Dan Orlovsky drops emoji reaction to potentially becoming Lions OC after Ben Johnson's exit

Dan Orlovsky is considered one of the best TV analysts in football today, well-known for his clear-cut opinions on the latest football news when appearing in talk shows and comprehensive breakdowns of plays when covering games. But he has also been touted as a potiential coaching candidate in the past, and he might fancy a return to where his NFL career began.

On Tuesday, Booner, a co-host of the Crunch Time podcast, put forward the current ESPN employee as a dream candidate to be the new offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions, who lost Ben Johnson when he was officially named the head coach of the Chicago Bears.

The former quarterback reacted with a symbol that expressed gratitude for the vote of confidence.

Of course, Orlovsky has extensive history with the Lions. A fifth-round pick for the franchise in the 2005 Draft out of UConn, he most notably played with current head coach Dan Campbell for three seasons, including their notorious 0-16 in 2008 (he started a team-high seven games).

---

A history of Dan Orlovsky' flirtations with becoming an NFL coach

This, however, is not Dan Orlovsky's first time entertaining the idea of coaching in the NFL.

Last week, a fan asked him if he was interested in joining the Green Bay Packers, who have lost erstwhile-quarterbacks coach Tom Clements to retirement. He replied:

He is also familiar with the team's head coach Matt LaFleur, having played under him at the Houston Texans in 2009 and at the Los Angeles Rams in 2017.

The following day, he shared his thoughts on coaching in Pat McAfee's eponymous show:

“Is there any truth to it? I have had conversations with places — I feel like this happens almost every year,. I’m very flattered by it... If it’s the right place, right time, right people — it seems to be a really, really fun experience... There’s a lot of appeal to it.”

But the flirtations go way earlier than that. Twice, Adam Schefter has reported that multiple teams wanted Orlovsky in their coaching staff - in 2020 and 2023. And around twelve months ago, when appearing on Dan Patrick's eponymous show, Orlovsky himself revealed that multiple teams had approached him during the coaching cycle.