After Ben Johnson elected to stay in Detroit as its offensive coordinator, despite being closely linked to the Commanders, a rumor emerged that his asking price was spooking teams.
Mike Florio has his questions about said rumor.
It was ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter, one of the most plugged in reporters in the league, who said Johnson “was not the head-coaching lock that people thought and his asking price spooked some teams, per sources.”
Johnson has never been a head coach before, and despite being one of the hotter coaching candidates, getting stamped with the label of expensive is one way to lose some interview opportunities.
Schefter’s report lacked any further context, such as a rough figure of what Johnson’s camp wanted. Head coach salaries can vary from the neighborhood of $5 million to $20 million a year, so where Johnson wanted to fall in that range matters in a report about his ask putting teams off.
Because the report was devoid of further detail, ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio took aim at Schefter on Wednesday during an appearance on Bernstein & Holmes.
“Last year when (Johnson) pulled his name out the thought was he knew he wasn’t getting any of the jobs, so let’s make it look like I’m the one stepping aside,” Florio said. “This year, it’s a little more confusing. And I’m fascinated by the ability – and I want to preface this by saying there was once a time Adam Schefter and I are friends, we currently aren’t – I’m just amazed that he can get away with stuff that others can’t get away with. And I’m not saying he’s going to get away with this, I’m pointing it out currently.
“Throwing out there the idea that Ben Johnson’s asking price spooked teams with no further information, with no further context, with no opportunity for Johnson or his agent to respond to this suggestion, seems irresponsible to me. And I would get dragged if I did it.
“But you put this out there to 10.7 million followers on X, and it’s treated as gospel. Ben Johnson is unreasonable, Ben Johnson is unrealistic, Ben Johnson is too big for his britches – I want to know more about this. What was the number? Is it reasonable to be spooked by the amount Ben Johnson supposedly wanted – is it 10, is it 15, is it 20 million? I don’t know.
“And is it true, or is it just face-saving by the Commanders, who had been linked so closely to Ben Johnson. … That one tweet has a lot of curiosity that it sparks, and I feel like it’s not something that you put out there without more – and at a minimum, without giving Johnson a chance to refute it, explain it, comment on it, confirm it, whatever.”
Interestingly, Schefter’s follow up tweets on Johnson in a way almost undercut the notion that money would sink negotiations. Schefter said that while Johnson was not a lock, Commanders officials were en route to meet with him and were “surprised” when the OC pulled out. Further, his contract was not adjusted to stay in Detroit, Schefter said, suggesting that his motivation was loyalty, not money.