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A rising star coach. Will the NFL let him shine?
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- A rising star coach. Will the NFL let him shine?
Editor's note: This story is a part of a series by USA TODAY Sports called Project: June . We will publish at least one NFL-themed story every day throughout the month because fans know the league truly never sleeps.
ATLANTA — On paper, Jerrod Johnson certainly fits the profile of a coach that could be on the brink of getting the keys to drive an NFL offense. The young Houston Texans quarterbacks coach, with his fourth NFL team, has steadily built his resume. His fingerprints are all over the development of C.J. Stroud, one of the NFL's emerging stars.
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And shoot, after previously working on Kevin O'Connell's staff with the Minnesota Vikings , Johnson has two degrees of separation from Sean McVay.
In a meeting room, Johnson's charismatic presence comes to life. That's not on paper. I saw it for myself this week at the latest iteration of the Quarterback Coaching Summit. Johnson, 36, demonstrated an impressive command of the room as he spoke for nearly an hour in a session titled "Coaching & Development of the Starting and Backup QB."
The engaging delivery was only part of the pop. Johnson scored points as he broke down evaluation metrics, approaches for training the mind, feet and trigger, as he put it, and then some. A former quarterback, he even explained why it is critical to conduct one-on-one tutoring each Tuesday morning during the season with the practice squad quarterback.
Maybe Johnson is indeed a rising star in the NFL coaching universe.
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Yet I wonder about his prospects as a Black man when transposed against the sorry trend over the past two hiring cycles for promoting Black candidates to offensive coordinator, the role that is the most prominent steppingstone to head coaching jobs. The past two cycles, NFL teams were 29-for-29 in hiring white men as offensive coordinators.
For the second year in a row, the NFL won't have a single Black offensive coordinator in the league. Before this drought, you'd have to go back 30 years for that distinction.
"It's very disheartening," retired NFL coach Jimmy Raye told USA TODAY Sports. "As you've witnessed since you've been here, there are guys with impressive knowledge, deserving of an opportunity."
Raye, one of the organizers of the NFL-supported event that is hosted by the Black College Football Hall of Fame and held in conjunction with the Ozzie Newsome GM Forum, became the NFL's first Black offensive coordinator in 1983 with the Los Angeles Rams . He served in that capacity with several teams over 13 seasons.
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He hardly imagined when he broke a barrier in 1983 that the league would be back in this spot when considering Black OCs.
"I would have thought it would be like the quarterback position, something that you don't even think about because it was something that was done," Raye said. "They don't talk about the Black quarterback anymore because half the league has Black quarterbacks.
"I would think offensive coordinators would be the same, that it would have evolved the same way, with the technology, the ability to gain information, internships and the Bill Walsh Fellowships, all the things that have been put in place for diversity, but it just hasn't happened."
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Johnson, who interviewed for OC jobs with the Texans and the Las Vegas Raiders this year and in 2024 with the Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Browns , did not point to his race as an impediment in his career journey. And he is obviously just one example as part of a larger picture. Yet he acknowledges the pattern of recent hiring cycles for hiring minority candidates as coordinators.
"I'm a man of faith," Johnson told USA TODAY Sports. "I think God has a plan. At some point, ideally, things will line up and I'll be in the right situation, and I'll get an opportunity. The past couple of years, it hasn't really been the fit for me. I think we've just got to keep plugging away, just being as good as we can in becoming better coaches, putting our best foot forward. At the end of the day, all we can control is getting better in our current situations and whatever happens, happens."
For the coordinator jobs this year that Johnson interviewed for, the Raiders hired long-established Chip Kelly to join Pete Carroll's staff, while the Texans brought in Nick Caley, who spent the past three years on McVay's staff with the Los Angeles Rams, including last season as passing game coordinator, to run their offense.
Jul 29, 2024; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson during training camp at Houston Methodist Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Yet other hires for coordinator jobs that Johnson wasn't in the mix for fueled questions. The Jacksonville Jaguars hired Grant Udinski to coordinate the offense under first-year coach Liam Coen. Udinski has never been a position coach in the NFL, having served as assistant quarterbacks coach and assistant coordinator on O'Connell's staff.
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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers , meanwhile, replaced Coen with first-time coordinator Josh Grizzard, promoted after one year as passing game coordinator.
Who gets such opportunities and at what stages of their careers is what raises suspicions, especially with some of the so-called "OG's," such as Doug Williams, another of the organizers of the events held this week, which included more than a dozen presentations by minority coaches and front office personnel.
The pipeline, Williams stressed, is not the problem.
"There's no doubt in my mind that you have people that can do the job – in personnel, as head coaches, offensive coordinators, quarterback coaches," Williams, a personnel executive with the Washington Commanders , told USA TODAY Sports. "It's about giving them the opportunity."
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One presentation that really moved me: Jackie Davidson's session on the ABC's of the NFL salary cap. Davidson, vice president of football research for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is a rising front office star who might be on the short list of candidates to become the first female GM in the NFL in decades. Williams agrees.
"Jackie blew 'em away. That's what people don't know," said Williams, whose footprint on history was cast in 1988 when he became the first Black quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl. "When you sit there and hear her, it's like, 'Damn…give her an opportunity.' This is a perfect platform to realize that."
Williams and James "Shack" Harris, former Grambling quarterbacks who founded the Black College Football Hall of Fame, have conducted the coaching/GM symposiums for eight years. The first one was a roundtable at Morehouse College attended by a handful of coaches. Maybe the next one will include an expanded list of attendees that goes beyond the few dozen coaches and front office types from the pro and college ranks that were on hand.
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"This is where the NFL owners should be," Williams said.
The NFL paused its accelerator program this year, which brought together coaching and front office personnel to engage with team owners while participating in sessions designed to promote upward mobility.
"They meet guys at the accelerator program and an hour later they don't remember who they met," Williams maintained. "They don't get to see people make presentations. Here, you can listen to a guy and say, 'You know what? That guy is really sharp.'"
You'd get no argument from Johnson. After all, more exposure surely won't hurt someone positioned for career advancement.
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"That being said, I'm in a great situation in Houston," Johnson said. "I've learned so much from DeMeco (Ryans), and we have a great staff. At the end of the day, I have aspirations, but I've got to wake up every day and be the best quarterback coach I can be."
Which just might open the door for more.
Follow Jarrett Bell on social media: @JarrettBell
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: QB coach Jerrod Johnson is opening eyes, but what does the NFL see?
