In his second stint with the Saints, Curtis Johnson enters his eleventh season on the New Orleans staff. Possessing more than 35 years of coaching experience at the collegiate and professional levels, the New Orleans native has had the opportunity to coach some of the game's top receivers, including Marques Colston, Devery Henderson, Ted Ginn Jr., Joe Horn, Alshon Jeffery, Andre Johnson, Robert Meachem, Lance Moore, Santana Moss, Michael Thomas and Reggie Wayne.
Johnson possesses 37 years of coaching experience, including four as head coach at Tulane University and 33 seasons in all as an assistant coach in the NFL, college and high school.
With Johnson on staff, the Saints have produced a 1,000-yard wide receiver in eight of his ten seasons on the New Orleans sideline, easily the most impressive results in franchise history. During that tenure, he has been a part of eight playoff teams, seven division titles and one Super Bowl championship.
In 2020, Johnson helped guide Emmanuel Sanders to 61 catches, 726 receiving yards and five TDs in only 14 contests. Thomas was limited by injury to just seven games, but he still managed 40 catches for 438 yards with a club-best two 100-yard performances. While fighting injuries, Tre'Quan Smith battled through injuries to have a career-high 34 receptions for a career-best 438 yards and four touchdowns in the regular season and he added a pair of scoring grabs in the NFC Divisional Playoff against Tampa Bay
In 2019, Johnson helped Thomas shatter the NFL's receptions record and club receiving yardage records as he posted 149 receptions for 1,725 yards and nine TDs and was selected as the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year. Overall, the past four seasons under Johnson's tutelage since he returned to the Saints, Thomas has posted 418 receptions for 4,813 yards and 23 touchdowns to rank second the league in catches and fourth in receiving yardage. Twice, he has been selected as an Associated Press first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl starter after being voted to the league's all-star game for the first time in 2017.
In 2016, Johnson instructed a Chicago Bears wide receiving corps that was hampered by injuries for much of the season, with Jeffery still accumulating 821 receiving yards on 52 receptions (15.8 avg.) despite playing in just 12 games. Cameron Meredith became the first undrafted player to lead the Bears in receiving since 1993, finishing with 66 catches for a club-best 888 yards and four TDs.
During Johnson's first six-year stint with the Saints he helped the wide receivers become part of a passing offense that led the NFL in gross passing yards (28,749), completion percentage (67.6) and passing touchdowns (202). The Saints had 42 100-yard receiving performances by wideouts during those six seasons, when Johnson oversaw the development of the quartet of Colston, Henderson, Meachem and Moore.
A seventh round selection (252nd overall) of the Saints in the 2006 NFL Draft out of Hofstra, Colston made an immediate impact as a rookie by recording 70 receptions for 1,038 yards (14.8 avg.) with eight TDs, leading the club in receiving yardage and scoring grabs. During Johnson's first Saints tenure from 2006-11, Colston ranked eighth in the NFL in receiving yards (6,240), ninth in receptions (449) and seventh in receiving touchdowns (48), while compiling five of his six career 1,000-yard receiving seasons. Colston's 98 receptions in 2007, what was a franchise mark and his 11 touchdowns that season tied a team record (now tied for second). In 2009, when New Orleans captured Super Bowl XLIV, Colston led the team with 70 grabs for 1,074 yards and tied for the team lead with nine touchdowns. After recording only three grabs in his first two seasons from 2004-05, Henderson caught 201 passes for 3,718 yards with 16 TDs in his next six campaigns under Johnson's tutelage, with his 18.5 yards per catch average ranked second in the NFL over that period. A first round draft pick of the club in 2007, Meachem evolved into another deep threat during Johnson's tenure, recording 141 receptions for 2,269 yards (16.1 avg.) with 23 TDs from 2008-11. Originally signed by New Orleans in 2005 after coming into the league earlier that season as an undrafted free agent, Moore finally cracked the Saints active roster and wide receiver rotation for good in 2007 and in the next five seasons made 243 grabs for 1,173 yards with 30 TDs.
At the University of Miami, Johnson was part of a staff that went to nine bowl games and won the 2001 National Championship. He polished the skills of at least one All-Big East performer each season from 1996-2005, including Johnson – the third overall pick by Houston in 2003 – and Moss, who became the Hurricanes' all-time leader in receiving yardage before making the Pro Bowl for Washington. Wayne departed ranked first in school history in catches and was selected to six Pro Bowls over his 14-year NFL career with the Indianapolis Colts.
In his five-year stint at San Diego State (1989-93), Johnson landed some of the school's biggest recruits, including 2000 NFL MVP, Pro Football Hall of Fame member and fellow New Orleans native Marshall Faulk as well as WR Darnay Scott, who completed his eight-year NFL career with 408 grabs and 37 touchdowns. Each year Johnson was with the Aztecs, the school had an all-conference performer at wide receiver.
Johnson began his coaching career as wide receivers coach at Lewiston (Idaho) High School from 1984-87 before holding similar positions at the University of Idaho (1987-88) and San Diego State (1989-93). His next stop was at Southern Methodist in 1994 before spending 1995 at California.
Johnson attended Idaho and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Physical Education in 1985. Johnson's father, the late Curtis T. Johnson Sr., was a former Negro League baseball player with the Kansas City Monarchs as well as playing in the New York Yankees organization, who became the first black man to be elected to the St. Charles Parish Police Jury in 1977 and then became the first black man elected to the parish council in 1988.
PLAYING CAREER: Idaho, 1980-83.
COACHING CAREER: Lewiston (Idaho) High School, 1984-87; Idaho, 1987-88; San Diego State, 1989-93; SMU, 1994; California, 1995; Miami (Fla.), 1996-2005; New Orleans Saints, 2006-11; Tulane (Head Coach), 2012-15; Chicago Bears, 2016; New Orleans Saints, 2017-.
