The push and pull for coordinators with teams who are still alive in the playoffs and are wanted to interview for head coaching jobs is starting. Virtual interviews are allowed this week, and Detroit Lions offensive coordinator has five interview requests, while defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has four requests.
Last week Glenn said he will take all of his interview requests, while Johnson was non-committal about how many interviews he'd take.
The Lions not knowing their Divisional Round opponent until Monday night compresses the preparation week this week, though they did face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in Week 6. The window for virtual head coaching interviews is between Wednesday and Sunday.
On Monday, via the Detroit News, head coach Dan Campbell again lauded Johnson and Glenn as worthy head coaching candidates. He also established when his offensive and defensive coordinator will be able to do interviews.
"Yeah, the best we can do is we'll have to do Friday and a little bit of Saturday," Campbell said. "So Friday afternoon, after practice is done, they're going to have to crunch it in there. They're already working on scheduling it. Then Saturday, there will be a small window in there after practice before night meetings."
Teams who are genuinely interested in Johnson or Glenn will be definitely be accommodating to their availability to interview. Who schedules virtual interviews this week could be telling on that front.
Reports: Ben Johnson has two expected head coaching interviews scheduled
On the interview schedule front, Johnson has two easily expected interviews scheduled for this week. According to Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post, the Washington Commanders have scheduled a virtual interview with Johnson for Friday. Joe Person of The Athletic has also reported the Carolina Panthers have an interview scheduled with Johnson on Friday.
As of this writing Tuesday afternoon, there are no reports about scheduled interviews for Glenn this week.
The Commanders and Panthers have been tabbed as the top two suitors for Johnson. The Commanders job seems to be far more appealing, but he will at least do a virtual interview with the Panthers.