The Detroit Lions have two of the most popular coordinators in this years coaching search. This week we'll be profiling both candidates and explaining why they are so sought after by other teams. We started with defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn. Today we'll do offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. 

Experience

Johnson played quarterback for North Carolina from 2004 to 2007 before taking a role as a graduate assistant and tight ends coach at Boston College. Johnson then entered the NFL coaching ranks in 2012 with the Dolphins and he spent seven seasons with the team as an offensive assistant, assistant quarterbacks coach, tight ends coach and wide receivers coach. 

He joined the Lions staff in 2019 and worked his way up from offensive quality control to tight ends coach to passing game coordinator and now the Lions offensive coordinator. 

Strengths  

Johnson rose up the ranks so fast because his creativity was shining through. Even before Johnson became the Lions offensive coordinator, he has a hand in helping Anthony Lynn and Dan Campbell draw up some pretty great plays. This play, for example, was credited to Johnson back in early 2022 before he was the Lions OC. 

#Lions receiver Tom Kennedy fires a 75-yard touchdown pass to Kalif Raymond. Lions and #Packers tied at 7 pic.twitter.com/JYeb0ck0VA

— Nolan Bianchi (@nolanbianchi) January 9, 2022

That's the kind of thing you'll get from Johnson. Creativity and an understanding on how to best use a player. The last part is so simple, yet it feels liek only half the coaching staffs in the league do it. You draft a guy to do a thing and then you make sure you put him in positions where he can do that thing. 

There's no better example of that than the work he's done with Jared Goff. Johnson has tailored the Lions offense to Goff's strengths and it's totally rebuilt Goff's career in Detroit. Could he do that with another quarterback? There's really no reason to think he can't.

Weaknesses

Creativity is great and a lot of times it's welcomed. The problem is that Johnson can get a little too creative in times when creativity is just not needed. There's been multiple times where the Lions would need to do something as simple as send David Montgomery up the middle and let him gain the necessary yards for the first down. Instead the Lions will work out some sort of play that develops slow and winds up with a player taking a loss. Not everything has to be super smart. 

Johnson also tends to stick to a gameplan really hard. That works when you're winning, but when you're losing, adjustments need to be made. Sometimes you find yourself wondering when that's going to happen and it doesn't. You sit there and think "Ok, Ben, when are you going to draw up some crazy thing that's gong to blow minds and get the Lions out of trouble?" Then he just doesn't. 

The last thing is this, and it's really not Johnson's fault, but he very much feels like the someone who is going to be a victim of the way that NFL teams have been hiring lately. Teams just go out and get the analytics guy or the offensive guru and that has just not worked out that well. More often than not, those same teams are looking for their next head coach shortly after. I just don't know if Ben Johnson is a head coach. I know that the players like him and respect him, but I also know that Dan Campbell and Aaron Glenn could command the room a lot more. I don't know if Johnson can do that. 

This all just makes you wonder if Johnson is making a big mistake if he leaves what is a very good job that likely makes him the highest paid coordinator in the game? We'll probably soon see. 

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It's been a while since the Detroit Lions went across the pond and played a football game. The last time they did it was a game that you probably want to forget. Back in 2015 the Lions headed to London, England and got absolutely drubbed by the Chiefs in a 45-10 loss. They haven't been […]