The Detroit Lions have themselves a new offensive coordinator this season after the departure of Anthony Lynn, and he’s none other than Ben Johnson, who helped as much as anyone to accelerate Detroit’s passing game in the second half of the 2021 campaign.
And interestingly enough, it was none other than former Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford who decided to reach out to Johnson and congratulate him on the promotion among the several messages that he got upon his elevation to the position.
“Yeah, shoot, I’ll tell you the one that was cool,” he said. “And I had a number of guys reach out to me, was Matthew Stafford. It was the week before the Super Bowl, he’s preparing for the biggest game of his life, and I believe it was his birthday the day he texted me on, but for him to reach out and say ‘Congrats and it’s well deserved’, that meant a lot to me. I thought that was pretty special.”
After his promotion to Detroit Lions offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson said one communication stood out from the others: pic.twitter.com/O6Raz64wqy
— Justin Rogers | Detroit News (@Justin_Rogers) March 1, 2022
Johnson also detailed his plans for Detroit’s offensive line, which emerged as one of the team’s strengths in 2021 and could be a force to be reckoned with next season as they continue their rebuilding process.
“We have the ability to be dominant up front. Not just good, but dominant,” he said. “Those guys, over the course of last year, showed the ability to be not just a good unit but one of the best.”
Prior to his promotion as Lions offensive coordinator, Johnson was brought aboard to serve as offensive quality control coach in 2019 before serving as the tight ends coach from 2020-21. He’s also been a tight ends coach at Boston College, while also working in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins in various capacities including assistant quarterbacks coach (2013-15), tight ends coach (2015), assistant wide receivers coach (2016-17) and wide receivers coach (2018).
– – Quotes via Chris Burke Link – –
