Why Buccaneers Should Look Into Hiring This Former Texans Assistant

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have an opportunity to add a solid young coach to their ranks for the 2025 season.

The Houston Texans have parted ways with quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson after three years with the organization. Johnson, a young coach in the NFL at only 37 years old, has served in multiple roles in the NFL since his playing career ended after the 2016 season. He has served on offensive staffs with the 49ers, Colts, Vikings and, most recently, the Texans. A former quarterback himself, Johnson has served both as an assistant quarterbacks coach and a full-time quarterbacks coach at the NFL level.

Here's why the Buccaneers adding him to the fold could make sense:

Jul 29, 2024; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson during training camp at Houston Methodist Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Why Adding Johnson Makes Sense

Johnson has been a rising star in the coaching ranks for a while now, interviewing for multiple offensive coordinator positions throughout the past couple of years. In fact, before the Buccaneers hired Liam Coen for their offensive coordinator job for the 2024 season, Johnson was a coach that they interviewed and were interested in before he decided to return to the Texans.

This shows that Bowles has had a keen interest in the offensive mind of Johnson in the past and could be interested in adding them to his current staff in some capacity. Johnson could come in as some type of senior offensive assistant, or even an assistant head coach, to get him into the building and give the Bucs another bright young mind in the coaching room.

Now, Johnson has no connection to the current coordinator, Zac Robinson. The closest you can get is that they've both worked for West Coast offensive mind Kevin O'Connell, with Robinson serving on the same staff as him with the LA Rams in 2020 and 2021 and Johnson serving under O'Connell with his coaching staff of the Vikings in 2022.

The Hurdle to Adding Johnson

Feb 24, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles speaks at the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The possible hurdle with adding Johnson is that he could sign elsewhere. Johnson could very well decide to go back to the Vikings and rejoin O'Connell or possibly join another of his former teams in the 49ers. There is also the possibility that either Johnson wouldn't want to join the Bucs or the team would not want to add him, either.

However, if Johnson was interested in joining Tampa Bay, it could benefit the Bucs to bring in a young offensive mind who still has a large amount of upside in the coaching ranks to be a future offensive coordinator or even a head coach one day.

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