Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is one of the most in-demand candidates for this year’s coaching cycle.
But he still has at least one more game to prepare for, as Detroit gets ready to play the Buccaneers on Sunday.
Johnson has reportedly four virtual interviews set up for Friday and Saturday with the Commanders, Panthers, Chargers, and Seahawks. Head coach Dan Campbell noted earlier this week that he’d like Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn to have their interviews after Friday’s practice and/or between the team’s Saturday walk-through and evening meetings.
So how will Johnson find time to prepare for everything this week?
“Well, the truth is, it gets taken away from somewhere and so it gets taken away from my family a little bit,” Johnson said in his Thursday press conference. “And so, it’s not the easy thing to say, but normally Fridays, get home, I can pick my daughter up from school and we’re wrestling downstairs and doing whatnot, and we’ll have to skip that this week.”
Johnson said he’s left how the interviews are scheduled with which teams to other people, in large part so he can stay focused on the job he has now.
“I know it’s still a very fluid situation and truth be told, we’ll find out more once the gameplan’s done,” Johnson said. ”That’s been told to everybody I’ve been around. Nothing’s more important than the gameplan.”
Johnson has been rumored to be the frontrunner for the Commanders job now that the team has hired Adam Peters as General Manager. But Johnson noted that he doesn’t know Peters well.
“I know him just very briefly,” Johnson said. “I’ve heard nothing but fantastic things about people that have worked with him directly or have met him over the course of scouting on the road. So, look forward to meeting him and talking more.”
We’ll see if Johnson ends up with one of the head coaching jobs in the coming weeks.