Chad Morton enters his first year as running backs coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He brings 16 years of NFL coaching experience to Jacksonville, most recently serving as running backs coach for the Chicago Bears in 2024.
Under Morton's guidance, RB D'Andre Swift finished the 2024 season with 959 rushing yards, the second-highest total of his career. His 1,345 scrimmage yards set a new career high and were the most by a Bears running back since 2020. Swift totaled three rushing touchdowns of at least 35 yards, third-most by any player in the NFL in 2024 and tied for second-most in single-season franchise history since 1925.. He registered four-consecutive games with 100-plus scrimmage yards and a rushing touchdown in Weeks 4 through 8, tying RB Jahmyr Gibbs and RB Joe Mixon for the longest such streak in the NFL last season. Swift's 9.2 yards per reception were a career high and ranked fifth in the NFL among running backs.
Morton spent the previous 10 seasons (2014-23) in various roles for the Seattle Seahawks. He was originally hired as assistant special teams coach in 2014. In 2015, he began working with the running backs and took charge of the running backs room in 2017. In 2022, Morton added the title of run game coordinator.
In 2023, despite missing two games, RB Kenneth Walker III recorded 219 carries for 905 yards and eight touchdowns. Walker tied for 12th in the NFL in rushes over 10 yards (24), tied for 13th in rushing touchdowns, 14th in rushing yards per game (60.3) and tied for 15th in carries. Rookie RB Zach Charbonnet ranked fourth in rushing yards among rookies in 2023.
Morton's group saw the emergence of a rookie Walker in 2022 after RB Rashaad Penny suffered a season-ending injury in Week 5 at New Orleans. Before his injury, Penny averaged 6.1 yards per carry and posted a 151-yard, two-touchdown performance in Week 4 at Detroit. Walker assumed the starting role and went on to lead all NFL rookies in rushing yards (1,050), yards from scrimmage (1,215) and touchdowns (nine). Walker, the second rookie in franchise history to rush for 1,000 yards, finished second in AP Offensive Rookie of the Year voting. Seattle's rushing attack led the NFL with 176.0 yards per game over the final three weeks of the season.
In 2021, Penny put together one of the best stretches of rushing production in franchise history, rushing for 135 yards or more in four of Seattle's final five games. Penny's 671 yards over the final five weeks of the season were the most in the NFL over that span, and despite having only 119 carries during the season, his eight rushes of 25 or more yards were tied for most in the NFL. Penny's 6.3 yards per carry were the best in the NFL.
In 2020, RB Chris Carson was one of only three players in the NFL with four-plus rushing touchdowns (five) and four-plus receiving touchdowns (five) despite playing only 12 games. Carson also set career highs in yards per attempt (4.8), catches (37) and receiving yards (287).
In 2019, Carson ranked fifth in the NFL in rushing yards with a career-high of 1,230, his second consecutive 1,000-yard season. Carson added seven rushing touchdowns and recorded 37 receptions for 266 yards and three receiving touchdowns.
In 2018, returning from a broken leg suffered in his rookie season, Carson became Seattle's first 1,000-yard rusher since 2014 and just the sixth player in franchise history to accomplish the feat with a career-high 1,151 yards (fifth-most in the NFL). Seattle's ground game ranked first in the league (160.0 yards per game), rushing for 2,560 yards (third-most in franchise history).
Prior to his time in Seattle, Morton spent five seasons in Green Bay (2009-13) where he contributed as coaching administrator (2009) and special teams assistant (2010-13) and won Super Bowl XLV with the team. His time working with special teams with the Packers was highlighted by WR Randall Cobb's 2012 season when he became the first player in NFL history to have 900-plus kickoff return yards (964) and receiving yards (954) in the same season.
A seven-year NFL veteran as a player, Morton was a running back and returner who began his career with New Orleans in 2000 as a fifth-round draft pick. Serving primarily as a returner as a pro, Morton tallied 5,401 career kickoff-return yards and three kick-return scores, as well as 1,431 career punt-return yards and one score, in 93 career games. He was selected as a Pro Bowl alternate as a returner in 2002 and 2005. Morton is the only player in NFL history to return a kickoff for a touchdown in regulation and overtime in the same game (at Buffalo, 9/8/02) and one of two players in NFL history to return a kickoff for a touchdown in overtime.
Morton was an All-Pac-10 selection at Southern California, where he served as the team's primary running back in his final two seasons and earned a degree in sociology. He ranks 12th on the Trojans' all-time rushing list with 2,511 career yards.
