WHEN 40-YEAR-OLD Andy Reid tabbed 58-year-old Jim Johnson to be his first defensive coordinator in 1999, the move seemed fraught with risk. Johnson had already been around the block a few times, had been a head coach for several colleges, and had been an NFL assistant in a few places as well.
There was a fear, very real at the time, that Johnson's résumé alone could intimidate the young head coach, or undermine him. Who would win if the older, more experienced man became insistent? Would the players on each side of the ball split their loyalties, as those Eagles teams under first-time head coach Rich Kotite had only a few years before?