It's not breaking news that Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson will be highly sought after for head coaching jobs again as the 2025 hiring cycle fast approaches. Whether he takes a job will come down to his discretion and what he's looking for from a new organization, which is also obvious at this point.
For every head coaching opening we know or can comfortably assume there will be, there's usually a surprise or two each year.
The most appealing head coaching jobs for Johnson, beyond what he wants to be shown from the top of an organization in the interview process, will surely have a quarterback he likes and wants to work with-or a path to getting one. On that front, we know what Johnson said about Caleb Williams before the Lions played the Chicago Bears in Week 16.
But any team with a young quarterback and a head coaching opening might get Johnson's attention.
1 team should move whatever mountains necessary to hire Ben Johnson
Beyond the head coaching jobs we know are open right now (Bears, New York Jets, New Orleans Saints), further potential openings are assumed or subject to speculation.
ESPN's Bill Barnwell took a run at ranking nine head coaching jobs for 2025 based on their desirability. Of course not all of them are or will be open, but the speculative side helped flesh out the exercise.
Barnwell ranked the New England Patriots' job fourth on his list.
It's incredibly unlikely Patriots owner Robert Kraft will bail on his hand-picked Bill Belichick successor, Jerod Mayo, after one season. No one expected New England to be any good this year, and they've delivered with a 3-12 record thus far. Mayo has occasionally missed the mark in press conferences this season, but that's not a good reason to fire him.
In his run as a media figure this season Belichick hinted at it, and Barnwell pointed at it too. With mostly the same players other than defensive tackle Christian Barmore, the Patriots' defense has regressed badly this year compared to the second half of 2023. Mayo has to get that side of the ball back on track.
New England is lined up for a top-five pick in April's draft, and they currently have the most cap space in the league for 2025. Of course they also have a young, improving quarterback in Drake Maye as a huge selling point for head coaching candidates. Leaving aside the University of North Carolina tie, Johnson should be intrigued by Maye and NFL writer Jarrett Bailey spotlighted that notion.
If I’m Ben Johnson, this is the job I want if it becomes available https://t.co/p25C1QReRN
— Jarrett Bailey (@JBaileyNFL) December 24, 2024
Maye clearly needs a massive upgrade in the talent around him, and the Patriots are positioned to get that done. He also, arguably, needs an upgrade in coaching that Mayo has more or less said will be efforted with changes to his staff.
As is always the case with teams who have a young, highly-drafted quarterback, setting him up to succeed is the No.1 priority and there's not (or shouldn't be) a close second. Counting on a head coach with a firmly-rooted defensive background to get an offensive coordinator hire right might be foolish on that front.
It seems to be, at best, a coin flip that the Patriots will fire Mayo after one season. But there are certainly ways to find out if Johnson would have interest in the job if it were open. and firing a coach who might be 3-14 at season's end is not a particularly big mountain to move if the door is opened to possibly hire the Lions' offensive coordinator.