From the moment the Commanders made Adam Peters the team’s new General Manager, the NFL grapevine started buzzing with the notion that the team’s next coach will be Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
Now that Detroit’s season is over, Johnson is free and clear to be hired.
Johnson has been regarded throughout the 2023 season as an inevitable head coach. That’s good for him and bad for the Lions, who’ll have to replace him.
Like all rising coordinators, it remains to be seen whether he’ll thrive at the next level. It’s a fundamentally different job.
It still remains to be seen whether he’ll get an offer from the Commanders. There are plenty of candidates for the job. Good ones.
They include Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, and Ravens assistant head coach/defensive line coach Anthony Weaver.
And while there’s plenty of value in potential, we saw yesterday that there’s even more value in experience. That gives Quinn an advantage.
It also invites curiosity regarding others with head-coaching experience who have yet to land on the Commanders’ radar screen.
