The Detroit Lions opened Week 14 of the 2024 NFL season with a thrilling victory over the rival Green Bay Packers, earning their 10th straight victory and sole possession of the NFL’s best record. You can be sure that New York Jets owner Woody Johnson was watching closely, along with his appointed search-party leaders, Mike Tannenbaum and Rick Spielman.
The trio is likely paying close attention to Detroit’s run over the remainder of the 2024 season. Multiple members of the Lions’ coaching staff are likely to be prominent figures in the Jets’ upcoming search for a head coach, highlighted by Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
Rumors are already starting to heat up regarding Johnson’s strict demands as a head coaching candidate. According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, Johnson “won’t chase interviews” and only plans to interview with a team that intends to hire him. Breer added that Johnson is seeking two things from a new organization: alignment between the head coach and general manager, and the ability to recognize past mistakes and be willing to fix them.
While Johnson is building a phenomenal resume as the leader of Detroit’s unstoppable offense, his demands seem fairly high for a 38-year-old who has yet to be a head coach and has only spent three years as a coordinator.
Nonetheless, many NFL teams will be desperate for a new head coach this offseason, and each one of those teams is undoubtedly envious of the offense Johnson has built in Detroit. He could very well be the most coveted candidate on the market, and if that is the case, he has the right to enforce some lofty demands.
After all, Johnson has a cushy job in Detroit as part of a well-functioning organization and coaching staff. It makes sense that he would only want to leave Dan Campbell’s football heaven if he finds an opening that he deems appealing.
These reports about Johnson’s high standards do not come as a surprise. Johnson has already proven that he is a selective candidate, as he turned down multiple head coaching interviews over the last two offseasons. Johnson reportedly declined to interview with the Carolina Panthers in 2023 followed by the Tennessee Titans in 2024.
Clearly, if you want Ben Johnson as your head coach, you will have sell yourself to him, not the other way around.
Can the New York Jets pull it off?
Let’s unpack Johnson’s apparent demands and try to deduce whether the Jets meet his standards in those areas.
Alignment between HC and GM
Breer reports that Johnson seeks “organizational alignment, in particular between the GM and the head coach.” What exactly that means is unclear, but it seems as if the Jets can check this box in multiple ways.
First of all, the Jets would be hiring a new GM simultaneously to Johnson, meaning their contract situations would be aligned. Had they kept Joe Douglas, Johnson may have found the Jets less appealing, as he would be joining a team with a lame-duck GM on the hot seat.
Secondly, it is worth noting that Woody Johnson has traditionally opted for a structure in which the GM and HC are on equal footing and both report to the owner. This would seemingly be appealing to Ben Johnson if Breer’s report is accurate. It would ensure Ben is next-in-command under the owner rather than being third behind the owner and GM.
Finally, it is unclear whether the Jets plan to hire a GM or HC first, but if they love Ben and he has interest in taking the job, they can sell him on being the first hire and leading the search for a GM. This would allow Ben to find a GM he sees eye-to-eye with.
Willingness to correct mistakes
“He’ll be looking for a recommendation from the organization of things that have gone wrong and willingness to fix them,” Breer said of Ben Johnson.
This is a question that Woody will have to answer with every HC candidate he speaks to this offseason.
The Jets are perhaps the most notorious failure of the 2024 NFL season. Playing in the league’s largest media market, entering the season with sky-high expectations, and appearing in numerous prime-time games, everybody in the football world has witnessed each and every blunder throughout the Jets’ spectacular implosion. Woody needs to show all candidates – not just Ben Johnson – that he understands what went wrong and is willing to correct those shortcomings.
It’s a positive for Woody that he has received a head start on answering that question. The Jets’ season is long dead, Robert Saleh is long gone, and Woody already tabbed a search party nearly two weeks ago. Over a month remains in the regular season. By the time interviews begin, Woody will have had plenty of time to process the Jets’ failure of a season, self-evaluate his own mistakes, and figure out how he can sell candidates on the idea that things will be different moving forward.
Regarding this particular wish from Ben Johnson, it might be better if the Jets hired a GM first, even if that eliminates the appeal of letting Ben pick the GM. Having a GM in place would help the Jets better structure their vision before pitching themselves to a head coaching candidate. Without a GM in place, Woody would have to do all of the selling himself, which may or may not transpire in the Jets’ favor. If there is a GM in the building, he can assist Woody in selling the team’s plan, which would certainly make them look much more organized to Ben and other HC candidates.
Ultimately, though, this one comes down to Woody and his own willingness to self-evaluate. Can he look in the mirror and admit that he made some mistakes that contributed to the Jets’ downfall? Even harder, can he commit to actually changing those things rather than settling for merely acknowledging them? And perhaps hardest of all, can he convince a candidate into believing he is capable of making those changes?
Should the Jets even put Johnson on such a pedestal?
Johnson’s rumored demands are not outrageous. Every prospective HC should crave the things he is reportedly after.
However, it’s worth wondering whether Johnson’s selectivity is a red flag. Generally, if you are interviewing to become a first-time HC, you take every interview you can. Johnson seems to view himself as the prize of this year’s coaching cycle, even though he has never been a head coach before at any level and only has a small sample of success as a coordinator.
Johnson has done an amazing job, yes, but the Lions also have arguably the most talented offense in football. Is his body of work enough to warrant such high demands? Should the Jets really let him alter the way they conduct their search so they can try to woo him?
The answers to those questions depend on Johnson’s reputation in league circles as a true leader. Forget about his on-field results for a second. Can he coach? That is the question.
There are numerous great coordinators who led their unit to excellent on-field production but did not have the chops to be a head coach. The Jets have hired many people who fit this bill, including their last three head coaches. Coordinating one unit is completely different than being responsible for shaping the identity of an entire franchise. You are not guaranteed to be the next best thing as a head coach no matter how great you are as a coordinator, even if you have reached the pinnacle of the profession as Johnson has.
Is Johnson the type of leader who can take a culture where losing is the expectation and flip it on its head? The Lions’ offensive stats don’t answer that question. That can only be learned by watching Johnson coach his players behind closed doors. We can’t do that, and neither can Woody or the Jets’ search party, but the next-best methods are to speak to people close to him and to interview Johnson so he can give his pitch.
If Johnson is not willing to do the latter, he probably isn’t worth hiring. It’s arrogant of him to think that he deserves to be hired without going through an interview process solely based on his performance as a coordinator. The Jets, and other prospective teams, need to learn more about his chops as a head coaching candidate, and if he is unwilling to go through that process, perhaps teams should cross him off their list.
Nonetheless, Johnson’s rumored demands highlight some of the goals that Woody and the Jets must aim to achieve in their quest to make themselves look like an attractive destination.
