When prospective Bengals linebackers coach Mike Hodges sat down for his interview, the up-tempo NFL vet didn't wait around for head coach Zac Taylor to ask for his thoughts on personnel.
Instead, Hodges did what he's been doing the last eight seasons in his Saints' estimable linebackers room. He unveiled a detailed plan of attack for Bengals' play-caller Logan Wilson in a report that he could have produced for captain Demario Davis and his other linebackers in New Orleans.
"Logan is going to know what I think he does well. Logan is going to know what I think he needs to improve on, and Logan is going to know I'm going to do whatever I can to extend his career," Hodges reflected Monday.
That preparation no doubt convinced then-Saints head coach Sean Payton, known to have a keen eye for hiring coaches (Dan Campbell, Dennis Allen), to hire Hodges as a defensive assistant in 2017.
The preparation also probably failed to surprise Taylor and shows why the all-out and all-in Hodges is no longer the prospective linebackers coach and is the new linebackers coach in a Texas A&M reunion.
Hodges, 38, played an energetic linebacker for the Aggies during Taylor's stint as a graduate assistant and tight ends coach in College Station, and he transferred that energy into his coaching career.
"I always wanted to work with him," Hodges said. "I wasn't sure if I'd get a chance to work for him, but here we are."
He's also re-united with "my closest friend in the business," in Bengals head strength and conditioning coach Joey Boese. They, too, met at A&M as Hodges rose from walk-on to captain. He was also an NFL candidate, Boese says. "A really good player."
But then Hodges tore his ACL in the life-changing last game of his career against LSU in the Cotton Bowl and ended up helping out Boese in the weight room while he was rehabbing and getting his master's. When Boese got the head job at Fresno, he brought Hodges along to help him set up the room, and by the next fall he was the graduate assistant with the linebackers.
"One of those football guys. He's got an energy and presence about him. Guys will gravitate to him," Boese says. "Extremely hard-working. He's got a certain toughness as a player. He's really detailed as a coach, a teacher. He'll help our linebackers a lot."
One of those linebackers texted him Monday morning when word filtered out of Paycor Stadium that Hodges was indeed joining the club. Joe Bachie began his career as a 2020 undrafted free agent for Hodges in New Orleans and spent most of that season on the Saints practice squad before the Eagles plucked him and he ended up here backing up Wilson and Germaine Pratt.
"(Bachie) was with us for one season before you guys picked him up, but that relationship was strong and held on. That's important to me. Once you establish that, the ability to maximize the player opens wide up," Hodges said.
"The coaches I admire the most are the coaches that connect with the players. That's where outside of scheme, outside of technique, outside of fundamentals, I want to make sure that guys like me and Logan Wilson have a good relationship."
Hodges is known for not only developing relationships with players, but helping them get to the next level on the field. Kaden Elliss, a seventh-rounder under Hodges, and Alex Anzalone, a third-rounder, got second deals elsewhere. Zack Baun, another third-rounder, went to the Pro Bowl this season with the NFC champion Eagles.
Although the Saints have been chastised about giving Baun only limited playing time, Hodges still has such a good relationship with Baun that they talked after the Saints finished their season.
"He gained such a level of confidence with the repetition and opportunity that opened up there," Hodges said. "He's such a talented, smart player. He's seized the moment there, and he's been incredibly grateful and complimentary to me. I couldn't be happier. He's one of the good guys. When I see him succeed, my wife and I smile ear-to-ear because we know we had a small piece of him and his wife Allie, and their son. Just being a part of that has been fun to follow."
If Hodges has the well-earned rep of development and connecting, he knows exactly what he wants the Bengals linebackers to look like. First of all, he wants it to look like there are 12 guys out there.
"I hope there's a brand you see when we turn on the tape," Hodges says. "There are three things they're going to see. Execution, violence, and energy. Those three things, along with detail, are incredibly important."
After years in Ja’Marr Chase’s town, he's ready for a new start on Ja'Marr Chase's team.
"I'm excited about being under the leadership of Zac and Al Golden," Hodges said. "I've been in the same system for eight years and I know it really well. I'm excited to learn something new, not only philosophically from top to bottom, but also schematically."
That Logan Wilson report for Taylor?
"He never asked for it," Hodges said. "But bet your butt, I was ready for it."
