The Las Vegas Raiders coaching search is heating up, as the franchise will continue interviewing a multitude of candidates before making their final decision. The Raiders fired Antonio Pierce as head coach on Jan.7 and also moved on from general manager Tom Telesco on Jan.9, meaning there will be new leadership in Las Vegas moving forward.
The Raiders have interviewed multiple high-level head coaching candidates, but it’s clear Detroit Lions’ offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is the person the franchise wants to hire. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Las Vegas is “enamored” with Johnson, and he’s emerged as a name to watch as the search continues.
The Raiders have quickly become a strong contender to land Johnson as their next head coach, which is shocking because the Chicago Bears were the initial favorite to hire the Lions’ offensive coordinator. Chicago was expected to be the team to beat when it came to landing Johnson, but the franchise hasn’t been connected to the South Carolina native much over the last few weeks.
Though the Bears aren’t out of the Johnson sweepstakes, NFL radio host Dan Patrick revealed why Detroit’s top coordinator may not want to take Chicago’s head coaching job.
“I was told last night that [for] Ben Johnson, the Raiders make more sense because he doesn’t want to go against the Lions and Dan Campbell being in the same conference,” Patrick said on his show on Tuesday. “Whether that is true or not, I think also the allure of Tom Brady [was a factor], and Brady is making decisions with the Raiders. It feels like he is making the decisions with the Raiders.”
We already know that Raiders minority owner Tom Brady has had a heavy influence on the team’s head coaching search and pursuit of Johnson, but Patrick’s reasoning for Johnson avoiding the Bears’ head coaching vacancy is intriguing.
It’s clear that Dan Campbell and Johnson have a close relationship, as the pair have worked together for four years and have been integral parts of Detroit’s success. Johnson took over as Detroit’s offensive coordinator in 2022 but served as the team’s tight ends coach during Campbell’s first year as head coach in 2021.
Johnson’s respect for the Lions organization and Campbell may steer him away from Chicago’s head coaching role, but another factor could be that he doesn’t want to go up against a formidable Detroit team twice a year. If Patrick’s report is true, this is fantastic news for the Raiders and their chase to land Johnson as the franchise’s next head coach.
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