Roughriders' Micah Johnson retires, becomes D-line coach

Micah Johnson is going from the front line to the sideline.

After 13 CFL seasons including five with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the 37-year-old defensive tackle has announced his retirement. However, he won’t be going far as the Roughriders have hired him as the club’s defensive line coach.

“When I left the field last, I didn’t have the intention that it was going to be my last time playing,” said Johnson, who was last on the field when he hoisted the Grey Cup on Nov. 16 in Winnipeg. “For me, it was just the opportunity.

“You keep playing and you’re seeing guys your age coaching with you … seeing guys your age kind of move on, I was starting to get that feeling like I was getting behind in my next phase in my life by still hanging on to the football. So that was a heavy factor for me.

“Coaching has always been something I’ve been thinking about and I think that transition is something that football players, especially a player that’s played for as long as I have, it’s not something you fear, but it’s kind of something that’s like, ‘Man, I’m (going to) have to stop playing one day, what’s that transition going to be like?’ So for me, I was just blessed to be able to have a smooth transition like this into the next phase of my career.”

Breaking into the league with the Calgary Stampeders in 2013, Johnson went on to play 178 regular season games in his career where he racked up 309 tackles and 71 sacks. Over his career, which included stints in Calgary, Saskatchewan and Hamilton, Johnson was named a CFL all-star five times and a divisional all-star seven times. Last season, he became the first 37-year-old defensive player to receive league all-star honours according to the Roughriders.

On top of that, Johnson — who is replacing Phillip Daniels on Saskatchewan’s coaching staff — played in 16 career playoff games and won three Grey Cup championships, having celebrated titles with the Stampeders in 2014 and 2018 and most recently with the Roughriders in 2025.

Prior to coming to the CFL, Johnson played college football for the University of Kentucky Wildcats before signing with the NFL’s New York Giants in 2010. Later that year, he joined the Miami Dolphins where he made his NFL debut. He went on to have stints with the Kansas City Chiefs, Cincinnati Bengals and Green Bay Packers for the next three years before signing with Calgary in 2013.

“It’s been a real wild ride when I think about it,” said Johnson. “Everything I’ve been through to get to this point, from college to how down I was getting cut from three or four NFL teams.

“Here I am thinking my football career is over. I hadn’t really heard much about the CFL at that point. My oldest son (sitting) right there, I just had him. We had to start making some money eventually; I couldn’t get cut anymore down there so I decided to come to Calgary, and it was one of the best decisions I made.

“Even my first few years having to battle through the injuries, I just think it kind of made me, prepared me for the man I am today, and I couldn’t have done it without the support for my family, my mom, my dad, rest in peace, my brothers, aunts, uncles; I just had enormous amount of support ever since I came up here to the CFL.”

Johnson gave a special shoutout to his late father who pushed him to first come to Canada.

“I wish I could talk to him in this moment,” said Johnson. “He was instrumental to me coming up to the CFL when I was down on myself in the dumps.

“I thought my career was over. He was the one that told me really to go jump off the ship. And he said, ‘The CFL has a hall of fame too. Go get in that one.’ When he told me that, I kind of took that to heart, and that stuck with me for a while, as I was just kind of trying to grind this thing out.”

After six years in Calgary, where he turned into one of the most disruptive interior defensive linemen in the league, Johnson signed with the Riders in free agency in 2019. Following the 2020 cancelled season, he returned to Saskatchewan in 2021 before a stint in Hamilton in 2022.

In 2023, Johnson returned to the Green and White where helped turn Saskatchewan’s defensive line into one of the CFL’s top front four. Johnson also took on emergency offensive lineman duties in 2024 while seeing time on Saskatchewan’s short-yardage package last season in a year where he had 20 tackles and six sacks in 17 games.

“I really haven’t fully taken in the career,” he said. “While you’re in it, you have to stay in it. You can’t look at everything, like all your accolades as much, because you’re just in the fight.

“I’ve never been satisfied … That’s one of the reasons why I was able to keep playing because it was always like I want to do more; I want to be better, I could be better, I can be more, I can accomplish more.

“So for me, I hope over the next several months … I’ll be able to just kind of sit back and appreciate more of what I did.”

As he transitions immediately from player to coach, Johnson will be able to rely on advice from former teammate and current Roughriders head coach Corey Mace, who did the same thing when he retired from playing with the Calgary Stampeders in 2015 before becoming the team’s defensive line coach.

“There is a line that you kind of have to draw in the sand,” said Mace. “And just having those guys understand that he’s got a job to do.

“But I think just having those relationships and those guys having the respect for understanding that, I don’t think will be any issue.

“He’s mature. He understands and I think the guys would respect, and will respect, his position as a coach. But at the end of it, we’re having a guy who’s chosen to make Regina his home. He’s chosen to represent this team, and he’s done it at a high level and he’ll be able to continue to do that, and that’s huge value for us.

“There’s a lot of knowledge in there. And he’s excellent with his teammates. I think he garners a lot of respect in that locker room; certainly in the defensive line room, I know he was an ear for guys to always fall on.

“The energy, the passion, everything that he’s learned along his journey, invaluable stuff to be able to give to our players. We’re lucky to have him.”

As a veteran on the defensive line, Johnson had already been passing along knowledge and techniques to the guys he was playing beside over the last few seasons. Now that will become his full-time job.

“I don’t think it will be that hard drawing the line,” he said. “I think the guys that are here, that know me, they know me.

“I was always a guy that guys could talk to. I was constantly teaching, constantly grabbing the younger guys, showing them things, teaching them things.

“Playing that position is a vet in the room, you kind of got to be a coach. It’s one of the perks of being a vet I felt like was having an extra coach on the field.

“From that aspect, I think it’ll be seamless for me. I’m excited to be able to get my hands on guys more and be able to talk more football and talk guys through more situations.”

Along with reflecting on his career while making the transition to coaching, Johnson will continue to serve as a player ambassador for the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation as he is involved with the Win with Wellness and Rider Reading programs, visiting schools across the province during the off-season.

“It’s still kind of hard for me to believe it’s over,” said Johnson, who moved to Regina full-time in 2023 with his wife and kids. “It’s just kind of crazy. I’ve identified as a football player my whole life. Even now, like the competitor in me is almost like, ‘Man, what you doing? You can still go ball.’

“But for me, it’s just about making a transition. I feel like it doesn’t come often or every time, where a guy can go straight from playing to coaching. I’ve known I’ve wanted to coach for some years now. There’s been conversations I’ve had with Mace for years, even before he even came here.

“So to get this opportunity is amazing and I don’t take it for granted.”

tshire@postmedia.com

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