Micah Johnson could have written several more compelling chapters as a player, but he opted for a storybook ending.
At 37, he is retiring as a third-time Grey Cup champion and a fifth-time All-CFL selection, while remaining integrally involved in the game of football as the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ newly appointed Defensive Line Coach.
The coaching opportunity arose in the weeks that followed the Roughriders’ 25-17 Grey Cup victory over the Montreal Alouettes.
His final tackle, fittingly enough, was for a loss.
“The crazy thing about it is that when I left the field, I didn’t have the intention that it would be my last time playing,” Johnson said on Monday — 50 days after the fifth Grey Cup win in Roughriders history.
“For me, it was just the opportunity. I came to this decision quickly. You keep playing and you see guys your age starting to move on. I was starting to get that feeling that I was getting behind with the next phase of my life while still hanging on to (playing) football. That was a heavy factor me.”
So was the opportunity to remain in Saskatchewan — which has become his family’s year-round home — as a colleague of Head Coach Corey Mace.
Mace was well-established as a defensive tackle in Calgary when Johnson joined the Stampeders in 2013. The neighbouring defensive linemen became fast friends.
After the 2015 season, Mace made a seamless transition into the role of his team’s Defensive Line Coach. A decade later, it is Johnson’s turn.
“There’s a lot of knowledge in there, man, and he’s excellent with his teammates,” said Mace, whose son Micah is named in Johnson’s honour.
“I think he garners a lot of respect in that locker room. Certainly, in the defensive line room, he was an ear for guys to always fall back on.”
There is an accompanying parallel to Jeremy O’Day, who remained with the Roughriders in a football operations capacity after wrapping up a successful playing career.
Like Johnson, O’Day — now the Roughriders’ Vice-President of Football Operations and General Manager — was a divisional All-CFL selection in his final season as a player.
“He retires as one of the most respected interior defensive linemen of his era and, in my mind, he’s a future Hall of Famer,” O’Day said of someone who has earned divisional All-CFL honours seven times.
O’Day signed Johnson as a free agent after he was an All-CFL choice in 2016, 2017 and 2018. He has spent five of the past six seasons — including the last three — in Saskatchewan.
Following the 2023 campaign, the entire Johnson family spent the winter in Saskatchewan for the first time. Micah and Saqouya Johnson are the proud parents of three sons (JaCorian, Micah Jr. and Jaxson) and a daughter (Kaleia), all of whom were present at Mosaic Stadium for Monday’s media conference.
“Having to leave my family for six months at a time, I felt like I was missing too much time with my family,” Johnson said. “My kids are getting older and they’re not babies anymore.
“When I talked to my wife and talked to my family a couple of years ago about whether I was going to continue playing, I wanted them to move up here.
“I salute them for moving up. They were in Florida when they left, so it’s a little different.”
Especially on Monday, when the snow started falling shortly after the announcement.
“It’s huge to be a part of the province,” Johnson said. “Football means something to the people.
“I’ve always been one of the people where football meant everything to me, in and out — live, sleep and eat football. So to come to Saskatchewan and see how much football means to the fans, it meant something to me.”
Johnson leaves the field after playing football for well over half his life.
In addition to being a game-altering presence as a linebacker, the 6-foot-1 Johnson rushed for 2,543 yards and 46 touchdowns as a 260-pounder over his final two seasons at Fort Campbell.
Then came a tour of the NFL that included an active-roster spot with the Miami Dolphins in September of 2010.
“Getting cut from three or four NFL teams, I was thinking my career was over,” Johnson reflected. “We’d just had our oldest son (JaCorian) and we had to start making some money.
“Eventually, I couldn’t get cut anymore down there, so I decided to come to Calgary. It was one of the best decisions I’ve made. Even in my first few years, having to battle through the injuries, I think it prepared for becoming the man I am today.
“I couldn’t have done it without the support of my family … my mom … my dad, rest in peace … my brothers, aunts, uncles. I’ve just had an enormous amount of support ever since I came up here to the CFL.”
A key factor in the decision was Micah’s father, who spent 26 years in the United States Armed Forces while serving as a platoon leader, company commander, battalion commander and colonel.
Nathaniel Johnson Sr. was 61 when he passed away on Nov. 15, 2021.
“I wish I could talk to him in this moment,” a proud son said. “He was instrumental in me coming to the CFL when I was down on myself, down in the dumps.
“I thought my career was over. He was the one who told me to go jump off the ship. He said, ‘The CFL has a Hall of Fame, too, you know. Go get in that one.’
“When he told me that, I took that to heart. That stuck with me for a while as I was trying to grind this thing out.”
Facing Johnson became a grind for rival offensive linemen, who he routinely outplayed and outlasted.
He registered 309 defensive tackles and 71 sacks in 177 CFL regular-season games. The numbers, as impressive as they are, don’t reflect the advantageous matchups he created for teammates by fending off double teams.
And then there was the versatility.
In professional football, Johnson had never played anywhere except linebacker until journeying to Canada. He expected to be a defensive end with the Stampeders, only to be converted to tackle.
As a Roughrider, Johnson has moonlighted as an offensive lineman. He played right guard for 2½ quarters after injuries depleted the Roughriders’ offensive front during the 2024 Labour Day Classic. Additionally, he has provided extra muscle as a blocker in short-yardage situations.
Johnson helped to clear a path for short-yardage quarterback Tommy Stevens during his first of two one-yard touchdown runs in the 112th Grey Cup Game.
Most memorably, Johnson felled Alouettes tailback Stevie Scott III for a one-yard loss late in the first half at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg.
Johnson diagnosed a screen pass, ran down the ball-carrier, and forced Montreal to punt on third-and-11 from Saskatchewan’s 51-yard line.
It was the type of play one would expect from a linebacker or defensive back — not a 37-year-old defensive lineman. But Johnson remained on top of his game through the final one, which ended in triumph.
And now he, unlike many athletes, is retiring as a champion and on his own terms.
“I’m truly blessed to be able to go straight from playing to being able to coach — to still be around the game I love,” Johnson said, with the people he loves the most seated only a few feet away.
Johnson succeeds Phillip Daniels, who has joined the Ottawa REDBLACKS’ coaching staff after two seasons in Saskatchewan. An announcement regarding the Roughriders’ entire staff could be forthcoming by week’s end.