PFF’s Sam Monson and Trevor Sikkema discuss the ramifications of Lions OC Ben Johnson staying with the team. Also on this episode, Sam and Trev discuss the players who stood out the most at Day 1 of practice at the 2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl.
00:00 – Intro
02:59 – Ben Johnson stays in Detroit
27:05 – Senior Bowl standouts
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24 Comments
Maybe Ben feels he’s just not ready for that big of jump. He’s 2 years removed from a position coach. To go to a new team and a rebuild for a guy that still young in the business could be a recipe for failure. Ben will be a HC when he’s good and ready
There are probably a lot of factors at play, one thing I can say for sure is that the only person who really knows is Ben Johnson. I am sure the media will ask him about it. The only other things we know are this. Ben said last year when he stayed that he had unfinished business here. Maybe that applies to this year, maybe not. The other thing he said is that all of the motivation he needs is the thought of disappointing Dan Campbell. Ben made it very clear that loves and respects Dan on a level that would border on reverence. The only other thing that is clear is that money does not matter to Ben, because he stayed last year and this year when if he wanted more money, he could have got it. I find all of this speculation about him to be unsubstantiated and disingenuous. EDIT: St. Brown just said on his 33rd Team podcast, unfinished business.
I think we'll find out soon enough if it's about the money for Ben Johnson. So far, no mention of restructured contract in Detroit where he has two more years—maybe if they end up front-loading his contract for this season, we'll have more evidence it was a leverage play. Otherwise, I don't find it that crazy that he feels he needs more experience before being a HC, which is a massive responsibility.
Ben Johnson starting to give Josh McDaniels vibes. Two teams that have been pretty much waiting all off-season not getting new HCs because they wanted him as their top choice and he informs them very very last second? It wasn't even him that informed him, he had someone else do it for him. Pretty bad look. Had his friend call Washington while they were in the air on the way to see him lol
Sneeds around $18m/yr, Johnson $20m/yr, Burns $20m+, Madubuike $20m+, Hunter may be $16-18m, Higgins $12-15m/yr. You are playing Madden if you think Lions are gonna spend $50m+ on just 3 players, one of whom is a superfluous WR.
Let JJ and CJGJ walk. Resign JRM, Glasgow, Reynolds and Wright. Then sign Khalil Mack ($18m/yr 3yrs) and Kendal Fuller ($12m/yr 3yrs). Now you have a star Edge and vastly improved CB heading into the draft having spent $40-45m out of $65m in cap space. Then draft CB, OL and DT. Id like to sign Grover Stewart DT.
Isnt this just BJ 2nd year as a coordinator? Maybe he feels hes not ready yet?
Baseless hot take: Johnson got inside intel Andy Reid is retiring after the superbowl and wants the Chiefs gig. You read it here first
Some coordinators kill their careers taking HC jobs !! Good OCs and DCs don't always transition to HCs , McDaniels , Staley , Hacket to list some recent ones !!!!!
Trevor isn't a serious analysis… He is more of a Nickelodeon Game show host.
brock purdy top 5 qb
Man makes good money he doesn't have to jump.
He has two very small children. Jumping from coordinator to head coach means jumping from hardly home to never home.
No coach wants to play for Tepper. In 3 years he's fired 5 head coaches of his profession football & soccer teams. Why would ANY coach want to get involved with that? Who cares if he has money? He uses that money to dump coaches after a few games when he isn't happy with the results.
Coaches want to play for supportive owners who keep their noses out of football operations & talent acquisition decisions. Just because Tepper is a 2/20 guy (his hedge fund charges 2% annual fee on all your assets & 20% of your profits), doesn't mean he has a clue how to run a sports organization. Clearly. We can see already he's the most disastrous team owner in the NFL by a mile. Ben Johnson didn't want anything to do with the Panthers due to ownership.
Campbell told his team it might have been there one shot IF they don't play harder next year and keep the right attitude. Don't take the quote out of context. Ben believes in Holmes to do enough to get another shot at it. I don't see what's so complicated about that. Teams like the '84 Dolphins are the outliers not the rule. If he really wanted a HC job so that he could get out of Detroit he would have taken less $.
You don’t want to be a head coach. 3 more years with the Lions.
16:09 might be your best transition yet Sam. Excellent work. 😂
Ben Johnson is 37 years old. He's working for the best leader in the NFL in Dan Campbell, the best GM in football in Brad Holmes and a owner that understands the failures of her father and brother and wants to create a new legacy. Ben Johnson knows there are 7-10 HC openings every season, there is 1 opportunity to be part of the team to bring a Super Bowl win to Detroit, Ben Johnson gets it. He'll be a HC sooner rather than later and he will get paid handsomely to do it but first he wants to be part of something legendary.
Ben likely wanted power over the roster and Washington took peters who is gonna have most of the roster control.
Don’t care about Ben Johnson. His business.
Dallas fort worth 100% is the worst airport in the world 😆
Dfw does suck. There are worse. Ohare, LaGuardia
My guess is the Commanders job wasn’t very appealing to him compared to staying in Detroit. If he has another great season, there could be a better job opening next year. Betting on himself and the Lions.
McConkey screams LA Rams in the 2nd round. Kupp, Nacua and McConkey = 🤯
I have no real information about ben johnson but i have always found it strange how we just assume that every coordinator wants to be a head coach. Either way you're making tons of money. If you are a successful coordinator in a comfortable spot the extra money may not be worth uprooting your whole life and taking on a massive amount of new responsibility. That could be Ben Johnson who knows. Or maybe he's good at calling plays but behind doors is a dickhead and teams dont like the interviews. Seems unlikely but its not impossible. As Sam said you cant just blindly trust what people put out there so we really dont know for sure what happened