The Eagles are hiring University of Florida offensive coordinator Brian Johnson as their quarterbacks coach, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Johnson, 33, will replace Press Taylor, who will not be retained from Doug Pederson’s staff.
Johnson has been with the Gators since 2018. He joined them as quarterbacks coach and became offensive coordinator in the 2020 season.
Before then, Johnson spent one year in Houston as their OC/QBs coach and three years with Mississippi State before that. At Mississippi State, Johnson helped Dak Prescott become an NFL draft pick. Prescott has gone on to have great success in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys, becoming the NFL Rookie of the Year in 2016. Prescott has been a two-time Pro Bowler and threw for nearly 5,000 yards in 2019. He was well on his way to passing that in 2020 before suffering a season-ending injury.
So now the Eagles will hope that the guy who helped create Dak will be able to help fix Carson Wentz.
The next big question is whether or not Wentz is back for the 2021 season. The relationship between Wentz and the Eagles is clearly in need of repair. But if Wentz stays in 2021, it will be Johnson who will be responsible for helping to fix Wentz.
But it’s also worth pointing out, as this Philadelphia Inquirer story from Mike Sielski notes, that Johnson recruited Jalen Hurts while at Mississippi State and has known Hurts since Hurts was 4 years old.
Johnson interviewed for head coaching jobs and South Carolina and Boise State this offseason and is considered one of the top young offensive coaches in the country.
It will be Johnson, along with head coach Nick Sirianni and offensive coordinator Shane Steichen in the top offensive coaching positions for the Eagles heading into next season. This will be an extremely young coaching staff. Sirianni is 39, passing game coordinator Kevin Patullo is 39, Steichen is 35, Johnson is 33 and defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon is 37.
In addition to coaching Prescott, Johnson also helped Gators quarterback Kyle Trask put up some major numbers in 2020. Trask completed nearly 69% of his passes for 4,283 yards with 43 touchdowns and just 8 interceptions in 2020. Before Trask, Johnson coached up Feleipe Franks.
Johnson, who played quarterback at Utah, began his coaching career there in 2010 as the QBs coach. He was then promoted to offensive coordinator for two seasons before leaving for Mississippi State.
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