Chad Akio Morton (born April 4, 1977) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

and

kick A kick is a physical strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee (the latter is also known as a knee strike). This type of ...

punt returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punt (gridiron football), punts and kickoff (gridiron football), kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusivel ...

and current coach who serves as the

running backs coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, associate and assistant coach, and the Offensive coordinator, offensive a ...

for the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He previously served as the running backs coach for the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

from 2017 to 2023. Morton played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

and was selected in the fifth round of the

2000 NFL draft The 2000 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur U.S. college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 15– 16, 2000, at the Theat ...

by the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

. After a standout rookie year with the Saints, Morton played five more years between stints with the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

, the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

, and the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

. Morton previously served as an assistant coach for the Seattle Seahawks and

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

, where he was part of the coaching staff when the team won the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Early life

Morton attended South High School in

Torrance, California Torrance is a coastal city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the metropolitan ...

, where he was a

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

Playing career

College

Morton was a running back at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

in the late-1990s. A notable moment in Morton's college football career was in 1999, when he guaranteed a Trojans victory prior to a game against the

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

who carried an eight-game winning streak against USC. Morton ran for 143 yards in a USC victory. In 2010, it was named by

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

as the fourth biggest moment in the USC-UCLA football rivalry.

National Football League

Selected 166th overall (the fifth round) of the

by the

, Morton became one of very few rookie running backs in Saints history to get significant playing time (16 games) and make an impact on offense and as a kick returner his first year in the pros. He contributed a career-best receiving year 213 yards on 30 catches (7.1 yards per reception), plus 136 yards rushing, and 1,029 yards from 44 kick returns to the Saints' successful, 10-6 NFC West title-winning 2000 season. Morton's postseason contributions were especially crucial to the 2000 Saints. Following the New Orleans Saints' first ever playoff win, they hosted the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

for the divisional round game, and Morton set the record for most receptions in a single playoff game by a rookie while tying the playoff game record for most receptions by a player, with 13NFL Playoff Records: Individual - Receiving
/ref> in the ultimately losing effort against the Vikings. Morton's career-best year at kick returner came with the 2002 New York Jets, as he earned .1,509 yards and two touchdowns (both TDs in a single game) returning kickoffs for Herman Edwards' Jets squad, which won the

AFC East The American Football Conference – Eastern Division or AFC East is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). There are currently four teams that reside in th ...

title that year and ran away with a blowout win in the first round of the playoffs before falling in the divisional round to the ultimate AFC Championship winners, the Raiders. He was a first alternate to the 2005 Pro Bowl as a kick returner. His last year playing football was 2006 with the New York Giants, as he suffered a career-ending ACL tear in Week 16 while covering a punt. On February 13, 2007, he was released by the Giants.

NFL records

* Most kickoff return touchdowns in a single game: 2 (2002 vs

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

) (tied with 9 others) * Longest overtime kickoff returned for a touchdown: 96 (2002 vs

) * Most receptions in a playoff game by a rookie: 13 (2000) * Most receptions in a playoff game: 13 (2000) (tied with 3 others)

Coaching career

Green Bay Packers

In 2009, Morton was hired by the

as their coaching administrator. In February 2010, Morton was promoted to assistant special teams coach. Morton assisted the Packers 2010 special teams units that ultimately won championship rings in

Super Bowl XLV Super Bowl XLV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

. With a coaching staff shakeup following the Packers' 2013 season, he left Green Bay.

Seattle Seahawks

In 2014, Morton was hired by the

as their assistant special teams coach under head coach

Pete Carroll Peter Clay Carroll (born September 15, 1951) is an American professional American football, football coach who is the head coach for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as head coach for the NCAA's ...

. In 2015, Morton was promoted to assistant running backs coach. In 2017, he was promoted to running backs coach. In 2022, Morton was promoted to run game coordinator and running backs coach.

Chicago Bears

On February 21, 2024, Morton was hired by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

as their running backs coach under head coach Matt Eberflus. On January 24, 2025, it was announced that Morton would not return to the Bears in 2025.

Personal life

Chad Morton is of mixed ethnicity,

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

and Japanese. He is married to his wife Tamra and is the younger brother of Eric Morton. His older brother, Johnnie Morton, played 12 seasons in the NFL from 1994 to 2005.

References

External links

Chicago Bears profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morton, Chad 1977 births Living people American football return specialists American football running backs American sportspeople of Japanese descent Chicago Bears coaches Coaches of American football from California Green Bay Packers coaches New Orleans Saints players New York Giants players New York Jets players Players of American football from Torrance, California Seattle Seahawks coaches South High School (Torrance, California) alumni USC Trojans football players Washington Redskins players 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen Asian American players of American football