Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson made waves on Tuesday when he informed the Commanders and Seahawks that he would be withdrawing himself from both teams head coaching searches. Suddenly there seems to be a concerted effort to make it seem like Johnson was never a guy any team was interested in and maybe some of the leagues biggest media guys are being used as a microphone to hurt Johnson’s future.
Let’s take a real look at the timeline of events. On January 12th the Commanders hired Adam Peters to be their new general manager and then Jeremy Fowler of ESPN put out this tweet.
Ok, that’s interesting. The reason that it’s interesting is that if the price spooked teams and he was not the lock that people presumed he would be, then why are the Commanders on the plane to come talk to him? They didn’t have to fly out to Detroit. They didn’t fly to Dallas to interview Dan Quinn on Tuesday. They just did that in DC. The Commanders did in person interviews with new Seahawks head coach Mike MacDonald and Texans OC Bobby Slowik and the Commanders didn’t reportedly fly out for either. Both appeared to be flown into DC.
So why are they flying to meet the guy that was too expensive and someone they weren’t as interested in as everyone said the were? It gets more hairy from here.
On Wednesday, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reported that Johnson did not knock his interview with Washington out of the park. It begs the question again of why the Commanders flew out to meet with Johnson? On January 29th he was the hottest head coaching candidate in the cycle and on January 31st he became a guy who doesn’t interview well, wants too much money and isn’t a lock for anything.
There’s a feeling to this like when you like a girl and you shoot your shot with her and she says no and then you tell everyone that you never actually liked her in the first place. It’s a saving face type thing.
I get partially why something like this could happen. If I were the Commanders and I was in route to meet Ben Johnson and Johnson opted out while I was on the way, I’d be both mad and embarrassed. I might want to say some things myself.
Now, with all that said, this all could be a reality. Johnson just might not be that great at interviewing. But he received second interview requests from three of the five teams that interviewed him. That seems like he might be saying something that teams like.
Maybe Johnson was never the Commanders top choice. But Then I’d have to wonder out loud why they haven’t hired anyone yet when everyone else has. Why haven’t the Commanders, who have interviewed eight candidates, not made a move yet? It might because the guy they wanted all along doesn’t want them back.