The Detroit Lions are currently having the best regular season in franchise history, as Dan Campbell’s squad is 12-1 and atop the NFC through 14 weeks. The Lions picked up a crucial divisional victory over the Green Bay Packers in Week 14 and will host the Buffalo Bills at Ford Field in Week 15.
Though the Lions’ roster is one of the deepest in the NFL, the team’s coaching staff deserves a ton of credit for Detroit’s success, especially the coordinator tandem of Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn. The duo has completely transformed their respective units, as Glenn’s defense has been dominant this season despite being ravaged by injuries, and Johnson has established himself as the best offensive coordinator in football.
Glenn will garner a bunch of interest for head coaching positions this offseason, but Johnson is arguably the best head coaching candidate on the market. The 38-year-old has been an integral part of quarterback Jared Goff’s career revitalization and Detroit’s ascension into being one of the league’s most dynamic offenses.
The Lions’ offensive coordinator will have a competitive head coaching market, but ESPN’s Bill Barnwell urges the Dallas Cowboys to move on from Mike McCarthy and offer Ben Johnson a five-year, $125 million contract to be the franchise’s next head coach.
Johnson’s work as the offensive coordinator in Detroit has been impeccable. While he won’t be able to bring that dominant O-line and some of the playmakers with him, consider how many of the people who touch the ball there were regarded before they got to Johnson. Amon-Ra St. Brown was a fourth-round pick. David Montgomery was a running back who had averaged under 4.0 yards per carry in his four seasons with Chicago. Wideouts Josh Reynolds and Kalif Raymond were cut by Tennessee. And Jared Goff, now an MVP candidate, had essentially been benched for John Wolford in a playoff game and was salary ballast in the Matthew Stafford trade. They’ve all gotten better under Johnson.
The Cowboys can’t subvert the salary cap, and they can’t buy first-round picks, but spending on coaches is uncapped. Paying Johnson this much would represent a significant investment and probably make every other team in the league angry, but coaches as a whole are underpaid. This franchise is valued as being worth more than $10 billion by Forbes. If this move succeeds, Johnson would be a bargain. If it fails, the Cowboys won’t miss the money.
The Cowboys have had an extremely disappointing 2024 campaign, as the team sits at 5-8 entering Week 15 and likely won’t qualify for the playoffs. Though many will point to quarterback Dak Prescott’s season-ending hamstring injury in Week 9 as an excuse for the franchise’s struggles in 2024, Dallas was 3-5 with Prescott as the starter this year, meaning the season was already heading in the wrong direction before the veteran’s injury.
Though Mike McCarthy has won a Super Bowl in his coaching career and is a decent regular-season coach, the Pittsburgh native has won just one playoff game since 2017, and it’s time for the Cowboys to try something different.
Hiring an offensive mastermind like Johnson to pair with Prescott and Dallas’ talented offense would be a match made in heaven. Additionally, the South Carolina native has worked with multiple position groups on the offensive side of the ball, serving as assistant quarterbacks and wide receivers coach for the Miami Dolphins (2013-2017) and as a tight ends coach for the Lions (2020-2021) before becoming the franchise’s offensive coordinator in 2022.
Overall, the Cowboys must move on from McCarthy after the season and find a new leader. Though there are a plethora of high-level candidates on the head coaching market this offseason, Ben Johnson has the potential to be one of the best offensive head coaches in the NFL and could catapult Dallas back into Super Bowl contention in 2025.
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