Louis Friend Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 (edited) Per twitter- Ben Johnson informed teams he's staying with the Lions. Reportedly told teams the Lions are building something special and he wants to "see it through". 😭😭😭😭 Edited January 18, 2023 by Louis Friend 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nagahide13 Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 Saw it on The Athletic. Tentatively confirmed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Friend Posted January 18, 2023 Author Share Posted January 18, 2023 (edited) Reported by multiple people including Tom Pelissero. There's also a rumor that I have not seen confirmed, that Cominsky, Anzalone and Buggs went to Lions and said they'd like to come back and would take less money to do so. Edited January 18, 2023 by Louis Friend 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Want A Title Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 (edited) That is definitely good news. I think he also wants to take the right HC job. Indianapolis had some solid offensive talent but was still the smallest dumpster fire of the bunch. Edited January 18, 2023 by Just Want A Title Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Friend Posted January 18, 2023 Author Share Posted January 18, 2023 I think Panthers were his top choice being his home team. I think it's strange they are interviewing coordinators before head coaches. I'm so pumped right now. Re-sign Jamaal, Chark and get a RG. And let the offense cook. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Want A Title Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 8 minutes ago, Louis Friend said: I think Panthers were his top choice being his home team. I think it's strange they are interviewing coordinators before head coaches. I'm so pumped right now. Re-sign Jamaal, Chark and get a RG. And let the offense cook. If we want the offense to cook we could take Bijan Robinson at 18. A RB with his talent who can contribute as a RB, receiver and pass-blocker pretty much from day 1 would be fun to watch. We might be able to move back a little and still get him but I don't see him lasting too long after 18. He is that good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nnivolcm Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 Biggest fear of the off season avoided! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teude Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 Awesome news indeed. I'm sure this is best for Ben's career too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karnage84 Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 I wasn't overly concerned about him leaving this year. One year as an OC and then jumping into a HC role doesn't seem like a path to long-term success. Getting another year and then seeing other potentially better jobs open up next year would make more sense. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sllim Pickens Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 54 minutes ago, Karnage84 said: I wasn't overly concerned about him leaving this year. One year as an OC and then jumping into a HC role doesn't seem like a path to long-term success. Getting another year and then seeing other potentially better jobs open up next year would make more sense. I agree, but he did have interviews, and was the Vegas favorite for the Carolina position. I wonder if he got some feedback from Indy and Houston which pushed him to stop interviewing this year and to keep learning/growing. Maybe during the process he realized he isn't ready for it and pulled back to wait for another opportunity. However, each year there are 5-7 jobs available in the league and there are new hot names each year so there is no guarantee he will get another shot at it so it is surprising he didn't at least go interview for the Carolina job. Side note, Mike Tomlin was a DC for 1 year before becoming the Steelers head coach at age 35. Brandon Staley as well although that isn't working out as great for him (but also may have to do with Joe Lombardi). Also I think the guys who have great systems that work as coordinators are not always guaranteed to be good coaches. When you are the head guy, you aren't designing the whole offense or defense and focusing 100% on what you are great at. Being the HC includes more organization, leadership, player evaluation, management type stuff so being a leader is more important than designing a great offense. Its why guys like Staley can develop a great D with the Rams and goes to be HC of a team with defensive talent and they are bottom half of the league on D. He isn't focused on the defense although he has input but there just is so much more to it. Thats where Dan Campbell seems to excel since he doesn't have a great background as a DC/OC but is able to get people focused toward a single goal and moving efficiently towards it. It's also why I think Aaron Glenn would make a better HC now than Johnson even though his defenses have been in the bottom 5 in the league both years here. He seems to have that similar leadership style as DC and is a guy players want to rally around. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Want A Title Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 (edited) 6 hours ago, Sllim Pickens said: I agree, but he did have interviews, and was the Vegas favorite for the Carolina position. I wonder if he got some feedback from Indy and Houston which pushed him to stop interviewing this year and to keep learning/growing. Maybe during the process he realized he isn't ready for it and pulled back to wait for another opportunity. However, each year there are 5-7 jobs available in the league and there are new hot names each year so there is no guarantee he will get another shot at it so it is surprising he didn't at least go interview for the Carolina job. Side note, Mike Tomlin was a DC for 1 year before becoming the Steelers head coach at age 35. Brandon Staley as well although that isn't working out as great for him (but also may have to do with Joe Lombardi). Also I think the guys who have great systems that work as coordinators are not always guaranteed to be good coaches. When you are the head guy, you aren't designing the whole offense or defense and focusing 100% on what you are great at. Being the HC includes more organization, leadership, player evaluation, management type stuff so being a leader is more important than designing a great offense. Its why guys like Staley can develop a great D with the Rams and goes to be HC of a team with defensive talent and they are bottom half of the league on D. He isn't focused on the defense although he has input but there just is so much more to it. Thats where Dan Campbell seems to excel since he doesn't have a great background as a DC/OC but is able to get people focused toward a single goal and moving efficiently towards it. It's also why I think Aaron Glenn would make a better HC now than Johnson even though his defenses have been in the bottom 5 in the league both years here. He seems to have that similar leadership style as DC and is a guy players want to rally around. I think folks have to cut Aaron Glenn some slack on his defense rankings. The talent level on the 2021 Lions defense was pretty low. The Lions added talent last year and this year but were still starting Aidan Hutchinson, Kerby Joseph and Malcom Rodriguez more most of the year with Josh Pascal and James Houston being added to the mix later in the year. That is a really inexperienced group of starters. I think a more accurate gauge of Aaron Glenn will be 2023 when he has a good core of talented and experienced players to work with along with whatever new players are added. Edited January 18, 2023 by Just Want A Title Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karnage84 Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 3 minutes ago, Just Want A Title said: I think folks have to cut Aaron Glenn some slack on his defense rankings. The talent level on the 2021 Lions defense was pretty low. The Lions added talent last year and this year but were still starting Aidan Hutchinson, Kerby Joseph and Malcom Rodriguez more most of the year with Josh Pascal and James Houston being added to the mix later in the year. I think a more accurate gauge of Aaron Glenn will be 2023 when he has a good core of talented and experienced players to work with along with whatever new players are added. We have one of the youngest teams in the league and I think our defense was the youngest or 2nd youngest. Good points on the late additions of Paschal, Cominsky (coming back after a hot start) and the emergence of Houston. We were also missing one of our better defenders, Tracy Walker, all season. I have to imagine he would have made an impact in the secondary that would have helped (even a little bit). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sllim Pickens Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 17 hours ago, Just Want A Title said: I think folks have to cut Aaron Glenn some slack on his defense rankings. The talent level on the 2021 Lions defense was pretty low. The Lions added talent last year and this year but were still starting Aidan Hutchinson, Kerby Joseph and Malcom Rodriguez more most of the year with Josh Pascal and James Houston being added to the mix later in the year. That is a really inexperienced group of starters. I think a more accurate gauge of Aaron Glenn will be 2023 when he has a good core of talented and experienced players to work with along with whatever new players are added. I wasn't knocking him, just pointing it out since I have seen articles from other teams looking for coaches saying they shouldn't hire him because of that. Our D the last half of the season was top 15, so I am good with Glenn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karnage84 Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 I was listening to Locked On Lions and Mike Valenti was a guest. He was detailing some of the jobs that Ben Johnson interviewed for and why he didn't think they were great jobs. It got me thinking more about next year. We could see jobs open up in (Just to name a few) - Tampa Bay - LA Chargers - Washington - Atlanta - New Orleans If Staley can't get it together this year, hiring an offensive guy like Ben Johnson to pair with Justin Herbert would make a ton of sense. Teams generally go for the opposite of what they have when looking at new hire. Tampa, Washington and New Orleans all have defensive minded HC's who are re-tread's. A young offensive guy would be moving in a different direction. Three of those jobs are in the clusterf of a division that is the NFC South. If you can win your division and get a home playoff game, you at least have a shot at making a run to the SB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Friend Posted January 19, 2023 Author Share Posted January 19, 2023 Reportedly, Sheila opened up the wallet to give Ben Johnson a "significant raise" to stay in Detroit. 👏🏽 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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