The Ben Johnson news didn’t become official until early Tuesday afternoon, but this nugget was interesting well before that: apparently, Ravens DC Mike MacDonald, who interviewed with the Commanders on Monday, has been impressing teams in interviews, and possibly moving up boards.
Now that Johnson is out, perhaps MacDonald becomes the next target for either the Commanders or Seattle, because, as JP noted, ‘nothing has been stopping the Seahawks from hiring Dan Quinn for a while now,’ so even if they were waiting to try for Johnson or Aaron Glenn or a Baltimore assistant, they now have had that chance, too.
Ian Rapoport said on NFL Network that MacDonald ‘sounds like he has been really dynamic in some of these interviews, with one person saying it was the best interview we had by far, and he was described as the defensive Sean McVay – and the fact that Seattle was willing to wait until after the Super Bowl to talk to him gives me Shane Steichen vibes, that makes me think he is a really, really strong candidate in Seattle.’
JP Finlay was taken back by the Steichen comment, and while the comments about MacDonald could be anyone (including the Commanders), it could also include Seattle – a team that has a defensive mindset and is a young-ish team on the cusp already as opposed to a rebuild.
“I think people are setting up a situation where everybody thought it was Dan Quinn because he used to coach there, but that might not mean nearly as much,” JP said. “I just think we got to kind of have the right idea here, and that adds up to me.”
As this was discussed prior to the Johnson news, with the thinking Johnson was coming to DC, do one or both teams with vacancies now have to pivot?
“It’s possible, but again, I’m ready for whoever they get to let me know the game plan, and then I'm gonna start watching them put those bricks in place,” BMitch said.
Landfill agreed before Johnson pulled out that Quinn didn’t look like the hire in either opening, but now, who knows – although, “if the Commanders don't hire somebody from the Lions or the Ravens, I'll be annoyed that it took them this long, because they could have gotten it done already.”
That fits for Quinn, too, but BMitch once again stressed the importance of due diligence – and you can listen to how it all shook out above!
