The Pittsburgh Steelers have now officially interviewed two candidates for their vacant offensive coordinator position. They interviewed their second candidate yesterday, Houston Texans quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson. And he comes with a ringing endorsement from his protégé, presumptive Offensive Rookie of the Year C.J. Stroud.
A former Texas A&M quarterback who spent the 2012 offseason with the Steelers, Johnson began coaching in 2017. He earned his first official non-intern job with the Indianapolis Colts in 2020, finally achieving position coach status in 2023 with the Houston Texans. And that was only the latest time he encountered Stroud, their star rookie quarterback. He went to bat for his position coach this week, knowing Johnson could be leaving for a promotion.
“I’ve known Jerrod since I was 16. I was in Elite 11 with him. He was my quarterback coach there”, he said, via the team’s website. “One thing that I could say about Jerrod, you talk about somebody who knows how to play the position of quarterback and knows how to relay something, a guy who loves football”.
He called Johnson someone who taught him “a tremendous amount of information”, but also instilled in him “a tremendous amount of confidence”. He then shared a story from his time together in the Elite 11 program and how he reached out.
“Jerrod’s one thing for me was, ‘be confident’. At that time, I wasn’t really the highest recruit. I wasn’t who I would become”, he said. “I always knew that it would be a possibility, but I didn’t hear those types of drives. Jerrod’s someone I looked up to”.
“When he was like, ‘Man, you need to be more confident’, it changed my life”, Stroud continued. “And fast forward, I’m here with him my rookie year, it’s a blessing to work with him. Whatever happens, I’m excited for him, and he deserves everything that’s coming for him”.
Stroud is 22 now, so we would be talking about 2018 when he would have been in the Elite 11 program. Johnson did not have a coaching gig that year, in between Bill Walsh diversity coaching fellowship gigs. After his second one of those, the Colts hired him as offensive quality control coach. He earned an assistant quarterbacks coach job with the Minnesota Vikings in 2022 before rookie Texans head coach DeMeco Ryan added him to his inaugural staff.
A rookie position coach coaching a rookie quarterback for a rookie head coach. They had a mighty fine season together, going 10-7 (9-6 in Stroud’s starts). He went 319-for-499 passing for 4,108 yards with 23 touchdowns to just five interceptions and a 100.8 quarterback rating. He also ran for 167 yards with three rushing touchdowns.
Stroud is one of the most exciting younger quarterbacks in the NFL, and he credits Johnson with helping instill in him the confidence and drive to get him where he is today. Johnson helped him take his first steps into the NFL and did so very successfully.
Meanwhile, the Steelers have a young starting quarterback in Kenny Pickett who did not look like he was playing with much confidence in 2023. Yet offensive coordinator would be a big step up, and Johnson’s history of calling plays is limited to some odd experiment called Your Call Football.
