The Detroit Lions will continue to pursue their goal of becoming a perennial contender.
Even while some may call for the organization to be more proactive, signing numerous high-priced free agents this offseason seems unlikely, despite the franchise’s desire to take another step ahead and participate in and win a Super Bowl.
“Dan and I have been very frank and straightforward with everyone. “Again, every move is deliberate,” Holmes explained. “Every move we make, and every move we don’t make, is intentional. each I’ll go back to previous drafts; every single pick, free agency, each signing is highly deliberate.
“So, I don’t want the fans’ happiness to be ruined. They should be proud of their football team because the fans have earned and deserve it, and I want them to know that every move we make over the next few months will be with the goal of winning in December. It is not to win March, April, and May, which is simple to do.”
Detroit’s front office chief is conscious that his decisions are being judged, but he emphasizes that the moves are intended to maintain a level of success over time.
“If you want to win headlines, you can win March, April, and May. But understand that everything is intentional, even if it appears bizarre or as if, ‘Well, why’d they do this?’ “Trust me,” Holmes said. “The goal is to win in December. And that is why we’ve made the decisions we have. And the reality is that not everyone can play here. Everyone cannot play for the Detroit Lions, and that is just a fact.”
The newest All Lions “Bang The Table” podcast delves into how aggressive the Lions should be this summer, particularly given that they will be among the favorites to win the Lombardi Trophy.
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The commanders are not upset with Ben Johnson. Please do not write in the newspaper that they were angry.
If you’ve been paying attention to the NFL over the last week, you’ve probably heard about the feud between the Washington Commanders and Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. After the season, Washington looked to Johnson, the hot offensive thinker of the moment, to fill its head-coaching position. However, due to league rules, the Commanders had to watch the coaching carousel turn and wait for the Lions’ postseason run to conclude before hiring or conducting an in-person interview with Johnson. Finally, on the Tuesday following the Lions’ loss to the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, Washington executives boarded an aircraft to Detroit. But while the Commander’s brass was in the air, Johnson notified them that he would not be interviewing or accepting the position. He would stay with the Lions.
What ensued was a media disaster of epic proportions. First, ESPN’s Adam Schefter stated that Johnson was never a “head-coaching lock” and that his “asking price spooked some teams.” Minutes later, Schefter contradicted his own report, claiming that Johnson did not receive a raise to remain in Detroit, “proving that money is not Johnson’s primary motivation.”
Two days later, the Commanders recruited Dan Quinn, the former Cowboys defensive coordinator, as their head coach. That should have been the end of it; Johnson now had his dream position, and the Commanders have their future coach. However, this narrative has not gone away. Multiple reports in recent days have suggested that Johnson did not perform well during the interview. Schefter went on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday to lob further jabs at Johnson, shouting—yes, shouting!—about how Johnson should not have wasted the Commanders’ time with an hours-long interview when he’d already decided he didn’t want the position.
ohnson’s side has been a little quieter, though ESPN’s Jenna Laine reported that the Lions coordinator had been “turned off” by the Commanders’ new owners. Laine stated that Johnson feels the new ownership group, helmed by Philadelphia 76ers managing partner Josh Harris, is made up of “basketball guys.”
This all culminated in a Monday story in The Athletic titled “How the Commanders landed on Dan Quinn following a ‘outrageous’ head-coaching search,” but it was largely used to take further jabs at Johnson. Ben Standig and Dianna Russini wrote the essay titled Johnson:
a so-called “newbie power broker”
something of a “perceived wunderkind option”
“commitment-phobic” “not … ready to rumble”
a “false idol” “a coach who prefers holing up in his office, coming up with game plans and playing with mad scientist vibes rather than leading a locker room”
The article also mentioned Johnson’s “hefty compensation demands for the second-year coordinator” and “head-coaching apprehension” before concluding that Johnson “bail[ed]” and “screwed” the Commanders. It includes remarks from unknown people who described Johnson’s choice to leave the post as “outrageous.” Simply outrageous,” and Johnson was “walloped emotionally” following the 34-31 loss to San Francisco.
The article also commended Washington’s front office for its “competence, vision, and sanity” and stated that the team “already conquered competitors in the general manager market by landing [former 49ers executive Adam] Peters.” According to one of the sources quoted in the article, Johnson’s reputation is “ruin[ed].”
For those who are unfamiliar with how the sausage is formed in NFL media, McAfee revealed the process during Schefter’s outburst on his show. “Schefty is plugged with the Commanders, we need to remember that,” McAfee remarked of his ESPN colleague. “You are actually giving their side of the whole thing.” How did Schefter respond? “What’s the other side?”
Washington’s weeklong screaming tantrum was presumably intended to demonstrate how unconcerned the Commanders are that Johnson rejected them. They’re OK, joyfully moving forward with Quinn as they “recalibrate” the franchise (not a “rebuild”). Even this line of defense is unclear. According to the Commanders (or at least numerous NFL insiders), they passed up on a coach who does not interview well, demands excessive pay, and cannot lead a locker room. Why is there so much fanfare over what appears to be a near-miss? Why were they flying to Detroit to interview Johnson in the first place?
Instead, the recent muddled media conflict demonstrates three things. The first is that the Commanders’ interest in Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn as a head-coaching candidate was probably a ruse. The Commanders were flying to Detroit not only to speak with Johnson, but also to interview both of the Lions coordinators. Washington’s leadership was allegedly “eager to meet with” Glenn, who has established himself as a prominent leader with the Lions.
So Johnson’s cancelation of the meeting with the Commanders should not have resulted in the team wasting a flight or any time at all, as they were still able to speak with a coach who was reportedly one of their top choices. However, as more information about the Commanders’ feelings toward Johnson emerges, it appears that the team’s interview with Glenn, who is Black, was simply a convenient way for the Commanders to check off the NFL’s Rooney Rule policy, which requires teams to conduct in-person interviews with at least two external minority and/or female candidates for head-coaching and general manager positions.
Even in the weeks leading up to the Commanders’ trip to Detroit, media continuously portrayed Johnson as the more appealing head-coaching prospect, with the majority of the limelight falling on him while Glenn was mentioned as just another name in a pool of hopefuls. These types of extra hoops and ridiculous games are nothing uncommon for Black coaches, but this NFL hiring cycle—not only for Glenn, but also for coaches like David Shaw—was especially brazen.
The second thing this tale demonstrates is that Washington isn’t really enthusiastic about Quinn. The former Falcons head coach went 48-45 in six seasons in Atlanta, from 2015 to 2020, and has spent the last three seasons building competent but not exceptional defenses in Dallas. Quinn’s selection feels pretty uninspired, since he is similar to Commanders coaching predecessor Ron Rivera in that he has previous head-coaching experience but not much success on his resume. (Dallas interviewed Rivera for the position of defensive coordinator, so the two men could switch roles.)
Following Johnson, the team expressed great interest in former Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, who selected Seattle over Washington. That would make Quinn the team’s third option. A week of reporters writing more about Johnson than Quinn, along with the fact that the Commanders could have recruited Quinn two weeks before all of this happened but opted to wait, appears to support that.
The last takeaway from Washington’s media collapse is that this front office is still highly poisonous. Dan Snyder is no longer alive. Harris, who also owns the 76ers and the New Jersey Devils of the NHL, is in. However, there is still a stink about this group. On paper, the Commander’s position should be quite appealing. In addition to the new ownership group, Washington controls the second overall choice in the upcoming draft, giving a new head coach the opportunity to select his quarterback of the future. The club has some pass-catching ability and several good defenders. A month ago, this website labeled the Washington position “the best open job in the league.”
However, Johnson—and presumably Macdonald—understood that a head-coaching interview is a two-way street. A team does more than simply interview coaches; coaches also determine whether a franchise is a good fit for them. There are few coaches that get repeated chances at this. If you fail anywhere, your career as an NFL head coach may be finished forever. What does it say about this new Washington ownership group that Johnson and Macdonald searched elsewhere, while the Commanders had to settle for a retread?
Did Johnson really do anything wrong? It’s difficult to determine exactly what happened here given all of the anonymously sourced allegations and disclosures. Perhaps Johnson misled the Commanders, just to pull the rug out from under them at the last minute. However, we know that Johnson never made any form of commitment to Washington because, on January 29, Schefter wrote that Johnson’s move to Washington was “not a slam dunk” as many believed. The next day, a Tuesday, Johnson withdrew from contention for the position.
Remember, this was the Tuesday following the NFC championship game, around 24 to 48 hours after Detroit’s season ended. Johnson was so concentrated on the game plan for that clash that he didn’t evaluate the attractiveness of his head-coaching chances. Isn’t that the type of focus that a team should want in a coach? The timetable suggests that Johnson had both feet firmly planted in Detroit as the club prepared for its most important game in a generation, rather than having one foot out the door. It’s difficult to fault him for that.
And according to Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, Johnson’s decision was not easy. St. Brown stated that Johnson called him at 2 a.m. on Tuesday to inform him that he had unfinished business in Detroit. Johnson reportedly “couldn’t sleep” the night before making his decision.
Given everything that has happened since that choice, can you blame Johnson for wanting to stay in Detroit? Consider the mayhem that has ensued since he denied the Washington post. It appears to clarify what Johnson may have meant when referring to the Commanders’ front office as a collection of “basketball guys”—constantly leaking rumors to the media is some pure basketball guy trash. It’s also the kind of behavior that might land the franchise back in coaching hell in the near future.
