Jerrod Johnson spent a good amount of his post-Texas A&M career chasing playing football at the next level.
But when he realized that playing might not work out as he had hoped, the former Humble High School and Texas A&M quarterback turned to a dream that had been in his plans at some point—coaching. So Johnson went about the business of building his coaching career one strategic move at a time, and now he is about to embark on his third season as the Texans’ quarterbacks coach.
In Johnson’s mind, it doesn’t get much better.
“Of course, my dream was always set on playing,” Johnson said in a recent conversation with the Defender. “I got a couple of opportunities, but it didn’t go as long as I would have liked. It wasn’t in the cards for me; it wasn’t God’s plan.
“But I think I always wanted to coach. My dad was a coach, my brother is a coach and my mom coached; so I knew I wanted to coach, but I didn’t have my sights set on exactly what level.”
Johnson was honestly thinking he would coach high school football, following in the footsteps of his late father and mentor. A set of circumstances, however, led to opportunities that landed Johnson in the role of quarterbacks coach not long after DeMeco Ryans was hired by the Texans in 2023.
Not long after his final NFL playing opportunity ended, Johnson got his first taste of coaching in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers as part of the Bill Walsh Diversity Fellowship, an initiative to help minority coaches gain coaching opportunities.
The game-changing opportunity came a couple of years later when Johnson bumped into Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard while working a Pro Day at Tulane. Ballard told him that head coach Frank Reich was looking to fill an internship position with somebody with a quarterback background.
Before long, the internship turned into a full-time offensive quality control coaching position with the Colts in 2020.
“He gives me a call and he kind of scouted me when I was at A&M and gave me my first shot to coach in the NFL,” said Johnson, who started ahead of future NFL quarterback Ryan Tannehill when they were at Texas A&M. “I kind of knew at that point the dream of playing was done and I set my sights on the next dream of just trying to make it as an NFL coach.”
Before arriving at that decision, while still chasing football and working Nike Elite 11 football camps with former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer, Johnson had the opportunity to work with a high school rising senior quarterback who had a lot of promise. The kid, who played on Johnson’s team, entered the camp in Dallas that summer ranked as the 20th-best quarterback in the country. But once the camp was over, the kid from Rancho Cucamonga High School left as the No.1 quarterback in the country.
Little did Johnson know that time with a young C.J. Stroud would become a full-circle moment because a couple of months after joining the Texans’ coaching staff, Stroud was drafted by the team No.2 overall.
“For me to grow and him to grow and life comes back full circle four years after that and for me to get the job with the Texans and for us to get the opportunity to draft him it’s kind of God sent,” Johnson said. “It’s definitely been special. We are both very fortunate. I’m fortunate to get to coach a young man like C.J.”
“I think (offensive coordinator Nick Caley) has done a great job by giving him a lot more ownership of the offense and how to coach the quarterbacks. So, I think he’s doing a great job of taking ownership and running with it and doing a lot of things that he believes in. But also, not putting a leash on us and letting us have fun. So, I think he’s doing a great job.”
– C.J. Stroud on Jerrod Johnson
The feeling is mutual. The two have grown close while challenging each other to be their absolute best as they get ready to enter Season 3 together.
“Yeah, Jerrod has been in my corner since I’ve been 16 years old, since I was a young kid in high school,” Stroud said to the Defender. “He fed a lot of confidence into me then. And it’s kind of cool that we kind of came back now. And he does a great job of trying to give his twist on things and how he likes to coach.”
The focus will be on Stroud’s growth in Year 3 under Johnson. Stroud had a record-shattering rookie season under Johnson’s tutelage, taking home AFC Offensive Rookie of the Year accolades and earning a spot on the Pro Bowl team after the 2023 campaign. But Stroud’s sophomore season wasn’t quite as crisp, which is part of the reason why Nick Caley is the new offensive coordinator.
It’s Johnson’s job to help one of the NFL’s best young quarterbacks get back on track this season. Ryans believes in Johnson, whom he hired off the Minnesota Vikings’ staff in 2023.
“Jerrod is doing a great job. Jerrod has grown as a coach, after being a first-time position coach a couple of years ago,” Ryans said. “I think him getting a rookie quarterback, they’re both growing together, and Jerrod is heading in the right direction as a coach.”
As one of the league’s up-and-coming young coaches, Johnson should take the next step as offensive coordinator. Although his name came up for offensive coordinator opportunities this past hiring cycle with Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Tampa Bay and even with the Texans, he is glad to be back coaching and pushing Stroud and the other quarterbacks. Caley has given him added responsibility, which should make Johnson an even bigger target for promotion this upcoming offseason, provided all continues to go well.
Johnson, however, insists that the next job is the furthest thing from his thoughts.
“I aspire to be a head coach, I aspire to call plays and all of the things. I love the challenge of that,” Johnson said. “But that being said, none of that matters if we don’t do well here. So my whole focus is on being the best quarterback coach I can be. There is still a lot I can grow and improve on, and I’m really hard on myself and the things I need to do to be better this year than I was last year. So that’s all I put my time on.
“I have goals and aspirations, but I wake up every day thinking, how can I be a better quarterback coach for the Texans, how can I pour into C.J. and Davis (Mills), to Graham (Mertz) and our whole room, and just give them everything I’ve got. At the end of the day, we’ve got to have success here. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Johnson knows his focus and primary job are Stroud’s growth. He takes this charge with the utmost seriousness.
“Every year, for both of us, it’s new challenges,” Johnson said. “It’s one thing to set the standard and create who you want to be, but it’s another thing to sustain it. Our relationship, we have a ton of respect for each other, and we know each other very well. But at the same time, it’s my job to hold him accountable, it’s my job to make sure it’s continued growth, and it’s his job to challenge me, as well. So I think our relationship works out good.
“But our next phase now is to see how far we can take this team collectively, and it starts with him. It starts with the quarterback position. That’s our current challenge, and we’re trying to be the best version of ourselves to get to that point.”
