Ben Johnson interviews for Patriots head coaching job
FOXBORO -- The New England Patriots have completed an interview with Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson about becoming the team's next head coach, the organization announced Friday.
The Patriots interviewed Johnson for three hours on Friday, which had to be done virtually since the Lions are in the NFL playoffs.
Johnson is one of the top head-coaching candidates this offseason given his success with the Lions over the last three seasons. Detroit has owned one of the NFL's best offenses in each of Johnson's three seasons as offensive coordinator, and led the league at 33.2 points per game in 2024.
Detroit is on its postseason bye after clinching the NFC's top seed with a 15-2 regular season.
Johnson doesn't have any head-coaching experience, so his hiring will bring some risk. But he has the highest ceiling of all candidates and would give the Patriots a brilliant offensive mind at head coach, someone who would likely elevate Drake Maye after the quarterback's solid rookie season. The New England offense is in desperate need of a revamp after averaging just 17.0 points per game last season to rank 30th in the NFL.
Ben Johnson head-coaching interviews
Though the Lions are on their bye, the 38-year-old Johnson will be a busy man this weekend. After interviewing with the Patriots, he had an interview with the Las Vegas Raiders on Friday afternoon. He has interviews with the Chicago Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars scheduled for Saturday.
The Patriots interviewed Byron Leftwich and Pep Hamilton on Tuesday, and Mike Vrabel on Thursday. Many consider Vrabel the favorite to land the job, and the team has no other interviews scheduled following Johnson's on Friday.
But Friday's interview gave the Patriots a chance to talk with Johnson and pick his brain about his vision for the future of the New England franchise. He's reportedly extremely interested in the potential of working with Maye, with the quarterback one of the few selling points for the Patriots at the moment.
We'll find out which team wants to make him their next head coach in the coming days -- and if Johnson is willing to leave Detroit for his first head-coaching job. He was a hot head-coaching candidate in each of the last two seasons, but passed up jobs with the Panthers and the Commanders to return to the Lions.
Ben Johnson's coaching résumé
Johnson initially joined the Lions in 2019 and was elevated to offensive coordinator in 2022. The Lions have had a top-five scoring offense in all three seasons with Johnson as its offensive coordinator.
Johnson's coaching career began in the New England region in 2009 when he was a graduate assistant at Boston College under then-head coach Frank Spaziani. He got his first job in the NFL in 2012 when he was an offensive assistant for the Miami Dolphins, and went on to serve as Miami's assistant quarterbacks coach, tight ends coach, and wide receivers coach before landing in Detroit.
Johnson was a quarterback in high school and was a walk-on at the University of North Carolina in college.
