The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced Tuesday that they have completed an interview with Houston Texans quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson for the offensive coordinator position. The Buccaneers are looking for a replacement for Dave Canales, who took over as head coach of the Carolina Panthers after one season in Tampa.
Mr. Johnson is the third confirmed candidate for the position after an in-person interview at the AdventHealth Training Center. The Buccaneers also held virtual interviews with former Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt on Monday and current Detroit Lions wide receivers coach Antoine Randle El on Friday.
Johnson just completed his first season with the Texans. He previously spent two years (2020-21) as the offensive quality control coach with the Indianapolis Colts and one season as the assistant QB coach with the Minnesota Vikings. Johnson also played quarterback at Texas A&M and played professionally with the Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks, Chicago Bears, Baltimore Ravens, and Dallas Cowboys.
As the Texans’ quarterbacks coach, Johnson worked closely with CJ Stroud and had one of the best seasons for a rookie quarterback in NFL history. Stroud started all 15 games he played in, led the NFL in passing yards per game (273.9), and had the lowest interception rate (1.0%) of all eligible passers. Despite missing two games, Stroud passed for over 4,000 yards and scored 23 touchdowns with just five interceptions. He set NFL records for most pass attempts without an interception at the start of his career (191) and most 350-yard passing games by a rookie (3).
Houston’s passing attack ranked seventh in the entire NFL, and the Texans went 10-7 in the AFC South, just one season after finishing with the league’s second-worst record at 3-13-1. Johnson also helped the Vikings build the NFL’s sixth-ranked passing attack in 2022.