Tuesday, brought the NFL world the news that the Commanders and Falcons are both planning on going to interview Ben Johnson next week.
Johnson, the Lions offensive coordinator has already interviewed with Washington once. What makes this Pelissero update an attention grabber is the Commanders are traveling to Johnson next week.
This does NOT mean Johnson is the only candidate the Commanders want. New GM Adam Peters no doubt understands he needs to have a couple of backup plans in place so that he can at least get one of his top choices during this hiring cycle.
However, the fact the Commanders are already planning on traveling to Johnson next week may indicate Johnson is their first choice. We will learn more this week and perhaps Peters will also schedule a second or third candidate to be interviewed again next week as well.
The #Commanders and #Falcons are both expected to send a contingent to Detroit next week to conduct second interviews with #Lions OC Ben Johnson and DC Aaron Glenn, per sources.
No more interviews are permitted with coaches still in the playoffs until after Sunday's games.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 23, 2024
What’s more, is the urgency of interviewing Johnson. The Commanders are well aware that Johnson has already interviewed five teams.
Are the Commanders planning on interviewing Ravens DC Mike Macdonald as well next week?
Washington is interviewing Cowboys DC Dan Quinn and Rams DC Raheem Morris again this week. The Commanders interviewed Texans OC Bobby Slowik for a second time on Tuesday.
Johnson began coaching as a Boston College graduate assistant (2009-10) before coaching their tight ends in 2011.
Moving to the Miami Dolphins for six seasons (2013-18), Johnson was an offensive assistant, an assistant to the quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends coaches through 2017. In 2018, at age 32, he became an NFL position coach (wide receivers).
In 2019, Johnson became the offensive quality control coach for the Lions, then transitioned to be the Lions tight ends coach in the 2020-21 seasons. Johnson, now age 37, has been the Lions’ offensive coordinator in the 2022 and 2023 seasons.