Ben Johnson: He’s pretty good

Taking a look at the top names for Carolina’s top job

Fresh off of calling the offensive plays in the Detroit Lions first playoff win in over thirty years, all eyes are on offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. The question around the NFL is “where will he go next?”

Johnson, a North Carolina native, has been rumored to be a lock for any number of jobs, most recently with the Washington Commanders. He has not publicly commented on anything and we will receive our first indication from his camp on Tuesday of this week (tomorrow) when he can begin to take virtual interviews.

His resume is atypical of “hot” coaching candidates. Johnson doesn’t come from a hallowed coaching tree like the Sean McVay assistants of years past or the Kyle Shanahan assistants, and their assistants, who are gaining traction now.

Johnson’s first job in coaching was at Boston College during the Luke Kuechly years. His first job in the NFL was under Joe Philbin with the Miami Dolphins. He coached there for as total of eight seasons across a couple of head coaches, rising from a lowly offensive assistant to the position of wide receivers coach.

He met Dan Campbell in Miami, who served in 2015 as the interim head coach after Philbin’s firing, but stayed in Miami with new head coach Adam Gase for a couple of years. Johnson only left the Dolphins after Gase was fired himself.

He then landed on Matt Patricia’s Detroit Lions staff in 2019 as an offensive quality control coach in 2019 and tight ends coach in 2020.

Dan Campbell was hired to right the Lions seriously listing ship in the 2021 offseason and kept Johnson on as his tight ends coach and passing game coordinator under then-offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn. The Lions and Lynn parted ways after the 2021 season and the coordinator job was given to Johnson.

It’s a fascinating rise for a man with no single mentor in the NFL. Instead, Johnson has spent years learning from a lot of coaches with bad to terrible reputations (Gase, Patricia, etc) and has come out the other side with one of the best offenses and reputations in the NFL.

Keep in mind, this man coaches Jared Goff for Dan “bite them in the knees” Campbell and balances a strong running game with an innovative passing attack. His unit went 3-for-3 in the red zone against Aaron Donald and the Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs. Those same Rams, coached by McVay himself, went 0-for-3 in the red zone.

Johnson is experienced, yet young. He knows how to listen and make friends of his superiors while also thinking for himself. He has overseen one of the most notable quarterback career resurrections in Jared Goff that the modern NFL has witnessed. In short, he checks every box and more that the Panthers thought they were checking last year with the Frank Reich hiring.

Now we just need to see what he thinks of working for David Tepper and with Bryce Young compared to the other opportunities in the NFL.