A former Jets coach has been shown the door in the XFL.
According to Pick Wise’s Alex Alarcon, the Los Angeles Wildcats have fired Pepper Johnson, their defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, after just one game. The Wildcats have yet to name his replacement.
The Wildcats allowed 37 points, 315 total net yards and 5.6 yards per play in their 37-17 loss to the Houston Roughnecks in Week 1 of the XFL season.
Johnson spent time with the Jets as a player and a coach before he joined the rebooted XFL. He was a linebacker for the Jets for two seasons in 1997 and 1998. He then served as the Jets defensive line coach in 2015 and 2016 when Todd Bowles was New York’s head coach.
The 55-year-old Johnson was a player in the NFL for 13 seasons with four different teams, including the Giants, Browns, Lions and Jets. He was a two-time Super Bowl champ with Big Blue and made the Pro Bowl twice during his career.
After retiring from the league, Johnson got into coaching with the Patriots. He was with New England from 2000-2013, mainly working with the defensive line and linebackers. He then joined the Bills in 2014 as their defensive line coach before going to the Jets in 2015. Johnson was out of coaching for three years until the Memphis Express of the now-defunct AAF hired him as their defensive line coach in December 2018. That league folded midway through its inaugural season in 2019.
Johnson was hired by the Wildcats in June.