Ben Johnson will NOT be coming to DC, telling teams he’s staying in Detroit, and that means RIP Ben Johnson Alert – such a tragic loss that Grant Paulsen got a taste of the Titanic theme song from the guys behind the glass as G&D started Tuesday’s show and GP gave a tearful soliloquy on ‘a terrible day.’
“The dream is dead, and what could’ve been will never be,” a fake happy GP started. “There are some words that come to mind: devastated, crestfallen, apoplectic, outraged, livid – we’ll leave it there. But it’s okay; there are other options, and two of the five of them won’t make me upset, so a 40 percent chance we’ll get a coach I won’t have to learn to like – but it’s a shame.
Sometimes you get what you want, sometimes you get kicked in the ribs, and today we got kicked in the ribs.”
Okay, Grant’s sadness aside and all of the for-show shenanigans out of the way – what went wrong?
“Do we think Ben pulled out because the Commanders were not going to hire him? It’s a possibility,” GP said. “Is it possible that the allure of Dan Campbell and Jared Goff was too great? Yes. But also, Adam Schefter reported that Johnson’s contract demands spooked teams, so maybe contract was a factor, and he wanted more than they felt he was worth, basically saying ‘dude, you’re an OC, and a good one, but we’re not paying you that.’”
“I think he demanded way too much money and kept saying he’d stay in Detroit, and everyone called his bluff, and it got untenable, and he’s staying because his outrageous demands weren’t met,” Danny replied. “And he told them while Washington was on the way to interview him – so I think he had outrageous demands, and Washington had all their eggs in one basket, and Johnson overplayed his hand.”
It’s still hard for GP to think Johnson wasn’t always the top candidate, and it wasn’t until Monday that he thought things might be going sideways – and yes, his thesis is that Johnson was the guy until proven otherwise, the early betting favorite, and it must’ve been the money that started the breakup.
“Many on the local beat had been putting it out there that this wasn’t Ben Johnson’s job, even as thy all expected him to get it,” Grant said. “The Commanders still did their due diligence, and maybe as thy started discussing money, it got off the rails a bit, and here we are.”
“Remember when Harper and Strasburg were drafted and it was the old system for signing, and it had to be dragged out?” Danny replied. “I think it started that way, but then he didn’t budge, and his demands were too outrageous, which is always why they had to do more than met the eye there with interviews. I think what we thought was inevitable stopped being that when he never came off his demands. I understand he’s the latest hot candidate, but I’m thinking that’s exactly how it all went down.”
But all that said, is it indeed simply possible that the result of the Lions’ loss in the NFC Championship Game gave Johnson pause to want to stick around, thinking Detroit could be on the cusp?
“I guess that's possible, but that level of loyalty is unprecedented if that's true, so call me a cynic – there might be some of that, but I don't think that's what this is,” GP said. “It’s possible he could be the most loyal, decent right-hand man of all time to Dan Campbell, and he saw what happened to Mike Vrabel after Arthur Smith left and what happened to Dan Quinn after Kyle Shanahan left, so he didn’t want to abandon Campbell. Sometimes everything can cave in, so maybe he's just the most loyal lieutenant of all time.”
Danny, however, is perplexed at how the pieces have all fit so far, and wonders if Washington might’ve, could’ve, or should’ve done more to not be behind the eight ball?
“I understand the feeling from Johnson's camp to a degree that this is a leverage play. He was the No. 1head coaching candidate this cycle and maybe a lot of teams felt like they couldn't get him in reading the tea leaves, because there was a consensus among folks looking at this thing that Washington seemed inevitable,” Danny said. “There was this ‘we can’t wait around’ thing because they might miss out on their second or third choice, so you saw how fast everything moved. Everyone else waiting for it, I think, felt like they had a legitimate shot at getting him, and then he pulled the plug – and now, you think Washington might have liked to consider Jim Harbaugh a little stronger, or kicked the tires on Dave Canales or Brian Callahan or Shane Waldron. The carousel is almost all stopped, and staffs are now being assembled, with guys that have been hired grabbing coaches to be their coordinators and vets are coordinators and position coaches are moving up to different organizations. Guys are putting staffs together and now Washington is left behind the eight ball because of his late decision. You could still end up with a great head coach, but the way that this went down is not good.”