Bobby Johnson Coaching Clinic Notes

Reviewing a run game coaching clinic from Commanders new OL coach Bobby Johnson

With the draft now over and the NFL about to head to its summer break before training camps open up, it’s now time to take a deeper dive into different schemes, techniques and overall topics that I couldn’t get into during the busy regular season and early offseason period. The first topic I thought to get into was reviewing a coaching clinic from Commanders new offensive line coach Bobby Johnson. 

Johnson arrives in Washington with a questionable reputation. He followed Brian Daboll from a very successful Bills team to a poor Giants team. The Giants offensive line has struggled under his watch, particularly in pass protection. Now it’s unfair to put all the blame on Johnson given the Giants injury record. At times last season they were signing players off the street on a Wednesday only to need to start them on the following Sunday. But the Giants did invest some high picks into the offensive line and didn’t necessarily see the development from those picks that they would have expected under Johnson. 

That spell in New York does lead to fair questions about Johnson in Washington, particularly given the Commanders struggles up front last season too. However, this coaching clinic from Johnson’s time in Buffalo with the Bills provides some insight into him as a person, his ability as a coach, his philosophy and the techniques he coaches. I would highly recommend watching the full two-hour clinic as there are lots of insightful nuggets there and as with any coaching clinic, you’ll come away amazed at the level of detail that goes into coaching in the NFL. You can watch the full clinic on YouTube by clicking here or watching below.

For those that don’t want to sit through a two-hour clinic or can’t watch a YouTube video at work, here are my notes and main takeaways.

Expectations of the job

Johnson starts off the clinic emphasizing how important it is to know and understand the role and expectations of the job. He explains how not every offensive line coach job in the NFL is the same. Some offensive line coaches are expected to come in and teach things the way the offensive coordinator or head coach wants them taught without any input on scheme or what techniques they think might work best. Meanwhile, some offensive line coaches are expected to install the entire run game and pass protections by themselves, having a huge impact on schemes that are run as well as techniques. As you can imagine, the difference between those roles are significant. Johnson explains the importance of having the expectations of the job outlined so he knows exactly what he needs to do. 

For the Commanders, Bobby Johnson’s official title is offensive line coach, which is vague enough for us outside the organization to not fully know his role. However, we do know that Brian Johnson has a pass game coordinator title and Anthony Lynn has the run game coordinator title. So that would suggest that the schematic part of things will be handled largely by offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, Brian Johnson and Anthony Lynn. Of course, I’m sure Bobby Johnson will have input but having those other titles on staff suggests that Johnson’s role will focus more on techniques and coaching guys up rather than spending all his time game planning the run schemes each week. We will likely never fully know and it could be the case that Kingsbury gives Johnson more of a say despite the titles for the other coaches, but that would be my take away here. 

Another point Johnson makes early on is maintaining alignment with the offensive coordinator, both schematically and philosophically. If you’ve paid any attention to Adam Peters and Dan Quinn this offseason, the buzzwords in Washington have been “aligned vision”, so hearing this from Johnson stood out to me immediately. Johnson gave an example of when he was in college, a defensive backs coach was running the cornerbacks through a press bail drill for Cover-3. It was a great drill, but the head coach came over and told the defensive backs coach it was a good drill but the team doesn’t even run Cover-3. They were primarily a Cover-2 and quarters defense, so the drill didn’t fit with the system the team used and was therefore a waste of time. 

Johnson points out that the alignment in scheme and philosophy between the offensive line coach and the offensive coordinator should be reflected in positional drills. Installation, classroom work, positional drills on the practice field all need to have purpose within the scheme the offensive coordinator wants to use. Don’t be like the college defensive backs coach he referenced running a Cover-3 drill for a team that only plays Cover-2 and quarters. For the Commanders offensive line, a translation of this could be there’s no point running a wide zone drill if Kingsbury only wants to run gap scheme runs. So the entire offensive coaching staff needs to come together to set a system and a philosophy and that will allow Johnson to tailor his drills to fit that system, whatever it may be. 

Philosophy

There were just a few notes I thought that were worth pointing out in this section because I think this part showed why Dan Quinn and Kliff Kingsbury hired him. Some of it will sound like generic coach speak, but it will also sound very similar to things you’ve heard Quinn say all offseason since he was hired, on top of the aligned vision we’ve already heard from him. 

Johnson wants to teach the how AND the why. The why is important because players will question things. If the coach is unable to explain why he’s asking his players to do a certain drill or technique, the players won’t buy into it and it won’t work. Johnson stresses you can’t teach something you don’t believe in. If you can’t defend a drill, or a technique when it’s questioned, you clearly don’t fully believe in it and again, it won’t work.

He also explains it’s important to be flexible and willing to customize things to the personnel available. Johnson explains how in one situation he might have a lineman with 32-inch arms and another guy with 35-inch arms. The guy with 35-inch arms can probably do a whole lot more in pass protection because of that length advantage, but as the offensive line coach, he still needs to find ways to make everyone functional. So how he teaches the 35-inch arm player might differ from what he teaches the 32-inch arm player. 

Johnson also has a section in this clinic with the title “Learn, grow, evolve and recreate yourself”. He openly admits he’s been fired in the past and he’s been on different staff’s that got wiped out. Johnson explains “In order to make sure you stay relevant and stay in the game, you have got to continue to learn, grow, evolve and recreate yourself.” He stresses it’s particularly important as a line coach to not just do the same thing they’ve been doing just because it’s what they’ve always done. One of the big things we learned about Dan Quinn this offseason was how he helped develop the Seahawks Cover-3 defense which landed him a head coaching job in Atlanta, but once he was fired there he went away and completely re-evaluated his system. The defense he put out on the field in Dallas was very different from that Seahawks Cover-3 template, showing he had learned to evolve and grow as a coach. It’s easy to see then that Johnson fits in philosophically with Quinn in that regard. 

He also talks about how he likes to go and ask and talk to other coaches and share ideas to help growth. Johnson uses the quote “Good ideas know no rank” which is one Kliff Kingsbury said in a recent press conference during OTAs. The idea meaning a good idea can be a good idea, it doesn’t have to come from the top. Allowing everyone to be involved in a collaborative process where the coaches and even players have input can help find the best ideas to help the team be successful.

Everyday drills

Johnson has a checklist of everyday drills that he runs through with his offensive lineman each day before practice. These aren’t full practice drills with contact, they’re more drills to get the players ready for practice. Johnson explains time with the players on the field is extremely limited, so he has his lineman do these drills every day before team stretch to get them warmed up, particularly in the lower half. He’s focusing on hip, knee and ankle flexion, using a series of drills to help get each part of the lower body activated and ready for practice. But while they are warm up drills, they do still have application to positional movement. 

The first drill is called dots. Simply put, the coach lines up a set of small cones on the ground and have the players run through the cones sideways, getting their first foot in between each cone while their trailing leg comes up and over like there’s a hurdle in the way. This is to get their hips loose and warmed up. Johnson then moves the drill into a duck walk, where the players bend down and try to walk like a duck. The idea here is to get the lineman used to getting low, bending at the knee and ankle. He has them walk forward about five yards and then reverse backwards for five yards. The backwards part of the drill exposes who can really bend at the ankle and who is a bit more stiff. 

From the duck walk, Johnson has his players transition into somewhat of a walking lunge. Again the idea is to get guys to bend, activate the hip flexor and stay low. Instead of a traditional lunge, Johnson has the players deliberately drag their knee and toe to exaggerate the movement and get everything loose. Johnson then moves onto the sleds or what he calls the “king krab sleds”. These aren’t big sleds you traditionally see offensive lineman working against, these are much smaller, lower and lighter sleds where the emphasis is again on getting the lineman to bend at the hip, knee and ankle, keep their back flat and stay low. This sequence starts with walking for 10 steps, then transitions into running, where the technique remains the same but instead of walking 10 steps, the lineman move their feet quicker and try to run it. Johnson runs with them to show them what speed they should be able to get to. 

The next step with the sleds is what Johnson calls a “two-step pop”. This is to start getting into the base drive block techniques. He has tape on the bars of the sled to show where he wants the lineman to be placing their hands, which is low and inside. He wants the elbows tucked in and he wants the pad level to stay low out of the stance. He also wants them to focus on their footwork. Johnson stresses he wants his lineman to be aggressive with their footwork, always coming forward and gaining ground.

After the two-step pop, Johnson moves onto some pulling drills, which he calls “board pulls”. He explains how his Bills team had a great deal of success pulling and stressed the importance of this drill. They practice both “G Pulls” and “O Pulls”. G pulls are his term for lineman on the front side of the play pulling to the front side, for example a guard or tackle pulling to the edge on a crack toss scheme. O pulls is his term for lineman on the back side pulling to the front side, like a guard does on a basic power or counter scheme.