Ben Johnson has been Detroit Lions coordinator for 1 season. He's in demand for a reason

Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press

January 12, 2023 at 11:01 AM·3 min read

Ben Johnson will be a busy man the next few days.

Johnson, the Detroit Lions' first-year offensive coordinator, is scheduled to have his first of three interviews for vacant head coaching positions Thursday with the Houston Texans, NFL Network reported.

Along with the Texans, the Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts have requested interviews with Johnson, who rose from a virtual unknown to one of the hottest candidates on the market in recent months, as the Lions fielded one of the NFL's most explosive offenses.

More:Why losing Ben Johnson is actually a vital step in the Lions' rebuild

Sep 18, 2022; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson watches a play against Washington Commanders during the first half at Ford Field.

The Lions (9-8) ranked fifth in the NFL in scoring at 26.6 points per game, third in total yards (380 ypg) and topped 30 points eight times while posting their first winning record since 2017.

Lions coach Dan Campbell said Johnson "would be worthy" of landing a head coaching job this offseason.

"I think a ton of him," Campbell said at his end-of-season news conference Monday. "I've said it before, I just think he's extremely bright, he's creative. He's organized. He's a great communicator. I mean, he just, he's got it."

Johnson, 36, had toiled in low-level assistant jobs for years with the Miami Dolphins (as an offensive assistant, assistant quarterbacks coach, tight ends coach, assistant receivers coach and receivers coach) and Lions (offensive quality control assistant, tight ends coach) before he was promoted to pass game coordinator midway through last season.

The Lions offense showed dramatic improvement with Johnson designing the pass game and Campbell calling offensive plays in place of Anthony Lynn, and Campbell promoted Johnson to offensive coordinator and play-caller in February.

The Lions, under Johnson, finished in the top half of the NFL in both rushing and passing for the first time since 1997, and Jared Goff had what he called his best season at quarterback even as the Lions navigated myriad injuries at the skill positions early this season.

Though he has been a play-caller for only one season in his coaching career, Johnson — a former walk-on quarterback at North Carolina who got his coaching start as a graduate assistant at Boston College in 2009 — fits the profile of in-demand candidates in recent years as a creative, young offensive mind teams who has a good rapport with quarterbacks.

Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson talks to quarterback Jared Goff (16) during mini camp at the practice facility in Allen Park on Tuesday, June 7, 2022.

The Cincinnati Bengals hired Zac Taylor as a 35-year-old head coach in 2019 with limited play-calling experience; Taylor spent one season as Bengals offensive coordinator in 2016, and was promoted to OC with the Miami Dolphins after Campbell took over as interim head coach in 2015 (on a staff that also included Johnson). The Green Bay Packers hired Matt LaFleur at 39 years old in 2019 after he spent one season as coordinator with the Los Angeles Rams (where he did not call plays) and another with the Tennessee Titans (where he did).

Taylor helped the Bengals reach the Super Bowl last season and win the AFC North this year, and LaFleur won 13 games each of his first three seasons, before finishing 8-9 this season.

Johnson is scheduled to interview with the Indianapolis Colts on Friday and Carolina Panthers next week. The Arizona Cardinals and Denver Broncos are the other teams that currently have job openings.

The Texans, Colts and Panthers all have top-nine picks in this year's draft and could start rookie quarterbacks next season.

If Johnson lands a job, he will be the first Lions assistant to go directly to a head coach of another team since Chuck Knox in 1973.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions OC Ben Johnson interviews Thursday with Houston Texans

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