-coordinator reins to former quarterbacks coach and passing-game coordinator Davis Webb, who could well take over play-calling duties in Denver. The Broncos elevated offensive-quality-control coach Logan Kilgore to the vacant quarterbacks job, and hired Ronald Curry — another former Payton acolyte who Denver interviewed for the OC job — as their wide-receivers coach.
Morton now completes the initial puzzle, a man who’s known Payton as a head coach from his very first beginnings. Morton was New Orleans’ receivers coach in Payton’s first year with the Saints in 2006, and has spent four more years on his staff across two different stops since.
He’ll now be back again for the ride in 2026. Time will tell, however, if Morton will be feeding ideas to Payton on gameday — or to Webb.
