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Ben Johnson's departure from the Detroit Lions seems inevitable at this point, as the offensive coordinator is a hot head-coach candidate once again this year and is receiving interest from three different teams.
Those teams are the Las Vegas Raiders, Chicago Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars, all of whom have met with him virtually. Now that the Lions are eliminated from the playoffs, Johnson will move on to in-person interviews that could come this week.
While all that is going on, the Lions will have to figure out who to replace Johnson with. Whoever steps into that role with have enormous shoes to fill after the unbelievable success Johnson had in that job.
When it comes to possible Johnson replacements, a lot of the attention has been on offensive line coach Hank Fraley, who is a candidate for the Seattle Seahawks' offensive coordinator vacancy, and running backs coach Scottie Montgomery.
But Sportsnaut's Matt Johnson believes the Lions should promote passing-game coordinator Tanner Engstrand instead.
"Tanner Engstrand should be the pick. He’s been on the Lions coaching staff since 2020 and Dan Campbell immediately promoted him to offensive quality control coach upon being hired," Johnson wrote. "Engstrand then received a promotion to tight ends coach and he’s served as the passing game coordinator for the last three seasons. Engstrand is highly regarded around the NFL for his offensive mind and his time spent under Johnson paired with his specialization in the passing game should land him the job."
While it's certainly not impossible for the Lions to hire from outside the current team, we would expect one of Montgomery, Fraley or Engstrand to land the job.
Engstrand joined the Lions as an offensive assistant in 2020 after working in college and the XFL and has quickly risen through the ranks.
Engstrand was promoted to offensive quality control coach in 2021, passing-game coordinator and tight ends coach in 2022, and he has served as just the passing-game coordinator since 2023.
In that span, the Lions have sported one of the elite passing attacks in the NFL. If Detroit is looking for the closest link to Johnson, Engstrand is probably it.
But he's going to have stiff competition from Fraley and Montgomery, both of whom have overseen elite units themselves and are deserving of a promotion.
Fraley recently received an endorsement from center Frank Ragnow to take over as the offensive coordinator, and chances are Ragnow isn't the only one who thinks he should get the job.
“I truly think he would be great,” Ragnow said, according to Jeremy Reisman of Pride of Detroit. “He’s bright, man. He’s bright. He’s so creative in what he does with this offense. I know Ben gets a lot of the credit or whatever, but Hank, that whole staff, they’re very innovative and creative and they do a really good job.”
Montgomery, who also serves as assistant head coach, is someone head coach Dan Campbell believes should be a head-coach candidate, which makes him a serious contender.
Of the three likely candidates for Lions offensive coordinator, Fraley is the one most likely to leave if he doesn't get the job considering his candidacy for the Seahawks' offensive coordinator job.
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