On Sunday, January 5 ESPN’s Rich Cimini shared that Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson “is a hot name around the league but doesn’t appear [to be] drawing interest from the [New York] Jets.”
On Tuesday, January 7 we found out why.
“The Jets are not expected to formally request an interview with Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, though that is likely due to the organization’s understanding that Johnson won’t have interest in the job,” Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic explained. “Johnson is prioritizing teams with an enticing quarterback situation, which the Jets do not have. And it should be noted that Johnson has a friendship with former Jets coach Adam Gase from their time together in Miami.”
Johnson-Jets Situation Explained
When Cimini reported over the weekend that Johnson wasn’t drawing interest from the Jets – that was curious.
Johnson is one of the most creative bright offensive minds in the league. Why wouldn’t you want to talk to him? Surely the team would benefit just from interacting with someone who seems to be the talk of the league.
Consider this – the Jets have either interviewed or are scheduled to interview over 25 candidates for the head coach and general manager positions this offseason respectively. Obviously everyone on that list isn’t going to get the job. As a matter of fact, only two people will.
Still, it’s important for the Jets to go through that process to pick the brains of as many smart people as possible. The question you will ask each individual will be the same, how do you plan on fixing the Jets?
I imagine a lot of them will have different creative ideas on how they plan on doing that.
“Last year, from the start, Jim Harbaugh was the Los Angeles Chargers’ guy. Still, they interviewed 15 candidates for their head-coaching job (including Vrabel and Johnson), and nine for their GM position. The Spanos family would tell you the process informed them on so many things that now are helping them support Harbaugh and GM Joe Hortiz. Los Angeles, by the way, is playing Saturday after an 11-win regular season,” Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated said.
If Johnson doesn’t want the Jets, then it makes sense that they wouldn’t even attempt to request to interview him – because it could be viewed as embarrassing if he were to decline them.
From One Side of The Lions Den to The Other
Johnson might not have any interest in the Jets’ head coaching vacancy but another Lions coach certainly does.
On the Tuesday, January 7 episode of “Boy Green Daily” I asked Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic who is the betting favorite not named Mike Vrabel who is most likely to be the next Jets coach.
“Aaron Glenn is who I’ve had as the odds-on favorite for a while. I did feel better about the Jets’ chances with Vrabel in the beginning but now that the Patriots’ [job] is open I’m not as confident. So yeah I’d say Glenn is the No. 1 for me. There is the Jets’ ties, there is the willingness to take the job, he is a leader – the whole cliche leader of men – I think he is that,” Rosenblatt told me. “He has an interesting background where he started out in scouting [and] he has Bill Parcells ties. I think he is going to win the interview [and] I think it helped him out on Sunday night, the Lions had a dominant performance and you know Woody [Johnson] saw that.”
Who is the betting favorite to be the next #Jets HC with the Mike Vrabel #Patriots rumors hot & heavy?
‘Aaron Glenn is who I’ve had as the odds on favorite for a while,’ @ZackBlatt told me on ‘Boy Green Daily.’ ‘I’d say Glenn is the No. 1 for me.’
‘The @NYJ_Matt coming home… pic.twitter.com/X29qnvoZcM
— Paul Andrew Esden Jr (@BoyGreen25) January 7, 2025
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