Eagles Finally Make it Official: Brian Johnson is New OC

Ever since news broke that the Indianapolis Colts were going to hire Shane Steichen as their next head coach, the odds-on leader in the clubhouse to replace him was quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson. The Eagles were never linked to anyone else publicly other than Johnson. On Tuesday, they finally made it official.

It was always Johnson. He’s got OC experience – albeit on the college level – and Jalen Hurts experience. Everyone knows that his connection with Hurts goes back to Johnson’s high school days when Hurts’ dad coached him. Hurts spoke glowingly about Johnson leading up to the Super Bowl as well.

Johnson has been integral in the development of Hurts over the last two years from a quarterback “who couldn’t read” during the blowout loss to Tampa Bay to end the 2021 season to the guy who out-played Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl to end the 2022 season.

While this will be Johnson’s first stint as an NFL offensive coordinator, he spent four seasons as an OC on the college level at three different universities. From 2012-2013 he was OC at Utah. Then, in 2017, he was the OC for Houston. And in 2020, he was the OC at Florida, where he engineered one of the most prolific passing offenses in all of college football with Kyle Trask as his quarterback.

Johnson, a Star on the Rise

The only downside to Johnson being named the offensive coordinator is that we will be in this same position a year or two from now if Johnson picks up where Steichen left off. The Eagles weren’t the only team interested in him for an open OC role, and he is considered one of the rising stars in the coaching ranks right now. If Jonathan Gannon can get a head coaching gig after the egg he laid in the Super Bowl, Johnson will have a head coaching opportunity sooner or later unless he completely falls flat.

There is no reason to believe that Johnson could fall flat either. If anything, there is reason to believe that Johnson could continue this offense’s upward trajectory. He’s got a creative offensive mind, and his familiarity with Hurts will be an asset. There could be a concern that he hasn’t called plays in the NFL before, but he has called plays before

Only One Outside Interview for Eagles OC Gig

The Eagles only interviewed one outside candidate for the job – Iowa State OC Nate Scheelhaase. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. While one could try to make some argument for bringing in an outside voice – it would be a really weak one. The Eagles’ offense was prolific in 2022, and keeping that going in 2023 was the move. The Eagles averaged 28.1 points a game – third in the NFL behind Kansas City and Buffalo. They were third in total yards a game too. So running it back as best they could didn’t just make sense; it was imperative.

Not to mention that if Johnson didn’t get the gig, he would have gotten another OC gig somewhere else this off-season. So if they went outside the organization for an OC, they’d almost certainly have had to replace Johnson as well.