Dominos Continue to Fall, Morton Fired and C McLaughlin Signed to Reserve/Futures Deal

The Lions are wasting no time making moves toward 2026 with an expected firing and a very under the radar OL signing. As expected, John Morton has been let go from the Lions coaching staff after getting demoted mid-season from Offensive Coordinator amidst a lack of cohesion, consistency and explosiveness that the Lions have been accustomed to. His firing was first announced by Tom Pelissero of NFL Network and later confirmed by the Lions Official X account. The move was widely expected and now the hunt is on for a replacement

The other signing today was the announcement that the Lions had signed IOL Seth McLaughlin to a reserve/futures deal with the team, guaranteeing him a spot on the 90-man offseason roster. McLaughlin spent all last season with the Bengals, getting cut on final cut day and then the entire season on the Practice Squad. He was recovering from a torn Achilles suffered during Ohio States Championship run in 2024. Despite missing the last few regular season games and all of the playoffs, he still won the 2024 Rimington Award (best Center in College Football. He went undrafted but was ranked as the highest UDFA per ESPN and ended up with the Bengals. McLaughlin has good size for a Center at 6'4" 305 and was a two-time National Champion (Alabama and Ohio State). In addition to the Rimmington, he was a consensus all-American and 1st team All-Big Ten. The Lions may have gotten themselves a steal here.