Should Report on Ben Johnson Give Pause to the Raiders on Their No. 1 HC Candidate?

The Raiders appear to be focusing their head coaching search on Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, and that has been a welcomed development for most of the fan base.

Johnson reportedly had an impressive interview with the Raiders on Friday and most believe he is the front runner to get the job in Las Vegas.

Because of the Lions playoff situation, there isn’t a clear timeline for Johnson and the Raiders to potentially work something out, and until a deal is done, anything can happen. In the meantime, there will be a lot of conversation around Johnson, and a Washington insider shared a story this week that should at least pique the interest of Raider fans.

According to Commanders insider Lake Lewis Jr., the story of Johnson turning down the Commanders’ job a year ago hasn’t been told with all the details.

“I don’t know if it’s been talked about publicly but the story that I got with what happened was they were en route. Adam Peters and them were en route to Detroit for the interview in conversation with Ben Johnson. It was brought up that Ben Johnson still wanted Sam Howell. That’s who he wanted to be his quarterback for his offense. And you know, there’s Carolina connections, all that stuff,” Lewis said on Rambling with Rio Johnson podcast.

“And Adam Peters was like, ‘No,’ because they know who they’re going to draft, and we all knew who they were going to draft, and he didn’t want [Daniels]… So what I’m saying is kudos to Adam Peters for holding his guns and saying, ‘No, we know who we’re drafting, and that’s who you’re going to have to build with.’ And that’s the story that I got. It was Adam Peters just said turn that plane around.”

Like any report, take this one with a grain of salt.

Hometown reporters tend to get team-friendly accounts of stories like these, and a much different version of the story was passed around the internet a year ago.

After Johnson pulled his name from the list of candidates in Washington, there was also a report that he didn’t interview particularly well with the Commanders.

So there was clearly a measure of saving face on the Commanders side of the situation a year ago.

Sources: The Commanders met with Dan Quinn in the Washington area this morning. They boarded a flight for Detroit after, with Aaron Glenn up first this afternoon followed by Ben Johnson. Commanders were informed while in the air Johnson was pulling his name out of the running.

— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) January 30, 2024

There have been a lot of things said about Johnson in this year’s hiring process but never has anyone hinted that he didn’t interview well. In fact, it sounds like Johnson’s preparation for the Raiders interview is what set him apart from the competition in this year’s hiring cycle.

It was initially reported that the Raiders were looking for a veteran head coach to dig the organization out of the mess they’ve been in since Jon Gruden’s final year with the team. Whatever happened in Johnson’s interview was evidently enough to push the 38-year-old ahead of candidates with more experience – and a couple that showed up with Super Bowls on their resume.