Zac Taylor Praises ‘Brilliant’ Lions Hire of Ben Johnson for Offense

The Detroit Lions made it official this week that they were promoting Ben Johnson to become their new offensive coordinator, promoting the tight ends coach from within.

Johnson might be unknown to many Lions fans who probably only came to know him for his work with the team late last year. That doesn’t mean the new coach isn’t someone to be taking seriously, however. He has received plenty of credit from the NFL community, and that includes a coach who is getting ready to play in the Super Bowl.

The latest Lions news straight to your inbox! Join the Heavy on Lions newsletter here!

Join Heavy on Lions!

Most recently, Johnson got the major love from Zac Taylor, the boss of the Cincinnati Bengals. Taylor spoke to the media on Wednesday, February 9 and admitted that he has been admiring Johnson’s work from afar for a long time. Specifically, Taylor told reporters including Justin Rogers of the Detroit News that Johnson could be primed to do some big things in the future.

“I’ve tried to hire Ben many, many, many times. He always just gets promoted to where I can’t get him. Dan knows that. I’ve always just tried to find a place for him on staff, whether it’s offense, defense, special teams, it doesn’t matter,” Taylor said to the media as recapped by Rogers. “He’s one of those guys you want on staff because he’s a brilliant – can’t even say young anymore, he’s not that young anymore, but back when we worked together we were both pretty young. He’s outstanding. He’s just really sharp. He’s got a mathematics background. He’s a lot smarter than I was in school. He sees things differently. He does a great job with the analytics side of things, as well. He’s just one of the really, truthfully one of the sharpest football coaches in this league, and he’s only going to continue to learn from his experiences. I think Dan knows that and it’s probably why he promoted him, because he knows he’s got one of the best young coaches in the league right there on his staff. Why not promote him and help him call this offense? Really happy for Ben and I think that’s a great move by Dan. He’s going to do outstanding things in this league. He’s going to continue to grow from his experiences that come along like we all have. But again, I can’t say enough positive things about Ben Johnson and the role he’s going to have there in Detroit.”

That is some mighty high praise for Johnson unprompted from one of the other top young coaches in the league, and it could prove that the Lions made the smart choice in the end to retain him to their roster and promote him to offensive coordinator.

It will be fascinating to see how things go in 2022 for the Lions with their new coordinator, and it will be worth watching especially to see if Johnson can maintain some of the consistency that was found late in 2021.

Listening to his words, Taylor clearly believes that to be the case.

Lions Offensive Coordinator Search Was Limited

If it seemed the Lions made the easy call in promoting Johnson and not looking outside the team, it’s obvious that Taylor thinks it was the proper choice in the end. This past season, Detroit had Anthony Lynn in the mix as offensive coordinator. The team got off to a bumpy start, with Jared Goff struggling and by midseason, Lynn was quietly replaced by Dan Campbell in terms of play calling. Campbell continued to grow into that role as the season pressed on, but Johnson had a large hand in helping design the offense, and is someone the players grew to trust and maintain a good relationship with. When he was promoted to the team’s offensive coordinator for the Senior Bowl, many saw this as a dry run for a position on staff in 2022. They were not wrong in the end.

Detroit’s decision to keep Johnson may have looked like an easy call, but it may have been the right one in the end due to continuity’s sake for the team in 2022.

Johnson’s Coaching Biography

If Johnson isn’t a name that is well-known for Lions fans, that is hardly a surprise. The tight ends coach has been in the background for a while now while putting together his career, but looking beyond that, nobody can deny the experience he has piled up thus far whatsoever. Johnson got his start in the league in 2012 with Miami as a offensive assistant after playing quarterback in college for North Carolina. During 2013-15 Johnson was Miami’s assistant quarterback coach. When 2015 came, he was promoted to tight ends coach during the season. From 2016-2017, Johnson was an assistant wideout coach where he helped Jarvis Landry become an elite wideout given 22 total scores in his career there. In 2018 before he departed, Albert Wilson was mentored for success as well with 4 touchdowns, which remains his career high.

Johnson joined the Lions in 2020 under Matt Patricia and immediately helped T.J. Hockenson with his development. This past season, he was given more influence over the team’s offense and helped Campbell with game planning and schematics. Johnson has seen plenty of offense in his time from tight end to wideout to playing quarterback himself.

It’s obvious folks are thrilled to see the Lions make this move, and Taylor’s words should serve as hopeful for Lions fans who may not have known much about their new offensive coordinator.

READ NEXT: Breakout Free Agent Called Lions’ Top Offseason Decision