The Patriots announced Friday that they concluded their virtual interview with Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson for their head-coaching job.
The Patriots have now interviewed four candidates for the vacancy: Johnson, ex-Titans head coach Mike Vrabel and former offensive coordinators Byron Leftwich and Pep Hamilton.
The interviews with Vrabel, Leftwich and Hamilton were in person. The Patriots also requested to interview Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, who received requests from all six teams with vacancies, but he turned the Pats down.
The Patriots have no known interviews scheduled for the future and could decide on a hire at any time. They satisfied the Rooney Rule by interviewing Leftwich and Hamilton, both minority candidates, in person but received backlash since both coaches are currently out of the NFL and would likely need to land coordinator jobs before getting hired as head coaches.
Johnson, 38, was a quarterback at UNC like Patriots rookie QB Drake Maye. He’s been the Lions’ OC since 2022 and has conducted one of the best offenses in each of his three seasons in that role. He joined the Lions as an offensive quality control coach in 2019 under former Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and outlasted him on staff, becoming a tight ends coach in 2020 and passing game coordinator in 2021.
He began his coaching career locally as a graduate assistant at Boston College in 2009. He also worked for seven seasons with the Dolphins.
The Patriots are considered one of the top head-coaching jobs available since they have Maye, the fourth overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, $130 million in salary cap space and some flexibility in the front office. It would be difficult to argue there’s a better situation available with the Bears, Jaguars, Raiders, Jets ore Saints.
Johnson is an appealing candidate since hiring him would allow Maye to stay in the same system for however long both are with the Patriots. Vrabel is considered the Patriots’ top choice, but he’s a defensive-minded head coach who has lost offensive coordinators to head coaching jobs in the past with Matt LaFleur and Arthur Smith both leaving the Titans during Vrabel’s tenure for the Packers and Falcons, respectively.
Vrabel has also interviewed with the Jets and Bears.
In-person interviews with coaches currently employed by NFL teams but out of the playoffs can’t start until Jan. 20. In-person interviews with coaches in the Super Bowl can begin Jan. 27.
So, if the Patriots want to hire Vrabel, it could come as soon as possible. If they decide to hire Johnson, it would take a while before anything is official.