On Tuesday morning, somehow surprising and not surprising simultaneously, the New York Jets fired head coach Robert Saleh. The Detroit Lions choosing Dan Campbell over Saleh when both teams were in the market for a head coach in 2021 looks another notch better now.
The Jets will turn to defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich as interim head coach for the rest of the season, and he's automatically a candidate for the permanent job after the season. But the conversation naturally moves to who might be the next Jets' full-time head coach. In terms of the Lions, it's worth noting defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn was drafted by the Jets and spent the first eight years of his playing career there.
But no list of head coaching candidates looking to 2025 is complete without Lions' offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. So it's no surprise he made the immediate top five candidates to replace Saleh from Jordan Dajani of CBS Sports.
"Speaking of offensive minds, Johnson may be the best on the market. It looked like he was going to land a head coaching job this past offseason, but Johnson ultimately returned to Detroit. Under Johnson's watch, the Lions offense finished top five in both points per game and yards per game in each of the last two seasons. In 2023, Detroit tied a franchise record with 12 wins and won the NFC North for the very first time."
"Johnson, who turned 38 this offseason, has been with the Lions organization since 2019. As far as coaches who have never been lead men before, Johnson may be No. 1 on teams' list."
Ben Johnson seems unlikely to want any part of Jets' dysfunction
After his first year as Lions' offensive coordinator, Johnson took himself out of consideration for head coaching jobs right before interviewing with the Carolina Panthers. In hindsight, with the man they did hire (Frank Reich) not lasting one full season, it was a good choice to not work for owner David Tepper.
After last season, Johnson pulled himself out of consideration for the Washington Commanders' job as they were on their way to Detroit to interview him. The subsequent attempted smear campaign clearly came from inside the Commanders' organization, again proving Johnson made a good choice to stay with the Lions-even with new ownership in Washington.
If the term "dysfunctional organizations do dysfunctional things" was in the dictionary, there'd be a Jets' logo next to it. Firing Saleh with a 2-3 record when the bigger issues are elsewhere (i.e. on offense) is the latest example.
The Jets could very well end up wanting Johnson to be their next full-time head coach. There is the angle of a clean slate for the next head coach, if/when things go fully awry and other key people (Aaron Rodgers, general manager Joe Douglas) are gone when this season ends, which could be appealing.
Johnson seemed to have a keen eye for a situation that would have been hard to work in (Panthers). Regardless of the reasoning, it's clear he just didn't connect with the Commanders' brass. The Jets fly the biggest of dysfunctional red flags for whoever they might interview to replace Saleh.
So with the assumption he'll have other options, it feels unlikely Johnson will be the Jets' head coach in 2025. But he has to be on early lists of top candidates for the job, or it's an incomplete, unserious list.