The Detroit Lions have been very fortunate to hold on to offensive coordinator Ben Johnson in recent years, as the Lions coach has been one of the hottest head-coach candidates in that span.
But that luck figures to run out in 2025, as Johnson is expected to be hired for a head coach gig this time around. As of right now, his three options are the Jacksonville Jaguars, Chicago Bears and Las Vegas Raiders.
While the Jaguars and Bears already have a quarterback in place, the Raiders do not, which led one Raiders insider to float the idea of Las Vegas trading for Lions quarterback Hendon Hooker if they hire Johnson.
“Ben Johnson is clearly the [Raiders] No. 1 target [so] what would you trade for a Hendon Hooker?” Hondo Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
“He’s got a couple years experience in the Ben Johnson system, so he comes in… and competes and you could still go draft a guy. You still have Aidan [O’Connell] there, so he instantly competes.”
This would certainly make sense for the Raiders, as acquiring Hooker would give some much-needed hope at quarterback. As Carpenter points out, Hooker can, at the very least, provide some competition for O’Connell and a rookie if the Las Vegas drafts a young signal-caller in the 2025 NFL Draft.
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Las Vegas also has Gardner Minshew under contract for 2025, but he can easily be cut without much penalty.
Drafted in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft, Hooker has yet to play any meaningful snaps in a regular-season game thanks to the presence of veteran quarterback Jared Goff.
And, barring injury, Hooker has no path to a starting job with Goff under contract through 2028. You would have to assume that Hooker would be open to a trade, and if that is the case, we could totally envision the Lions doing right by their backup quarterback, who will have two more years left on his rookie deal.
Johnson initially wasn’t going to take an interview with the Raiders, but after Las Vegas minority owner Tom Brady reached out to Johnson through back channels, he was able to convince the Lions coach to take the meeting.
And, since then, momentum has been building for the Raiders to hire Johnson, so his landing in Las Vegas appears to be a very real possibility. And, we would agree that there is at least a chance the Raiders will have interest in Hooker should they land the biggest fish in the pond at head coach.
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