Ben Johnson’s Agent Admits Rumors around the Raiders Were a Leverage Move

Ben Johnson was crowned the front runner to get the Raiders head coaching job for over a week, and when he chose the Bears over the Raiders a week ago today, the decision came as a big surprise to more than a few.

Other than ESPN’s Adam Schefter, just about everyone was buying into the hype around Johnson and the Raiders.

Wherever the messaging was coming from, it was almost all pointing to Johnson and the Raiders, and according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, other candidates and agents even believed Johnson was headed to Las Vegas.

“The people who are associated with the Raiders job, I’m talking other candidates, I’m talking agents, people are the NFL, there does seem to be an acknowledgement that Ben Johnson is the leading candidate [in Las Vegas] and there a lot of people who, frankly, think he is getting it,” Rapoport reported four days after Johnson interviewed with the Raiders. “They are not done. They certainly have not done the requirements that would allow them to hire a coach and he’s not even able to be officially hired until after the season. But it does seem like that is the direction that it is headed.”

Obviously, something changed, or the information was never correct to begin with.

Now a week after Johnson announced his decision to go to the Bears, his agent is speaking on the matter.

According to Rick Smith, who appeared on the 2nd City Gridiron podcast, the Raiders were never the front runners to get Johnson, and he acknowledged that he liked having the bad information out there.

“Initial gut reaction day one on the Raiders was ‘No go. Okay?” Smith said. “Tom Brady absolutely has an extremely compelling case that gets you to listen. The whole thing ‘Ben to the Raiders… great sources’ and all the other stuff, that was never right.”

Smith then confirmed he was happy to use the Raiders as leverage against the Bears.

“Sometimes, going back to my job, things go viral that you’re like ‘I got to put a break on this’ and sometimes things go viral like ‘No, this is good. I like this’ and that viral thing [about the Raiders] was ‘I like this. Let’s just leave that out there.'”

It’s common for agents to use reports to leverage their clients, but insiders also work closely with agents, and any national insiders connected to what Smith is calling bad information have the right to feel a little disappointed by his comments on Monday.

Now that Smith is essentially taking a victory lap around the reporters who were linking Johnson to Vegas, it will be interesting to see how well that is received.

And then there’s the Tom Brady factor.

How will those comments from Smith land with Brady and the rest of the Raider organization, who clearly believed they had a good chance at getting Johnson?

x: @raidersbeat

Full interview with Rick Smith can be viewed below:

Rick Smith tells us everything about the Bears hiring Ben Johnson

Here’s the entire Rick Smith interview segment from Bill Zimmerman’s fantastic one-on-one from his Bears Banter podcast. Smith is Ben Johnson’s agent, and he details everything about the process that led him to the Chicago #Bears.