Zac Taylor and Ben Johnson arrived in the NFL the same year, in the same city. A pair of college quarterbacks, they both spent a few years cutting their coaching teeth at the college level before joining the Miami Dolphins in 2012.
Taylor started as an assistant quarterback coach, while Johnson held the title of offensive assistant. By the next year, they were working together to run the team’s quarterback room.
A lot has happened in the time since. Taylor is on the cusp of coaching in his first Super Bowl as the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, while Johnson was officially promoted to his first offensive coordinator position this week with the Detroit Lions.
Taylor is thrilled for his former colleague, only disappointed they aren’t still working together.
“I’ve tried to hire Ben many, many, many times,” Taylor revealed during a Super Bowl media session on Wednesday. “He always just gets promoted to where I can’t get him. (Lions coach) Dan (Campbell) knows that. I’ve always just tried to find a place for him on staff, whether it’s offense, defense, special (teams), it doesn’t matter. He’s one of those guys you want on your staff because he’s a brilliant.
“He’s just really sharp,” Taylor continued. “He’s got a mathematics background. He’s much smarter than I was in school. He sees things differently. He does a great job with the analytics side of things, as well. He’s just one of the really, truthfully one of the sharpest football coaches in this league, and he’s only going to continue to learn from his experiences. I think Dan knows that and that’s probably why he promoted him, because he knows he’s got one of the best young coaches in the league right there on his staff. Why not promote him and help him call this offense?”
That’s about as empathetic of an endorsement as you’ll see in the NFL. Taylor ended up staying in Miami through 2015, when he was elevated to offensive coordinator by Campbell, who was serving as team’s interim coach that season.
From there, Taylor spent two years with the Los Angeles Rams — the team the Bengals will face for the title on Sunday — before getting hired by Cincinnati in 2019.
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Johnson, meanwhile, survived Campbell and Taylor’s ouster in Miami, staying three more years with the franchise that gave him his NFL start. During his seven years with the team he wound up working with the quarterbacks, tight ends and receivers.
Former Lions coach Matt Patricia scooped up Johnson in 2019 as a quality-control coach and had him take over tight ends the following year. In Johnson’s first season in that role, T.J. Hockenson was named to the Pro Bowl.
Johnson was unofficially bumped up to passing game coordinator in the middle of this past season, coinciding with Campbell taking over the offensive play-calling. After the team parted ways with coordinator Anthony Lynn at the end of the season, Johnson was one of at least three candidates the team considered before deciding on the internal promotion.
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers