New Jets offensive coordinator John Morton is not committed to running a specific system. Instead, he'll build a playbook best suited to exploit his players' strengths.
"John has a great offensive mind. He can work with any type of person," head coach Todd Bowles told reporters in Indianapolis. "He is very good at incorporating the players and understanding what they are good at and what they are not good at. He is a lot like Chan [Gailey] in that way, but he's younger.
"He isn't a system guy – West Coast or anything else. He can kind of fit guys into what they do best. He'll have a scheme that he puts in but he can adapt to things really quickly. His understanding of relating to players and getting across to players what he wants is what really put him over the top for me."
ESPN analyst Jon Gruden told Jets Insider Eric Allen that Morton "took advantage of some great people" throughout his coaching career, a list that list includes Gruden (Raiders 1998-1999), Jim Harbaugh (49ers 2011-2014) and most recently, Sean Payton (Saints 2006, 2015-2016). It'll be interesting to see if Morton's offense will draw any comparisons to the systems of the people he coached under.
"We will have an offense that works," Bowles said. "If the West Coast works, we'll run it. If the long ball works, we'll do it. If the running game works, we'll run it. John is very good at adapting to what we have."
Morton will be working with four new coaches on the offensive side of the ball — RBs coach Stump Mitchell, offensive assistant Jason Vrable, offensive assistant/assistane QBs coach Mick Lombardi and QBs coach Jeremy Bates. Bowles told the media he believes Bates is "the guy to do the job," praising his work ethic and football IQ, especially when it comes to mechanics.
"He's an outstanding coach," Bowles said. "He watches film, even when he was out of football. People have reasons why they get out of football, it doesn't mean they are not good coaches, they have different reasons, family reasons and other reasons. Jeremy's time has come to come back in and I think it's outstanding. We've had long conversations and I think he's the guy to do the job."
