It's a credit to the coaching staff Dan Campbell has built that defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn and offensive coordinator Ben Johnson are getting looks for head coaching jobs. In Johnson's case, he may have gotten a head coaching job after last season (Carolina Panthers?) if he hadn't taken himself out of the process.
Glenn always seems to be close to having people call for his job, but the general results over the last 15 games have been good. He will eventually be a head coach too, and like Johnson he's lined up to get interviews again after this season. One or both actually leaving Detroit is a different thing.
Johnson openly said he wanted to stick around and keeping building the thing with the Lions, and presumably Glenn feels the same way. It will have to be a great fit in a head coaching job for them to leave, and frankly the job openings after last year really weren't that appealing.
Dan Campbell not going to sweat losing Ben Johnson or Aaron Glenn just yet
On Wednesday, via SI.com, Campbell was asked about the buzz around his coordinators.
"I haven't gone there yet, with that in this moment. I've thought about that before. I mean, I thought I was gonna lose A.G. twice and then Ben last year once," Campbell said. "But that was certainly at the end of the year. I haven't gone there in that moment, but all I can tell you is that they're both very vital to us and our success and everything, to me, that we've built, and that I've envisioned, to players to coaches. Everybody's got a piece. Everybody's got a piece, everybody's got a job to do and you want them to be the very best at what they're asked to do. I feel like we have that....They’re outstanding coaches and candidates."We’ve got a good program going here, I’m not putting that on me. We’re doing some good stuff here and everybody’s got a hand in it.”
Campbell has surely sweated losing Glenn and/or Johnson after each of the last two seasons. But now is not the time for that concern. If the Lions continue to have success this season, having to replace one of both of them because they got a head coaching job is a testament to how things have changed in Detroit.