The news around the NFL’s most coveted coordinator took a turn on Friday when ESPN’s Adam Schefter cast doubt on the idea that Lions OC Ben Johnson is the front runner to get the Raiders head coaching job.
“I know everybody has got Ben Johnson anointed to the Raiders. I’m not in that camp right now. I’m not going to believe it until I see it,” Schefter said on the Pat McAfee Show. “I don’t know where he’s going to. He’s going to have, I think, three realistic options. Why is everyone ignoring Chicago when it comes to Ben Johnson?”
Since the firing of Antonio Pierce, it’s been a steady barrage of criticism from Schefter on the Raiders. Certainly, losing makes the Raiders an easy target and they deserve criticism, but his report that former GM Tom Telesco never called the Washington Commanders about the no. 2 pick in the 2024 draft has been wildly discredited by local media.
Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter addressed some of the Schefter-fueled rumors around the Raiders on his podcast on Saturday, and he isn’t buying the smoke from ESPN’s top NFL insider.
“I still absolutely believe that [Johnson] is the front runner [in Las Vegas], although no deal is done,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast, before addressing the rumors around Daniels.
“I know 100% for a fact, the Raiders called on Jaden. I know it from both sides,” Hondo continued. “I talked with somebody in the Commanders last year. You may remember I told you this multiple times. You can go back and watch old podcasts from before the draft. [That person with the Commanders] told me every time Telesco and the Raiders called, the answer [was] ‘We can give you some price that you’re not going to be willing to pay. We don’t want to move.'”
Carpenter said he confirmed the Daniels story on the Raiders end of the conversation and also with a source within the Commanders.
Only Schefter knows why he has been making the statements that he’s been making of late, but it’s fair to wonder if he has some frustrations of his own with sources in Las Vegas.
Schefter was a strong advocate for Pierce before he was fired, and someone with the team clearly gave him a scoop of fake news on former GM Tom Telesco. Insiders at the top of their profession don’t generally appreciate being fed bad information…
Looking ahead, there’s no guarantee that Johnson is going to take the Raiders job, but it seems like most of the league is of the mindset that the Lions’ OC is headed to Las Vegas when the season.
For reasons unknown, Schefter isn’t buying that narrative, and it’s fair to wonder if he simply doesn’t want to see it happen.
In his own words… he’s not going to believe it until he sees it.
x: @raidersbeat
Schefter is notorious for being in the scoop business, and uncritically reporting what he gets told by sources. Like Woj and Shams with NBA media, it’s just the worst kind of reporting, IMO. Honestly, Hondo is quite similar, except he usually never delivers the actual scoop. He loves to talk about how he talks to people in the building, but then usually declines to report anything specific… He mortally just did this the other day, hinting at inside info on where things went wrong for AP, but then did his patented, “Not the right time ” maneuver to avoid actually reporting something interesting. … I wouldn’t trust either of them. Hondo at least seems like a nice guy, though.
Anyway, I think Ben Johnson is probably the best coaching candidate available, so I hope Schefter is wrong.
Shefter is a nerd