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Balancing interview requests, game-planning 'puts a stress' on Detroit Lions coordinators
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- Balancing interview requests, game-planning 'puts a stress' on Detroit Lions coordinators
The teams lining up to interview Detroit Lions coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn will have to wait until Friday at the earliest to make their pitch.
Lions coach Dan Campbell said Monday that Johnson and Glenn are in the process of scheduling interviews with their many suitors, and that they'll try to squeeze in whatever interviews they can Friday after practice or Saturday between walk-through and night meetings.
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Johnson, in his second season as Lions offensive coordinator, has interview requests from five teams : Atlanta Falcons , Carolina Panthers , Los Angeles Chargers , Tennessee Titans and Washington Commanders .
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Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson watches warm up ahead of the season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023.
Glenn, in his third season as Lions defensive coordinator, has requests from all of those teams but the Chargers.
The Seattle Seahawks and Las Vegas Raiders also have job openings and are in the process of formalizing interview requests.
The Lions host the winner of Monday night's Philadelphia Eagles-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game at 3 p.m. Sunday in the divisional round of the playoffs with a chance to advance to the NFC championship game for the second time in the Super Bowl era .
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"Those are worthy candidates and I think they're, both of them should be at the top of everybody's list," Campbell said. "But we're in one of these unique years where there's a ton of jobs available, so that's also why they all want to speak to them and they should. But that does, that puts a stress on them, on us, but they'll do the best they can with it, make the most of it, which they should, and then but be prepared for us to get ready the next game."
Assistant coaches from teams who played in the wild-card round of the playoffs are allowed to interview virtually for head coaching positions beginning Tuesday. Johnson and Glenn, however, will be busy with game-planning early in the week.
Teams are not permitted to hold in-person interviews with coaches under contract with other teams until Jan. 22, and cannot officially hire those coaches until their teams are eliminated from the playoffs.
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Johnson is considered the frontrunner for the Commanders job. Glenn has ties to Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot from their time together with the New Orleans Saints , and also could emerge as favorite with the Titans.
Glenn said last week he intends to fulfill all of interview requests, and Johnson insisted he wasn't sure how to prioritize his interviews.
"The best we can do is it'll have to be Friday and a little bit of Saturday, so Friday afternoon after practice is done," Campbell said. "They're going to have to crunch them in there. They're already working on scheduling it."
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com . Follow him @davebirkett .
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions coordinators have short window to take interviews
