As they look to rebuild the team from the ground up, the Houston Texans have continued the pattern of hiring coaches for whom Houston is more than just the next step on the ladder.
Head coach DeMeco Ryans, a former Texan himself, has hired a quarterbacks coach who no doubt dreamed of being a future Texan himself. According to multiple reports, Jerrod Johnson will be the Texans' new quarterbacks coach. There, he'll work with offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, who came with Ryans from San Francisco.
Born in Houston, Johnson played at nearby Humble High School. The 2006 graduate was a 3-star recruit who signed with Texas A&M as a football and basketball player.
Johnson threw for 3,579 yards and 30 touchdowns in 2009 -- he also set the Big 12 record for consecutive passes without an interception (242) -- and entered 2010 as the Big 12 preseason offensive player of the year before eventually giving way to Ryan Tannehill.
An undrafted free agent, Johnson spent six seasons bouncing between NFL practice squads and various other professional leagues before joining the San Francisco 49ers as a Bill Walsh diversity coaching fellow in 2017. He repeated the program in 2019 with the Indianapolis Colts, then joined the club full time as a quality control coach in 2020.
He spent 2022 as the Vikings' assistant quarterbacks coach, and now steps into his first primary position coaching job, with his home town team, in 2023.
Beyond all that, the Texans own the No. 1 pick in this spring's draft, where they're widely expected to take Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Bryce Young.
If Young becomes a Texan, as most except, and succeeds in the way many anticipate that he will, this opportunity could grow into something much bigger for Johnson.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.