Unexpected: Ben Johnson Exits Washington NFL Coach Race

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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:03 Yeah, this is a surprise.

00:04 I have to tell you, for those of us who cover the NFL,

00:06 we know what's going on with Washington.

00:07 They want to make a big splash.

00:09 Ben Johnson was saying--

00:11 let's put it this way-- headed into the process.

00:13 That's when they get their list together,

00:15 guys that they identified.

00:16 This was the guy.

00:18 He withdrew his name for the Commanders

00:20 and any potential with the Seahawks there.

00:22 And this is interesting, because last year, I remember--

00:26 I did report this-- that Johnson was going

00:30 to interview with the Panthers.

00:32 I'm going to say 14 to 16 hours before that interview,

00:35 where the Panthers were supposed to happen.

00:37 And by the way, they probably would

00:38 have hired him if he would have taken the interview

00:40 and he interviewed well.

00:40 He probably would have gotten the job.

00:42 Not Frank Reich.

00:43 But he took his name out.

00:44 Now, source close to the situation

00:45 told me that last year, Johnson felt

00:48 he'd need another year of seasoning.

00:50 And also, he'd been on such a meteoric rise,

00:54 he felt he needed another year.

00:55 And he also wanted to be around his family more.

00:57 And look, you can't blame him for that.

00:59 This one's strange to me.

01:00 This was-- I'm not going to say it was out of the blue.

01:02 There were always reasons for this.

01:04 But this one seems to be different from what I gather

01:07 in the early going here.

01:08 We'll talk more about this with Pharrell later this week.

01:10 But this is a stutter.

01:11 Now, going forward here, right?

01:13 The Lions, who unfortunately blew that big lead--

01:17 you and I were not on earlier this week to talk about it.

01:21 But they got Johnson back, won the best play

01:24 calls of the National Football League.

01:26 This is also good for free agency.

01:27 If you're a free agent who they like on offense

01:30 from other teams, you're going to love

01:32 that Ben Johnson's coming back.

01:33 This is great for Jared Goff, who's

01:35 going to have to get his contract redone,

01:37 and their offensive skill position players.

01:39 This is stunning.

01:40 If you look at the biggest odds, it

01:42 wasn't like the Lions makers look

01:45 at the reporting for this.

01:46 And a lot of us put out there that Johnson

01:48 was the clear favorite coming into the process.

01:50 So now I look at it, Mike McDonald,

01:54 the young defensive coordinator for the Ravens,

01:56 you've got to look at him.

01:58 Aaron Glenn is going to get his interview in person.

02:00 So those would be guys to look at there.

02:02 And then Seattle, I will say this,

02:04 Dan Quinn, who a lot of people thought

02:06 was the favorite coming in-- no question,

02:07 because he knows that franchise.

02:09 There are some other guys there.

02:10 That one is less certain, to be honest with you.

02:13 (upbeat music)

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