For the second straight offseason, Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was in-demand on the head coaching interview circuit. The mechanics of when he told the Washington Commanders he wasn't interested in their job could be taken issue with, as the team brass was in flight to Detroit to interview him and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn.
Then the Commanders then went out of their way to slander Johnson, with ESPN's Adam Schefter more than willing to also carry that water for them. But that slander campaign just proved Johnson made the right choice to spurn Washington, and they clearly settled for a candidate that wasn't their top one in Dan Quinn.
To his credit, as should be obvious, Johnson has empowered Jared Goff and the results the Lions' signal caller has had over the last couple seasons show it. The two have a close relationship, and Goff is clearly the player who benefits most from Johnson's decision to stay in Detroit.
Jared Goff was confident Ben Johnson would come back to the Lions
Goff spoke to the media on Tuesday, Day 2 of voluntary work. On the idea if he knew Johnson would be coming back, via Kyle Meinke of MLive, Goff was fairly confident he would.
"Through our conversations throughout the year, I had a hunch that he could come back,” Goff said. “Now, I didn’t know. He could have been swayed. But the way he spoke to me throughout the year, I don’t know if I could put a percentage on how sure I was, but it could have been 50-50. It could have been a little bit more than 50-50.”
As long as the Lions' offense remains among the best in the NFL, Johnson is sure to garner a lot of head coaching interest again after next season. That may be the right time for him to make the jump, based on the possible available openings as much as anything. It's becoming clear the quality of the job openings the last two years just weren't enough to get him to leave a good situation the Lions. So Goff had a solid hunch he'd be keeping his play-caller for at least one more year, and it was proven correct.